W KY BCTC Page 1 of 5 December 8, 2009

Final minutes

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

Worker Outreach Meeting for the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant

Meeting Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 10:00 a.m.

Meeting with: Western Kentucky Building and Construction Trades Council, Paducah, 

Kentucky

NIOSH Worker Outreach Team:

Peter Darnell, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Office of 

Compensation Analysis and Support (OCAS), Certified Health Physicist (CHP)

Susan Winslow, Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Team, Health Physicist

Wilfrid “Buck” Cameron, Advanced Technologies and Laboratories International, Inc. (ATL), 

Senior Outreach Specialist

Mary Elliott, ATL, Technical Writer/Editor

Mark Lewis, ATL, Senior Outreach Specialist

Proceedings:

The President of the Western Kentucky Building and Construction Trades Council called the 

meeting to order at approximately 10:00 a.m. He explained that Buck Cameron, a contractor for 

the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), had contacted him about 

changes to the site profile that is used in the dose reconstructions for workers from the Paducah 

Gaseous Diffusion Plant who file claims under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA, or “the Act”). He stated that he called this special 

meeting so that NIOSH representatives could make a presentation on the Paducah site profile 

revisions since February 2005, when the NIOSH Team met with the Council to discuss the 

original document.

Mr. Cameron thanked the Council members for rearranging their schedules to accommodate the 

meeting. He described his long-time affiliation with the AFL-CIO, having recently retired after a 

career that began as a Business Representative with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. 

Mr. Cameron now works with Advanced Technologies and Laboratories International, Inc. 

(ATL), the support contractor for the NIOSH Worker Outreach Program, providing information 

on the EEOICPA to the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, its Councils, 

and other labor organizations that represent workers in the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) 

nuclear weapons complex. Mr. Cameron introduced the other NIOSH Team members: Peter 

Darnell, NIOSH Office of Compensation Analysis and Support (OCAS); Susan Winslow, Oak 

Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Team; and Mark Lewis and Mary Elliott, both with 

ATL.

Mr. Cameron requested permission for Ms. Elliott to record the meeting for use in preparing 

minutes of the meeting. He explained that Ms. Elliott will then send the draft minutes to the 

Council for approval, after which the recording will be destroyed. The Council approved his 

request.

Mr. Cameron asked the Council members to introduce themselves while circulating a sign-in 
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sheet. Ms. Elliott explained that providing contact information is voluntary. The information is 

protected under the Privacy Act and will not be used in the minutes.

Mr. Cameron acknowledged that the majority of the Council already knows about the EEOICPA 

and the class of Paducah workers in the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) that is part of the Act. 

For those who were unfamiliar with the Act, he gave a brief explanation: the EEOICPA provides 

compensation for workers who have become ill due to workplace radiation or toxic chemical 

exposures at atomic weapons sites. Under Part B of the Act, NIOSH and its contractors provide 

dose reconstruction for eligible workers who have a cancer diagnosis to determine the likelihood 

that their cancers may have been caused by radiation exposure. The SEC provides a way for 

workers to be compensated without the dose reconstruction process. 

Mr. Cameron explained that to be an eligible member of the Paducah SEC class, a worker must 

have been employed at the Paducah plant for at least 250 days prior to the end of 1992 and have 

been diagnosed with one or more of the 22 cancers specified in the Act. If a worker does not 

meet the employment requirement, or has a cancer that is not specified in the Act, NIOSH uses 

the site profile to reconstruct the worker’s radiation dose. The site profile contains information 

about the radiological processes and activities at the Paducah plant that can be used to estimate 

the radiation doses of workers who are not eligible for the SEC class.

Mr. Cameron explained that the purpose of the meeting was two-fold: to inform the Council of 

changes made to the site profile since February 2005, and to obtain input from workers with 

first-hand knowledge of the site. 

Mr. Cameron turned the meeting over to Mr. Darnell, who explained that NIOSH is affiliated 

with neither DOE nor the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). However, both agencies provide 

information to NIOSH for the site profiles and the individual dose reconstructions. Mr. Darnell 

further explained that NIOSH is a research agency for worker safety and health that was created 

in the 1970s by the Occupational Safety and Health Act. 

Ms. Winslow stated that NIOSH and its contractors had held meetings with the Building and 

Construction Trades Council and with Paper Allied-Industrial Chemical and Energy Workers 

(PACE) Local 5-550 in February 2005 to discuss the newly completed Paducah Site Profile. 

