NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Project 

Rollout Meeting for the 

Kansas City Plant Site Profile 

Final Minutes 1 of 4 03/02/06 

Meeting Date: 

October 19, 2005, 4:00 p.m. 

Meeting with: 

Security Police and Fire Professionals Association Local 251, Kansas City, Missouri 

Name Organization 

Jack Haines SPFPA Local 251 

John Barber SPFPA Local 251 

Howard T. Eye SPFPA Local 251 

Richard Dziedzic SPFPA Local 251 

Jim Lumpkin SPFPA Local 251 

Ed Hedricks SPFPA Local 251 

Randy Lutjen SPFPA Local 251 

Steve Glynn SPFPA Local 251 

Tim Harper SFPFA Local 251 

Several attendees chose not to sign in. 

NIOSH and ORAU Team Representatives: 

Grady Calhoun – National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Office of 

Compensation Analysis and Support (OCAS) 

Jack Fix – Dade Moeller Inc., Site Profile Team Leader 

Mark Lewis – Advanced Technologies and Laboratories International Inc. (ATL) 

Mary Elliott – ATL 

Proceedings 

Mr. Lewis began the discussion at 4:00 p.m. by thanking the union representatives for inviting 

the Worker Outreach Team to their meeting. He described how his union background in the 

nuclear weapons complex led to working for the passage of the Energy Employees Occupational 

Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA), which led to his employment with ATL as a 

union outreach specialist on the NIOSH dose reconstruction project. 

Mr. Lewis introduced the team and said they were present at the meeting to talk about the Kansas 

City Plant Site Profile. He explained that the Site Profile Team uses government and contractor 

records during the development of the site profile documents. NIOSH and ORAU are interested 

in getting information from former workers that may not be included in the records from the U.S. 

Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors at the sites. Labor input is important because 

the “official” records do not always accurately reflect the work practices and radiation safety 

issues at a given site. When the Site Profile is complete, it provides information for use in the 

radiation dose reconstruction process for EEOICPA claimants under Subtitle B. 
NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Project 

Rollout Meeting for the 

Kansas City Plant Site Profile 

Final Minutes 2 of 4 03/02/06 

Mr. Lewis asked the attendees to introduce themselves and noted that a sign-in sheet was being 

circulated. He also mentioned that Ms. Elliott was taking notes and making a recording for use in 

preparing minutes to ensure that all concerns and questions were being accurately captured, but 

not to identify who made the comments. 

Mr. Lewis introduced Grady Calhoun from the NIOSH Office of Compensation Analysis and 

Support (OCAS). Mr. Calhoun stated that he is a health physicist on the Dose Reconstruction 

Team at NIOSH. He explained the claims process: 

• A claim is filed with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) by an employee of a 

Department of Energy (DOE) site or an Atomic Weapons Employer (AWE). If the 

employee is deceased, the claim may be filed by an eligible survivor. 

• DOL verifies (1) whether there is a compensable illness, and (2) whether the employee 

worked at one of the covered facilities. 

• If both criteria are met, the claim is then sent to NIOSH for a radiation dose 

reconstruction. NIOSH requests the employee’s records from the facility through the 

DOE (radiation dose records, medical records, incident reports, etc.) 

• All claimants on the case are interviewed by telephone for exposure history information 

on the employee. 

• ORAU begins the dose reconstruction process using the site profile and other technical 

documents, as well as the personal information for the employee. A draft dose 

reconstruction report is written and forwarded to OCAS and the claimant(s) for review. 

• The claimant is contacted again to review the dose reconstruction and to ascertain if all 

information has been included. If there is any additional information, the dose 

reconstruction is reworked. 

• After the claimant acknowledges that there is no additional information, they are asked to 

sign a form. The case is then forwarded to the DOL for a final decision on whether or not 

the claim will be awarded. 

• If the case is denied, DOL adjudicates the appeal. 

Jack Fix said that the information packet provided at the beginning of presentation contains 

important information, including the Site Profile and other information on Dose Reconstruction, 

as well as the web site address to view the information online. 

Mr. Fix explained that the purpose of the presentation is to present the Kansas City Site Profile. 

He said that at a previous meeting on September 15, 2004, union officials from the plant gave the 

Outreach Team information that was included in the Site Profile. He stated that it is a “living 

document” and that comments received after this meeting may be incorporated into future 

revisions if they are relevant to dose reconstructions. 

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act (EEOICPA) includes guidelines 

for compensation under two Subtitles. The program involves interaction between three 
NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Project 

Rollout Meeting for the 

Kansas City Plant Site Profile 

Final Minutes 3 of 4 03/02/06 

government agencies – the Department of Labor, the Department of Energy, and NIOSH. 

