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Pinellas Plant

(Site Profile/Docket Number 041)

Location: Clearwater, Florida

Special Exposure Cohort Petition Information

The Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) is a unique category of employees established by The Act (42 CFR Part 83). Claims compensated under the SEC do not have to go through the dose reconstruction process. To qualify for compensation under the SEC, a covered employee must meet specific requirements (e.g., must have at least one of 22 “specified cancers,” and have worked for a specified time period at one of the SEC sites). Classes of employees and work sites can be considered for addition to the SEC through a NIOSH petition process. More information about the Special Exposure Cohort can be found on our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Open/Active SEC Petitions

There is currently one open/active SEC petition, Petition 242. NIOSH is reviewing the petition to see if it qualifies for evaluation. If the petition qualifies, it will receive a full evaluation by NIOSH, the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

SEC Petitions Not Qualifying for Evaluation

Six petitions were received but did not qualify for evaluation because they did not meet the minimum petition requirements.

Worker Outreach Activities

Based on a recommendation from the Advisory Board to provide workers and site experts with opportunities to participate in developing the technical documents used in dose reconstruction, NIOSH established a Worker Outreach Program.

At Worker Outreach Meetings, current and former DOE and AWE employees have opportunities to obtain information about Site Profiles, Technical Basis Documents, and Technical Information Bulletins, and to provide information for consideration and possible use in dose reconstruction. This process is valuable to ensure that the technical documents used in dose reconstruction contain correct and useful information.

Below are the Worker Outreach Activities for the Pinellas Plant:

Advisory Board Work Group on the Pinellas Plant

This Work Group is responsible to review the Pinellas Plant Site Profile (as revised), to review the SC&A Review of the Pinellas Plant Site Profile, to consider issues raised by the Board’s contractor (SC&A) concerning the Site Profile, and to assist NIOSH and SC&A in the resolution of such issues. The Work Group may recommend to the Board changes in the Site Profile as appropriate.

Work Group Members:

  • Phillip Schofield (Chair)
  • Bradley P. Clawson
  • John W. Poston, Sr.

Meeting Information:

Pre-Decisional Document Policy

Please note that as part of the procedures and processes of the Advisory Board’s Work Groups, several kinds of pre-decisional documents may be developed. These pre-decisional documents, such as white papers, matrices, working drafts, etc., are distributed among Work Group members as research and background tools to facilitate discussion and deliberation. Although discussion during a public meeting may cover pre-decisional documents, these documents often are not further revised or finalized, and thus do not reflect the final determination or evaluation of the Advisory Board and its Work Groups. Additionally, some pre-decisional documents not otherwise posted on the website may contain sensitive information, which would require an interested party to obtain such documents by filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the CDC/ATSDR FOIA office at foiarequests@cdc.gov.

Technical Documents

If the energy employee’s personal radiation information is incomplete, NIOSH will use other sources to estimate the radiation dose. This may involve using technical documents called Site Profiles, Technical Basis Documents, and Technical Information Bulletins.

Site Profile

  • Introduction [113 KB (12 pages)]
    Revised April 18, 2011
  • Site Description [1 MB (41 pages)]
    Revised April 1, 2011Revision Includes: Addresses SC&A comments on the document, as identified in SCA-TR-TASK1-0015. Incorporates a large amount of newly captured information. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.
  • Occupational Medical Dose [341 KB (31 pages)]
    Revised October 13, 2011Revision Includes: Addresses comments from Sanford Cohen & Associates as identified in SCA-TR-TASK1-0015. Added skin doses for all projections. Includes editorial changes. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.
  • Occupational Environmental Dose [611 KB (50 pages)]
    Revised July 15, 2011Revision Includes: Addresses SC&A’s issues with the document, as identified in SCA-TR-TASK1-0015. In addition, the bases for the annual environmental intakes and the annual onsite ambient external doses were redone. This included redoing the atmospheric dispersion calculations that each of them were based on. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.
  • Occupational Internal Dose [420 KB (36 pages)]
    Revised July 18, 2016Revision Includes: Sections 5.7.1.1 and 5.7.1.2 were modified to incorporate changes agreed upon by the Pinellas Plant Working Group. Additionally, Section 5.3.1 was modified to provide more details about the tritium contamination smear collection and analysis procedures. Sections 5.2.1 and 5.3.1 were modified to provide additional details, which included changes to the References Section. Section 5.2.1 was modified to provide additional details regarding organically bound tritium. Section 5.4.2 was modified to provide additional details regarding the analysis of the tritium bioassay samples. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
  • Occupational External Dose [620 KB (59 pages)]
    Revised April 28, 2011Revision Includes: Addresses SC&A’s issues with the document, as identified in SCA-TR-TASK1-0015. Adjustments to certain photon dosimeter results now need to be made per Section 6.3.1.1. Photon LOD values specific to the Mound dosimeters are now provided in Table 6-10. Significant changes were also made on how neutron doses are assessed, and the new approaches are described in Section 6.3.2. The applicability dates for the various types of neutron dosimeters used at the site were changed, and are now in Table 6-11. In addition, a number of editorial changes were made to this document. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

