HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Nuclear Metals, Inc., West Concord, Massachusetts

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 

Nuclear Metals, Inc.

West Concord, Massachusetts
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Nuclear Metals, Inc., West Concord, Massachusetts 

Page 2

I. Designation 

I, Sylvia M. Burwell, Secretary of the U.S. Department 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 11, 2014 [Signature on File]

Date Sylvia M. Burwell

II. Employee Class Definition

All Atomic Weapons Employees who worked at the facility owned by Nuclear Metals, Inc. 

(or a subsequent owner) in West Concord, Massachusetts, during the period from January 1, 

1980, through December 31, 1990, 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.

NIOSH determined that there is insufficient information to estimate the radiation dose of individual 

members of the class with sufficient accuracy under the two abovementioned situations. 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 June 10, 2014.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Nuclear Metals, Inc., West Concord, Massachusetts 

Page 3

IV. Designation Findings

Infeasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy

The Secretary designates 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 exposure to 

natural and depleted uranium, thorium oxides and metals existing either separately or as 

alloys, and uranium and thorium progeny. 

• NIOSH was unable to obtain sufficient internal monitoring data specific to thorium and 

thorium progeny for the period from January 1, 1980, through December 1990. NIOSH has 

not found an indication that the site’s routine air sampling program was directed at assessing 

potential thorium exposures, and cannot show that sampling locations were chosen to include 

thorium-handling work areas. In the absence of a complementary thorium-specific bioassay

program, the gross-alpha air results available to NIOSH for the period from 1980 through 

1990 are insufficient to support efforts to bound the internal dose from thorium and thorium 

progeny. 

• Consequently, NIOSH has determined that it does not have access to sufficient personnel 

monitoring, workplace monitoring, or source term data to estimate with sufficient accuracy 

internal exposures to thorium and thorium progeny for Nuclear Metals, Inc. workers for the 

period from January 1, 1980, through December 31, 1990. 

• NIOSH found that it is feasible to reconstruct internal doses from natural and depleted 

uranium for employees during the recommended SEC period using available claimant data, 

site monitoring data, and information in procedure Internal Coworker Dosimetry Data for 

Nuclear Metals, Inc., ORAUT-OTIB-0084.

• Principal sources of external radiation for members of the proposed class included exposures 

to gamma and beta radiation associated with handling of radioactive materials in production 

or research activities. Thorium, uranium metal, and uranium compounds constituted the 

principal external radiation dose-producing material sources for members of the class.

• External monitoring data available to NIOSH consist of film badge and thermoluminescent 

dosimeter results covering the entire AWE operational period. NIOSH determined that 

reconstruction of monitored external is feasible for the period from January 1, 1980, through 

December 31, 1990.

• Consistent with the findings presented in NIOSH’s 2012 evaluation of the period from 

October 29, 1958, through December 31, 1979, NIOSH determined that sufficiently accurate 

reconstruction of occupational medical dose is feasible for the period from January 1, 1980, 

through December 1990 using information and methods available in ORAUT-OTIB-0006.

• Therefore, NIOSH concluded that reconstruction of external doses, including occupational 

medical doses, is feasible for the period from January 1, 1980, through December 31, 1990. 

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

the proposed class, NIOSH intends to use any internal monitoring data that may become 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Nuclear Metals, Inc., West Concord, Massachusetts 

Page 4

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 Nuclear Metals, Inc. during the period from January 1, 1980, through December 

31, 1990, but who do not qualify for inclusion in the SEC, may be performed using these 

data, as appropriate.

• 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 NIOSH’s recommendation to add the proposed class of workers 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:

Nuclear Metals, Inc., West Concord, Massachusetts 

Page 5

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.