I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2114 
To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program 
Act of 2000 to include certain former nuclear weapons program workers 
in the Special Exposure Cohort under the Energy Employees Occupa-
tional Illness Compensation Program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 27, 2009 
Mr. HIGGINS (for himself, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. LEE of New York, and Mr. 
MASSA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education 
and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Com-
pensation Program Act of 2000 to include certain former 
nuclear weapons program workers in the Special Expo-
sure Cohort under the Energy Employees Occupational 
Illness Compensation Program, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ed Walker Memorial 
Act for Improvements to the Energy Employees Occupa-
tional Illness Compensation Program’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Beginning in the mid-1940s, workers at 
hundreds of facilities owned by the Federal Govern-
ment and entities in the private sector produced and 
processed radioactive materials for use in the nu-
clear weapons program of the United States. 
(2) Those workers at nuclear weapons facilities 
helped to build the nuclear arsenal that served as a 
deterrent to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, 
but many of those workers paid a high price in 
terms of their health. 
(3) During the Cold War, many workers at nu-
clear weapons facilities were exposed to radiation 
and placed in harm’s way by the Department of En-
ergy and contractors, subcontractors, and vendors of 
the Department— 
(A) without the knowledge and consent of 
the workers; 
(B) without adequate radiation monitoring; 
and 
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(C) without necessary protections from in-
ternal or external occupational radiation expo-
sures. 
(4) Because of the inequities described in para-
graph (3) and the resulting potential harm to work-
ers employed at nuclear weapons facilities, Congress 
designated classes of Cold War-era workers at the 
Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio, Oak Ridge 
K–25, and Amchitka Island test sites as members of 
the Special Exposure Cohort under the Energy Em-
ployees Occupational Illness Compensation Program 
Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.). 
(5) The contribution of the State of New York 
to the security of the United States throughout the 
Cold War was very significant. 
(6) Thirty-six former atomic weapons employer 
facilities or Department of Energy facilities that 
produced and processed radioactive materials, car-
ried out classified research, operated nuclear reac-
tors, and processed high level nuclear waste are lo-
cated in New York. Fourteen of those facilities are 
located in the western region of New York. 
(7) Research by the Department of Energy, the 
National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health, the Advisory Board on Radiation and Work-
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er Health, and congressional committees indicates 
that— 
(A) workers at certain atomic weapons em-
ployer facilities and Department of Energy fa-
cilities were not adequately monitored for inter-
nal or external exposures to ionizing radiation 
to which the workers were exposed during the 
1940s, 1950s, and 1960s; and 
(B) at other facilities, records were not 
maintained, or the records from those facilities 
are not reliable or failed to measure the radio-
active isotopes to which workers were exposed. 
(8) No personal radiation dosimetry monitoring 
records are available from the Bethlehem Steel site 
in Lackawanna, New York, which falls within the 
definition of an atomic weapons employer facility 
under section 3621 of the Energy Employees Occu-
pational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 
(42 U.S.C. 7384l). 
(9) Section 3626(b) of the Energy Employees 
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 
2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384q(b)) authorizes the President, 
upon the recommendation of the Advisory Board on 
Radiation and Worker Health, to designate addi-
tional classes of employees in the Special Exposure 
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Cohort if it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient 
accuracy the radiation dose that the class received 
and there is a reasonable likelihood that the radi-
ation dose may have endangered the health of mem-
bers of the class. 
(10) On May 28, 2004, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services issued a final rule establishing 
procedures for designating additional classes of em-
ployees in the Special Exposure Cohort (69 Fed. 
Reg. 30,764). 
(11) Legislation is needed to provide additional 
parameters to the President, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services, and the Advisory Board on 
Radiation and Worker Health for evaluating peti-
tions for inclusion in the Special Exposure Cohort of 
classes of employees with respect to which there was 
limited or nonexistent individual radiation exposure 
monitoring or an absence of records. 
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SEC. 3. ADDITION OF CLASSES OF FORMER NUCLEAR 
WEAPONS PROGRAM WORKERS TO THE SPE-
CIAL EXPOSURE COHORT UNDER ENERGY 
EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS COM-
PENSATION PROGRAM. 
Section 3626(b) of the Energy Employees Occupa-
tional Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 
U.S.C. 7384q(b)) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(1)’’; 
(2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as subpara-
graph (B); 
(3) by striking the period at the end and insert-
ing ‘‘; or’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2)(A) in the case of a class of employees em-
ployed at a Department of Energy facility or an 
atomic weapons employer facility during a period (in 
the aggregate) of at least 250 days (or a shorter du-
ration connected to discrete events, as determined by 
the President) during which— 
‘‘(i) the employees in the class had the po-
tential for exposure to occupational ionizing ra-
diation from production or processing materials 
related to atomic weapons, or engaged in re-
search, development, testing, assembly, dis-
assembly, decontamination, decommissioning, or 
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waste management, or work related to such ac-
tivities; and 
‘‘(ii)(I) fewer than 50 percent of the em-
ployees in the class were individually monitored 
on a regular basis (using reliable methods and 
procedures) under a formal health physics pro-
gram for exposure to internal and external ion-
izing radiation for the types of radiation and 
specific radioactive isotopes to which the em-
ployees had the potential for exposure during 
the period when the employees were exposed; 
‘‘(II) individual internal and external expo-
sure records for the types of radiation and spe-
cific radioactive isotopes to which the employees 
in the class were potentially exposed at the fa-
cility during the period when the employees 
were exposed are nonexistent or are not avail-
able; or 
‘‘(III) to the extent that a portion of indi-
vidual internal or external records are available 
for the period from the facility, individual radi-
ation doses cannot be reliably determined for 
more than 2⁄3 of the employees in the class 
using the individual internal and external moni-
toring records from the facility; and 
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‘‘(B) in the case of a class of employees em-
ployed at a facility with respect to which the Direc-
tor of the National Institute for Occupational Safety 
and Health has made the determination described in 
section 3169(b)(4) of the Ronald W. Reagan Na-
tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
2005 (Public Law 108–375; 42 U.S.C. 7384 note) 
during the residual contamination period described 
in such section, the employees at the facility met the 
criteria described in clauses (i) and (ii) of subpara-
graph (A).’’. 
SEC. 4. REGULATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall issue regulations for desig-
nating additional classes of employees as members of the 
Special Exposure Cohort under section 3626(b)(2) of the 
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation 
Program Act of 2000, as amended by section 3. 
(b) BETHLEHEM STEEL SITE.—Not later than 90 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services shall determine 
under 3626(b)(2) of the Energy Employees Occupational 
Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, as amended 
by section 3, whether workers employed at the Bethlehem 
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Steel site in Lackawanna, New York, meet the require-
ments of such section for membership in the Special Expo-
sure Cohort. 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall submit to Congress a report that 
identifies each of the following: 
(1) Any Department of Energy facilities or 
atomic weapons employer facilities (as those terms 
are defined in section 3621 of the Energy Employees 
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 
2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384l)) at which classes of employ-
ees were employed that meet the requirements for 
membership in the Special Exposure Cohort under 
section 3626(b)(2) of the Energy Employees Occu-
pational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, 
as amended by section 3. 
(2) The number of such classes. 
(3) The number of employees in each such 
class. 
Æ 
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