Technical Information Bulletins (TIBs)

Advisory Board and NIOSH Comments and Discussion Papers on Pinellas Plant

The Pinellas Plant discussion papers listed below are working documents prepared by NIOSH or its contractor for use in discussions with the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health or its Working Groups or Subcommittees. Draft, preliminary, interim, and white paper documents are not final NIOSH or Advisory Board (or their technical support and review contractors) positions unless specifically marked as such. These documents represent preliminary positions taken on technical issues prepared by NIOSH or its contractor.

The discussion papers have been reviewed to identify and redact any information that is protected by the Privacy Act 5 USC §552a and have been cleared for distribution.

Program Evaluation Plans (PEPs) and Program Evaluation Reports (PERs)

NIOSH is committed to applying the best available science in dose reconstructions. In keeping with this commitment, completed cases with probabilities of causation less than 50% are reviewed as relevant new information becomes available. The results of these reviews are described in a Program Evaluation Report (PER). The PER details the effect, if any, of the new information on the completed dose reconstruction. If it appears that the new information may result in an increase in dose for a completed dose reconstruction with a probability of causation of less than 50%, NIOSH is committed to working with the Department of Labor to reopen and rework the dose reconstruction, as appropriate. A Program Evaluation Plan (PEP) describes plans for evaluating specific program details or issues.

  • OCAS-PER-0004 Rev-00: Application of Photofluorography at the Pinellas Plant [373 KB (3 pages)]
    February 15, 2005About this Document: Describes the evaluation of the programmatic effect of the discovery of photofluorographic examinations on dose reconstructions for employees of the Pinellas Plant.Summary: Evidence of photofluorography as discovered in a claimant’s medical records from the Pinellas Plant. As a result, photofluorography use at Pinellas Plant is now assumed through 1959. This assumption will not change the likely compensability of any completed dose reconstruction. The relevant ORAU procedure will be modified, and photofluorography use will be assumed in the Pinellas Plant Site Profile.
  • OCAS-PER-028 Rev-00: Program Evaluation Report: Pinellas TBD Revision [14 KB (1 page)]
    October 30, 2007About this Document: New document to determine which previously completed claims require evaluation for the effect of revising the Pinellas Plant TBD.Summary: There were 24 Pinellas Plant dose reconstructions completed with a probability of causation below 50% between August 3, 2006, and November 8, 2006. NIOSH will review these dose reconstructions to determine if missed photon dose was included when appropriate. NIOSH will provide DOL with the list of 24 claims as well as a determination on each claim as to whether a new Dose Estimate is required. Documentation for each claim not requiring a new dose reconstruction will provide the basis for that determination.

Public Comments on Pinellas Plant Documents

How to Submit Comments

Comments on Pinellas Plant Documents can be submitted to the NIOSH Docket Officer electronically by email at nioshdocket@cdc.gov or printed comments can be mailed to:

NIOSH Docket Office
Robert A. Taft Laboratories, MS-C34
1090 Tusculum Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45226
Please include the Site Profile/Docket Number (041) on all comments.