During those meetings, Paducah workers gave the NIOSH/ORAU Team additional information 

about the site facilities and operations. NIOSH incorporated the information into a new revision 

of the Paducah Site Profile. 

Ms. Winslow explained that dose reconstructors use the site profile as a reference tool during the 

dose reconstruction process. It contains site-specific technical information describing workplace 

facilities, activities, processes, technology, and events that helps the dose reconstructors estimate 

how much radiation the workers may have been exposed to during their work activities in 

various areas of the site. It is important to include worker input to ensure that the site profile is as 

accurate and complete as possible so the dose reconstructors can calculate the workers’ radiation 

doses as accurately as possible. Site profiles are revised as new information becomes available. 

The NIOSH/ORAU Team also made efforts during the site profile development process to 

ensure that the information in the document is consistent. 

The Team has revised the internal dose guidance as well as the facility and process histories,

using reports from the Bechtel Jacobs Company (“Recycled Uranium Mass Balance Project 

Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Site Report”) and the PACE International Union (“Exposure 
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Assessment Project at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant”).

Ms. Winslow stated that the Paducah Site Profile has six sections: the Introduction, the Site 

Description, the Occupational Medical Dose section, the Occupational Environmental Dose 

section, the Internal Dosimetry section, and the External Dosimetry section. 

The Introduction has been revised twice to include additional information defining facilities 

covered under EEOICPA and to add an “Attributions and Annotations” section to link 

information to the Site Profile’s reference list. Similar changes have been made to each of the 

site profile sections.

Two revisions of the Site Description section include the addition of dates for recycled uranium 

processing; the addition of Table 2-1, “Buildings and Potential Exposures to Recycled 

Uranium”; the addition of facilities not previously listed; and the addition of Table 2-4, 

“Processes and Facilities Involving Potential Worker Exposure.”

The Occupational Medical Dose section has been revised twice. Revisions include: recalculating 

the X-ray doses to the skin for March 1975 to the present; removing the combined dose for 

posterior-anterior (PA) and lateral (LAT) skin X-rays since different areas of the skin are 

exposed for each of these procedures (individual doses remain in the site profile); and removing 

the dose for lumbar spine exams.

The Occupational Environmental section has also been updated twice to include additional 

periods of operation with feed material and recycled uranium to be consistent with the Internal 

Dose section. Based on worker comments, the authors added a discussion regarding potential 

worker exposures to neptunium (Np237) with a fraction to uranium as high as 90%. During the 

revision process, the NIOSH Team found documentation in reports from 1962 that workers with 

the highest potential for Np237 exposure were sent to Y-12 for whole body counts, and no 

detectable Np237 was found. 

Three revisions of the Internal Dosimetry section include the addition of Table 5-1 to highlight 

the radiological source term for various processes and facilities. Table 5-2 provides isotopic 

fractions by process or facility. Table 5-4 was modified to include additional radionuclides and 

measurements, and to lower the minimum detectable concentrations (MDCs) for several 

measurement types for in vitro assays (urine analysis).

The External Dosimetry section has been revised three times. NIOSH added additional 

information in Section 6.3.2.2 about average neutron energy ranges based on depleted and 

natural uranium cylinders. Section 6.3.4.3 was revised to include additional discussion of neutron 

studies at other sites (Portsmouth, X-10, and Y-12) to develop neutron dose fractions (Table 6-

5). The average recorded cumulative deep dose and shallow dose tables were removed and 

included in a separate technical document on co-worker dose at the Paducah site. The uncertainty 

section was simplified and condensed.

Ms. Winslow emphasized the importance of getting input from workers to make the site profile a 

better tool for accurate dose reconstructions. She asked the attendees to examine the site profile 

to see if they have additional information that NIOSH can evaluate for use in the revision 

process. She concluded by stating that information can be sent directly to NIOSH.

Mr. Cameron stated that he had brought a copy of the site profile to leave with the Council. He 

reiterated the importance of worker input to the revision process. He encouraged the attendees to 
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review the site profile to see if they might have information or questions about issues that are 

specific to building trades workers. He offered his assistance to help them contact NIOSH 

personnel to discuss any concerns they may have. 

