HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 

 

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 

Sandia National Laboratories

Albuquerque, New Mexico 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 

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.

___July 29, 2011_____ __[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 in any area at Sandia National 

Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from January 1, 1949 through 

December 31, 1962, 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 July 11, 

2011.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 

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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 evaluated the feasibility of completing dose reconstructions for all 

employees who worked at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New 

Mexico, from January 1, 1949 through December 31, 1962. NIOSH determined 

that members of this class may have received internal and external radiation 

exposures from plutonium, tritium, uranium, americium, and fission and activation 

products associated with the handling of these radionuclides during waste-burial 

operations and hot-cell work, or exposure to surface or air contamination 

associated with reactor and/or accelerator work. Samples obtained from blast 

experiments conducted at the Nevada Test Site and analyzed at Sandia National 

Laboratories could have resulted in personnel exposures.

• The principal sources of internal radiation doses for members of the proposed 

class included exposures from plutonium, tritium, uranium, americium, and 

fission and activation products during waste-burial operations and hot-cell work, 

or exposure to surface or air contamination associated with reactor and/or 

accelerator work.

• NIOSH lacks sufficient information, which includes specific biological monitoring 

data, sufficient air monitoring information, sufficient process and radiological 

source information, and surrogate data from similar operations at other sites that 

would allow it to estimate the potential internal radiological exposures to various 

radionuclides to which the proposed class may have been subjected at the 

Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during the period 

from January 1, 1949 through December 31, 1962.

• The principal source of external radiation doses for members of the proposed 

class included gamma (photon), beta, and neutron radiation associated with 

handling and working in proximity to radioactive materials containing plutonium, 

tritium, uranium, americium, and fission and activation products during wastehandling activities, hot-cell work, work with reactors and accelerators, and the 

handling of samples obtained from blast experiments conducted at the Nevada 

Test Site and analyzed at Sandia National Laboratories. Additionally, medical Xrays performed onsite as a condition of employment would have resulted in 

external exposures to the evaluated class. NIOSH has found that source term 

data, coupled with available NIOSH dose reconstruction methods, are sufficient 

to reconstruct with sufficient accuracy the external and medical monitoring 

exposures for Sandia National Laboratories-Albuquerque workers during the 

evaluated period from January 1, 1949 through December 31, 1962.

• 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) 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 

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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 reconstruct radiation doses for 

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

data that may become available (and that can be interpreted using existing 

NIOSH dose reconstruction processes or procedures) for an individual claim. 

Dose reconstructions for individuals employed at the Sandia National 

Laboratories-Albuquerque facility during the period from January 1, 1949 through 

December 31, 1962, but who do not qualify for inclusion in the SEC, may be 

performed using these data as appropriate.

• The Board recommended the proposed class for addition to the SEC and the 

NIOSH Director concurred with its recommendation.

 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), the NIOSH Director 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), the 

NIOSH Director 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) The Board and the NIOSH Director 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 NIOSH Director concurred with the Board’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 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

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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.