HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Vitro Manufacturing, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

 

HHS Designation of Additional Members of the 

Special Exposure Cohort 

under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

Designating a Class of Employees from 

Vitro Manufacturing

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Vitro Manufacturing, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

Page 2

I. Designation 

I, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, designate the class 

of employees defined in Section II of this report for addition to the Special Exposure 

Cohort (SEC), as authorized under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. § 7384q.

 October 18, 2011 [Signature on File]

Date Kathleen Sebelius

II. Employee Class Definition

All Atomic Weapons Employees who worked at Vitro Manufacturing in 

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, from January 1, 1960 through September 30, 

1965, for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, 

occurring either solely under this employment or in combination with work 

days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of 

employees in the Special Exposure Cohort.

III. Designation Criteria and Recommendations

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, for the class defined in Section II of this report, the 

Secretary has determined, and the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health 

(Board) has recommended, that

(1) it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the 

class received; and

(2) there is a reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have 

endangered the health of members of the class.

The SEC final rule states in 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1) that it is feasible in two situations 

to estimate the radiation dose that the class received with sufficient accuracy. First, 

the rule states that radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if 

NIOSH has established that it has access to sufficient information to estimate the 

maximum radiation dose for every type of cancer for which radiation doses are 

reconstructed that could have been incurred under plausible circumstances by any 

member of the class. Alternatively, radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient 

accuracy if NIOSH has established that it has access to sufficient information to 

estimate the radiation doses of members of the class more precisely than a 

maximum dose estimate.

The Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, advised the Secretary to designate the 

class as an addition to the SEC in a letter received by the Secretary on September 

19, 2011.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Vitro Manufacturing, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

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IV. Designation Findings

Feasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy

The Secretary established the feasibility determination for the class of employees 

covered by this report based upon the findings summarized below.

• NIOSH determined that members of this class may have received internal 

radiation exposures from intakes of uranium and uranium decay chain 

radionuclides. NIOSH found no indication that bioassay measurements were 

collected for the period under evaluation. NIOSH found no air monitoring 

data for the 1960 through 1965 period. 

• NIOSH found that it lacks sufficient personnel or area monitoring data, source 

term data, and operational information to support reconstructing internal dose 

with sufficient accuracy during the early residual radiation period at the Vitro 

Manufacturing site in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania from January 1, 1960

through September 30, 1965. 

• NIOSH has not identified sufficient documentation to define and quantify the 

total internal source term for Vitro Manufacturing during the period under 

evaluation, January 1, 1960 through September 30, 1965. Without additional 

documentation, NIOSH cannot make assumptions about the relative amounts 

of materials that would have been encountered at the site during the 

evaluated period. Therefore, NIOSH finds that it is not feasible to estimate, 

with sufficient accuracy, the total internal dose for workers at the Vitro 

Manufacturing site in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania for the period from January 

1, 1960 through September 30, 1965. 

• NIOSH determined that it lacks sufficient personnel or area monitoring data, 

source term data, and operational information to support reconstructing 

external dose with sufficient accuracy during the early residual radiation 

period at the Vitro Manufacturing site in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania from 

January 1, 1960 through September 30, 1965. Therefore, NIOSH found that 

it is not feasible to estimate, with sufficient accuracy, the total external dose 

for workers at the Vitro Manufacturing site in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania for 

the period from January 1, 1960 through September 30, 1965.

• Doses received from occupational medical X-rays are not considered part of 

the source term for the residual radiation period; therefore, medical doses 

were not evaluated by NIOSH for the period from January 1, 1960 through 

September 30, 1965.

• Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH determined that there is 

insufficient information to either: (1) estimate the maximum radiation dose, for 

every type of cancer for which radiation doses are reconstructed, that could 

have been incurred under plausible circumstances by any member of the 

class; or (2) estimate the radiation doses of members of the class more 

precisely than a maximum dose estimate.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Vitro Manufacturing, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

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• Although NIOSH found that it is not possible to completely reconstruct 

radiation doses for employees who worked at the Vitro Manufacturing site in 

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania for the period from January 1, 1960 through 

September 30, 1965, NIOSH intends to use any reliable internal and external 

monitoring data that may be available for an individual claim during this 

period (and that can be interpreted using existing NIOSH dose reconstruction 

processes or procedures). Dose reconstructions for individuals employed at 

the Vitro Manufacturing site in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania for the period from 

January 1, 1960 through September 30, 1965, but who do not qualify for 

inclusion in the SEC, may be performed using these data as appropriate.

• NIOSH finds that it has access to sufficient area monitoring data and site 

information to support reconstructing internal and external dose with sufficient 

accuracy during the remainder of the residual radiation period from October 

1, 1965 through 1985. 

• The Board concurred with the NIOSH evaluation and recommended the 

proposed class for addition to the SEC.

 Health Endangerment

The Secretary established the health endangerment determination for the class of 

employees covered by this report based upon the findings summarized below.

(1) Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3), NIOSH established that there is a 

reasonable likelihood that such radiation doses may have endangered the 

health of members of the class. Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii), NIOSH 

specified a minimum duration of employment to satisfy this health 

endangerment criterion as “having been employed for a number of work days 

aggregating at least 250 work days within the parameters established for this 

class or in combination with work days within the parameters (excluding 

aggregate work day requirements) established for one or more other classes 

of employees in the Cohort.”

(2) NIOSH did not identify any evidence from the petitioners or from other 

resources that would establish that the class was exposed to radiation during 

a discrete incident likely to have involved exceptionally high-level exposures, 

such as a nuclear criticality incident, as defined under 42 C.F.R. § 

83.13(c)(3)(i). 

(3) The Board concurred with NIOSH’s finding that the health of the class may 

have been endangered and defined the class according to the 250-work day 

requirement specified under 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii). 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Vitro Manufacturing, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

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V. Effect and Effective Date of Designation

The Secretary submits this report on the designation of one additional class to the 

SEC for review by Congress, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384l(14)(C)(ii) and 

7384q(c)(2)(A), as amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in 

scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.). Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(14)(C)(ii), as 

amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 42 

U.S.C.), the designation in this report will become effective 30 days after the date of 

this report’s submission to Congress “unless Congress otherwise provides.”

VI. Administrative Review of Designation

The health endangerment determination of the designation provided in this report 

may be subject to an administrative review within HHS, pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 

83.18(a). On the basis of such a review, if the Secretary decides to expand the class 

of employees covered by this designation, the Secretary would transmit a 

supplementary report to Congress providing the expanded employee class definition 

and the criteria and findings on which the decision was based.