NIOSH created OCAS to provide oversight for the dose reconstruction process. Because of the 

large size of the project, a team of contractors headed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities 

(ORAU) was hired to assist with the dose reconstructions 

Risk models developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are a central component of the 

computer program used in the dose reconstructions. The program is used to determine the 

likelihood that the claimant’s cancer is related to radiation. 

The DOL has forward over 18,000 cases to OCAS for radiation dose reconstruction. Of those 

cases, over 10,000 have been completed. Over $1.25 billion has been awarded in compensation 

for the program. 

NIOSH and ORAU are interested in getting input from workers at the site regarding the accuracy 

of the Kansas City Plant Site Profile. The Site Profile is a collection of site-specific information 

that discusses the radioactive materials present at the site, the work practices, safety programs, 

dosimetry programs, workplace hazards, types of radiological instrumentation, and other basic 

information that is necessary to do dose reconstructions for the site. The Site Profile Team was 

established in May 2004. The completed document has been approved by NIOSH and can be 

viewed on the NIOSH website: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/ocastbds.html#kcplant. 

A dose reconstruction generally involves four specific areas: occupational medical X-ray dose, 

environmental dose, internal dose, and external dose. The NIOSH program is proactive in 

looking at incidents of “missed dose” that may not be in a worker’s radiological record – missing 

information is considered and the potential dose is calculated and added into the worker’s 

radiation dose. 

Mr. Fix said that the thing that most impressed him as he worked on the Site Profile is that the 

Kansas City Plant is a world-class analytical laboratory that has many inspection and analysis 

capabilities as well as a relatively low radiological risk facility. Most of the radiation handled at 

the plant is from sealed sources or radiation generating devices such as X-rays or neutron 

radiography. The site played a major role in the success of the United States’ nuclear weapons 

program by maintaining the integrity of the non-nuclear components of the devices. 

Substantial amounts of depleted uranium were handled at the Kansas City Plant from 1959 to 

1971. Routine urinalysis was implemented during this time period, and the data have been 

analyzed in making conservative estimates of the radiation dose to individual workers. 

Occupational medical dose is assigned to workers based on the history of the use of medical Xrays at the site. Original records of the program at the Kansas City Plant appear to be complete. 

NIOSH assumes one X-ray per year per worker when records are not available and a default 

value for the medical dose is assigned in an effort to be favorable to the claimant. 

There is no evidence of any environmental radiological impact at the Kansas City Plant. No 

documentation has been found to indicate any significant off-site levels of contamination – no 

off-site airborne concentrations. There may, however, have been inadvertent low-level exposures 
NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Project 

Rollout Meeting for the 

Kansas City Plant Site Profile 

Final Minutes 4 of 4 03/02/06 

for non-monitored, non-radiological workers. For that reason, two changes to the Site Profile are 

under way: one for external radiation exposure and another for potential intakes of depleted 

uranium. These changes are related to the promethium-147 incident in 1989. A dose has been 

assigned to ensure that exposure from that incident is not underestimated. 

The only documented intakes for internal dose are from the depleted uranium that was the 

primary source of exposure from 1959 to 1971 and after 1997. Distributions from these doses are 

used to assign radiation doses for claimants based on three categories: monitored radiological 

workers, non-monitored radiological workers, and non-monitored non-radiological workers. 

Uranium urinalyses are available for many workers. 

Most radiation sources at the Kansas City Plant are sealed, so there is no significant internal 

dose. The incident with promethium-147 in 1989 was highly visible, and several government 

agencies responded: the Missouri Department of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, 

and the Kansas City and Albuquerque offices of DOE. A 385-page report of the investigation 

issued in September 1989 concluded that there was no potential intake, even though 

contamination was found in some of the workers’ homes and cars. The guards were involved to 

some degree. 

Comment: 

That was an X-ray leak in the X-ray department 

Jack Fix: 

The source was a device from Oak Ridge that was used as a film gauge. 

Response: 

A lot of that went to the roof – nothing happened. 

Jack Fix: 

Promethium-147 is a low energy beta-emitting nuclide that has a 2.6 year half-life. I am sure it 

was a significant event here. It does not appear to have resulted in a potential dose to workers. 

The official record says there was none. 

The goal of the site profile team is to develop a comprehensive technical document for the health 

physicists on the dose reconstruction team. NIOSH and ORAU encourage input from the 

workers at the site to achieve this end. Information and suggestions for revisions to the document 

can be sent directly to NIOSH using the contact information included in the presentation. Other 

information on the EEOICPA program can be found on the NIOSH web site at this address: 

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas. 

Mr. Lewis thanked the union leadership for asking the team to participate in their meeting. He 

said the team would be available to answer any questions after the regular union business 

concluded.