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 

Ventron Corporation 

Beverly, Massachusetts 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Ventron Corporation, Beverly, Massachusetts 
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 12, 2012 [Signature on File] 

Date Kathleen Sebelius 

II. Employee Class Definition 

All Atomic Weapons Employees who worked for the Ventron Corporation at its 

facility in Beverly, Massachusetts, from November 1, 1942, through December 31, 

1948, 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 included 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 17, 2012. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Page 2 

Ventron Corporation, Beverly, Massachusetts 
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. 

	 Principal sources of internal radiation for members of the proposed class included 

exposures to uranium contained in uranium oxides, uranium metal powder, uranium 

tetrafluoride, scrap uranium metal, thorium, and uranium progeny from ore-handling 

operations. The modes of exposure were inhalation and ingestion of uranium and its 

progeny during uranium metal fabrication and scrap recovery operations, including 

spontaneous uranium fires, as well as inhalation of thorium dusts. 

	 NIOSH has not located documentation indicating the existence of a routine internal 

personnel exposure monitoring program for the period under evaluation. The very 

limited internal monitoring and air sample data available to NIOSH are sparse and there 

is no evidence to indicate that these data are representative of the most highly-exposed 

workers at the Ventron facility, or that the available sample results are representative of 

all workers. Without additional personnel radiation monitoring data representing the 

period from 1942 through 1948, NIOSH does not have sufficient information to 

appropriately characterize intakes of radioactive material intakes during operations at the 

Ventron Corporation facility. 

	 Principal sources of external radiation for members of the proposed class included 

exposures to uranium during metal-handling operations, uranium progeny derived from 

naturally-occurring ores exhibiting a natural isotopic abundance, as well as thorium 

during commercial production of thoriated tungsten. 

	 NIOSH’s research indicates personnel monitoring for external exposure to radiological 

materials was not performed for the period under evaluation. No records of any program 

for personnel external dose monitoring, or data that would be associated with such a 

program have been located. 

	 NIOSH has determined that adequate reconstruction of medical dose is feasible by using 

claimant-favorable assumptions and the technical information bulletin Dose 

Reconstruction from Occupational Medical X-Ray Procedures (ORAUT-OTIB-0006). 

	 NIOSH does not have access to sufficient personnel monitoring, workplace monitoring, 

or source term data to estimate internal and external exposures for Ventron workers 

during the periods of refining and smelting operations from November 1, 1942, through 

December 31, 1948. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Page 3 

Ventron Corporation, Beverly, Massachusetts 
	 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. 

	 Although NIOSH found that it is not possible to completely reconstruct radiation doses 

for the proposed class, NIOSH intends to use any internal and external monitoring data 

that may become 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 Ventron Corporation during the period from 

November 1, 1942, through December 31, 1948, but who do not qualify for inclusion in 

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

 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: Page 4 

Ventron Corporation, Beverly, Massachusetts 
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. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Page 5 

Ventron Corporation, Beverly, Massachusetts