Comments Received

Document Archive for Pinellas Plant

  • Site Profile: Introduction [39 KB (7 pages)]
    Approved April 11, 2005
  • Site Profile: Site Description
    • Revised October 4, 2006 [830 KB (27 pages)]Revision Includes: Approved Revision 01 to make changes according to the public outreach meetings of 09/2004 and 11/2005 and claimant communications. Added required language from NIOSH in the Introduction. Incorporates internal formal review comments, including adding the pilot plant information at the end of section 2.2. Added a Purpose and Scope, Sections 2.1.1 and 2.1.2. Incorporates NIOSH formal review comments. This revision results in no change to the assigned dose.
    • Approved August 5, 2005 [717 KB (23 pages)]
  • Site Profile: Occupational Medical Dose
    • Page Change Revision July 4, 2006 [228 KB (23 pages)]Page Change Revision Includes: Page change revision to incorporate introductory language from NIOSH on pages 5 and 6 in Section 3.0. Deletes the uterus as an analogue/surrogate organ in Table 3.3.3-1 on page 13 in Section 3.3.3 as per Task 5 comment. No changes occurred as a result of formal internal review. Incorporates NIOSH formal and DOL review comments. No sections were deleted.
    • Approved May 6, 2005 [192 KB (22 pages)]
  • Site Profile: Occupational Environmental Dose [353 KB (29 pages)]
    Approved April 5, 2005
  • Site Profile: Occupational Internal Dose
    • Revised February 21, 2012 [380 KB (33 pages)]Revision Includes: With the exception of Section 5.2.2, all plutonium discussions were eliminated from this TBD, discussed at the October 2011 working group meeting for the Pinellas Plant Site Profile. Because internal exposures to plutonium were unlikely at the Pinellas Plant, the plutonium discussions after Section 5.2.2 were determined to be unnecessary and a potential source of confusion. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.
    • Revised April 1, 2011 [339 KB (39 pages)]Revision Includes: Addresses SC&A’s issues with the document, as identified in SCA-TR-TASK1-0015. The changes that potentially affect the assessed doses for workers include: 1) the addition of an approach for assessing potential exposures to insoluble forms of tritium and 2) the modification of some of the default tritium urinalysis MDCs and/or reporting levels. In addition, a number of editorial changes were also made to this document. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.
    • Approved October 7, 2005 [238 KB (31 pages)]
  • Site Profile: Occupational External Dose
    • Page Change Revision November 8, 2006 [668 KB (44 pages)]Page Change Revision Includes: Approved page change revision to incorporate changes according to Task 5 comment and Task 7 amendment to page 27 and 28 in Section 6.4.1.1. Corrects table numbering on page 28 and 29. Adds two references to page 34. Corrects GEND references on pages 20, 24, and 32. No sections were deleted. Incorporates internal formal review comments. Incorporates NIOSH formal review comments. Minor editorial changes were made on pages 24 and 29. Deletes Task 7 amendment to page 27 and 28 in Section 6.4.1.1. Corrects Table 6-5 rows 2 and 3 on page 18. This revision results in an increase in assigned dose and a PER is required.
    • Page Change Revision August 3, 2006 [662 KB (42 pages)]Page Change Revision Includes: Approved page change revision to incorporate changes according to the public outreach meetings in 09/2004 and 11/2005 and claimant communications. Updated required language on pages 6 and 7 in Section 6.1. Added Purpose and Scope Sections on page 7. Changes occurred on page 10, in Section 6.1.4, page 27 in Section 6.4.2, and on pages 29 – 32 in the Reference Section. As a result of internal formal review, changes were made to Tables 6-4, 6-5, 6-11, and 6-12 on pages 16, 17, 25, and 27, respectively in Sections 6.2.3 and 6.4.1.1 and 6.4.2. Wording was added or changed on pages 10, 15, 19, 23, 24, and 27, in Sections 6.1.1, 6.2.3, 6.2.4, 6.3, and 6.4.2.1. No sections were deleted. This revision results in a reduction in assigned dose.
    • Approved September 15, 2005 [650 KB (41 pages)]

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