HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Canoga Avenue Facility, Los Angeles County, California

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 

Canoga Avenue Facility

Los Angeles County, California
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Canoga Avenue Facility, Los Angeles County, California

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.

__May 14, 2010______ _[Signature on file]_________

Date Kathleen Sebelius

II. Employee Class Definition

All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and its 

contractors and subcontractors who worked at the Canoga Avenue Facility, 

Los Angeles County, California, from January 1, 1955 through December 31, 

1960 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 April 14, 

2010.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Canoga Avenue Facility, Los Angeles County, California

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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 and

external radiation exposures to uranium and fission products.

• NIOSH finds it does not have access to sufficient personnel monitoring, 

workplace monitoring, or source term data to bound internal doses from uranium, 

fission products and other radionuclides during the period of operation.

• NIOSH finds that it is not feasible to estimate, with sufficient accuracy, the total 

internal dose for workers at Canoga during the period from January 1, 1955

through December 31, 1960

• NIOSH lacks sufficient information, including biological monitoring data, sufficient 

air monitoring information, and sufficient process and radiological source 

information, to allow it to estimate with sufficient accuracy the potential internal 

exposures to various radionuclides to which the NIOSH-proposed class may 

have been subjected for the time period from January 1, 1955 through December 

31, 1960. NIOSH believes it is possible to reconstruct with sufficient accuracy all 

external and occupational medical X-ray dose for the evaluated period.

• NIOSH has documented that it cannot complete the dose reconstructions related 

to this petition with sufficient accuracy for the employees who worked at Canoga 

from January 1, 1955 through December 31, 1960. NIOSH does not have 

access to sufficient information to estimate either the maximum radiation dose 

incurred by any member of the class or to estimate such radiation doses more 

precisely than a maximum dose estimate.

• NIOSH intends to use any internal and external monitoring data that may be 

available for an individual claim (and that can be interpreted using existing 

NIOSH dose reconstruction processes or procedures). Therefore, dose 

reconstructions for individuals employed at Canoga during the period from 

January 1, 1955 through December 31, 1960, but who do not qualify for inclusion 

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

• NIOSH has access to sufficient personnel monitoring and workplace monitoring 

data to bound potential external exposures.

• NIOSH does believe it is possible to reconstruct with sufficient accuracy all 

external and occupational medical X-ray dose for the evaluated period.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Canoga Avenue Facility, Los Angeles County, California

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• 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.

• 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). 

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.”
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Canoga Avenue Facility, Los Angeles County, California

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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.