Mr. Cameron stated that the NIOSH Team developed ORAUT-OTIB-0052 (Technical 

Information Bulletin: Parameters to Consider When Processing Claims for Construction Trade 

Workers) to address the national Building Trades Department concern that by the nature of their 

work, construction workers are often exposed to higher radiation doses than production workers 

without benefit of monitoring. The document gives dose reconstructors guidance to multiply the 

results of building trades workers’ dose reconstructions by a factor of 1.4 when there is no 

construction worker co-worker data available. 

Mr. Cameron explained that any worker who was employed at the Paducah site and developed 

cancer can file an EEOICPA claim. The worker (or his or her survivors) may be compensated for 

$150,000 automatically if the worker meets the employment time and medical diagnosis 

requirements of the SEC class. The Act also awards medical benefits for energy employee 

claimants from the filing date forward. Mr. Cameron stated that it is important for anyone who 

has worked at the site and has become ill to file a claim. However, if the claimant does not meet 

the eligibility requirements for the SEC class, the claim must undergo dose reconstruction. 

Mr. Darnell stated that when the NIOSH Team met with the Steelworkers the previous evening, 

there had been some discussion about the operations in Buildings C400 and C410. He said that 

NIOSH is looking for new information from workers who know the facilities and processes. He 

asked if the attendees had any questions, but got no response.

Mr. Cameron stated that trades workers may receive radiation exposures when they perform such 

tasks as opening pipes or tearing up floors in contaminated areas. He asked the attendees if any 

of them could comment. One attendee stated that, although he had not been at the site himself, it 

was possible for such an exposure to happen.

Ms. Winslow stated that the Building Trades Council could help by telling their members about 

the Act and helping them get to the right places to file claims. She explained that every claimant 

is interviewed prior to the dose reconstruction to give NIOSH information on where they 

worked, what kind of jobs they performed, what exposures they may have had, and any incidents 

or accidents that may have happened in their areas. She emphasized that it was important for the 

worker to provide as much information as possible to help the dose reconstructors make an 

accurate calculation of their radiation dose. She encouraged the attendees to spread that message 

to their members who were filing claims.

[Name redacted] commented that it is often difficult to verify that construction workers were 

working around the contaminated areas in the earlier periods of operation when highly 

contaminated equipment and materials were brought in from other sites in the 1950s. He stated 

that some men became ill for unknown reasons and passed away in the 1960s and 1970s. Their 

surviving family members have an especially hard time documenting their eligibility because the 

records cannot be located. Mr. Cameron confirmed that it is very important to understand that 

certain surviving family members may be eligible to file claims. Mr. Darnell added that the DOL 

will accept Social Security records or co-worker affidavits as proof of employment if no other 

records can be located.

The attendees described varying degrees of success with survivor claimants. Mr. Cameron 
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explained that the Building Trades Department’s Center for Construction Worker Research and 

Training (CPWR) has an office that helps EEOICPA claimants from the building trades in 

dealing with the DOL. He said that Joe Hudson of the Paducah Building Trades Medical 

Surveillance Program is a good local resource for help with the claims process.

Mr. Darnell added that Denise Brock, the NIOSH Ombudsman for EEOICPA Part B issues, may 

also help claimants resolve issues. Ms. Brock was instrumental in helping claimants from the 

Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. Louis, Missouri, to become the first SEC class added by 

petition. NIOSH asked her to become their Ombudsman to assist claimants with problems. Ms. 

Brock’s contact information is on the NIOSH Web site. 

[Name redacted] commented that there had been many local meetings with the DOL regarding 

the program and that there had been Ombudsmen there from various governmental agencies.

Mr. Cameron stated that the EEOICPA claims process is set up with numerous resources 

available for its claimants. He provided his contact information to the Council members and 

offered his assistance in helping them connect with helpful advocates.

Mr. Darnell asked the attendees if they had any further questions or comments. He suggested that 

they get the word out to their affiliate members and help them go through the site profiles. Mr. 

Darnell stated that NIOSH needs workers to provide information about activities that are not 

documented in the official records, or where the records are missing or have been destroyed. Mr. 

Cameron added that information after 1992 is even more important since claims filed by workers 

hired after that time must have dose reconstructions.

An unidentified attendee asked if NIOSH would hold meetings with their individual affiliates. 

Mr. Darnell replied that NIOSH would need to have lead time to prepare for any subsequent 

meetings with the individual unions. NIOSH can also arrange public meetings.

Mr. Cameron thanked the Council members for their time and adjourned the meeting at 

approximately 10:40 a.m.