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Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/X-10)

(Site Profile/Docket Number 023)

Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Also known as: Clinton Laboratories

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

To date, there are no open/active SEC petitions from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/X-10).

Class(es) Added to the SEC

  • All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors who worked in any area at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (X-10) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, from June 17, 1943, through July 31, 1955, 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

    Note: This class was established by Petition 189.

Petitions Qualified for Evaluation

Below is a list of the petitions that qualified for evaluation. Select a petition on the list to view the table for that particular petition.

Petition 189 (Jan 1, 1943 to Dec 31, 1952)

Petition 189
Steps in Petition Process: Petition Details:

Date Received

July 18, 2011

Date Qualified for Evaluation

October 11, 2011

Summary of Information in Petition

Job Titles and/or Job Duties: All contractor employees, subcontractor employees, and AEC employees who were monitored or should have been monitored for any of the various radionuclides and fission products present at the X–10 Plant

Period of Employment: January 1, 1943 through December 31, 1952

Note: The information above is what qualified for evaluation. During our evaluation of whether dose reconstructions can adequately be completed for the above job titles and period of employment, information may cause NIOSH to change some the dates or job titles/duties. Therefore, as this petition proceeds through the SEC petition process and if an SEC class is proposed, the proposed class may not exactly match the above information.

Copy of the Petition Received

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL or X-10) SEC Petition [6.7 MB (267 pages)]

Federal Register Notice Announcing that a Revere Copper and Brass SEC Petition has met the Minimum Qualifications for Review and Evaluation

October 19, 2011 [40 KB (1 page)]

SEC Petition Evaluation Report

August 17, 2012 [1.7 MB (131 pages)]

Evaluation Report Sent to the Advisory Board

August 22, 2012

Petition Discussed by the Advisory Board

The Advisory Board discussed this petition on September 18, 2012, during its regular meeting.

Note: the agenda and transcripts from this meeting are available on the Advisory Board and Public Meetings page.

Advisory Board Recommendation on SEC Petition

October 31, 2012 [62 KB (2 pages)]

HHS Letters to Congress Regarding the SEC Petition

December 7, 2012 [63 KB (10 pages)]

HHS Designation of Additional Members to the SEC

December 7, 2012 [34 KB (5 pages)]

Federal Register Notice: Designation Regarding a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort

December 28, 2012 [48 KB (1 page)]

Note: A “designation” will be published if there is a recommendation to add a class to the SEC. A “determination” will be published if there is a recommendation not to add a class to the SEC.

Effective Date for the SEC Class

January 6, 2013

Federal Register Notice: Final Effect of Determination of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort

January 17, 2013 [48 KB (1 page)]

Letter to DOL Regarding the Addition of a New Class of Employees to the SEC

January 7, 2013 [89 KB (1 page)]

SEC Petitions Not Qualifying for Evaluation

There were six additional petitions received but did not qualify for evaluation. Five petitions did not meet the minimum petition requirements for evaluation and the other petition was withdrawn by the petitioner.

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.

Worker Outreach Activities for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/X-10):

Advisory Board Work Group on Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/X-10)

This Work Group is responsible for a review of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/X-10) Site Profile and a review of the Site Profile by the Board’s contractor (SC&A). The Work Group shall consider issues identified by SC&A concerning the Site Profile and shall 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:

  • Genevieve S. Roessler, Ph.D. (Chair)
  • R. William Field, Ph.D., M.S.
  • Richard A. Lemen, Ph.D., M.S.P.H.
  • Loretta R. Valerio

Meeting Information

  • No meetings have been announced at this time

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 [38 KB (7 pages)]
    Approved August 11, 2004

  • Site Description [1.2 MB (79 pages)]
    Revised August 17, 2007

    Revision Includes: Initiated to add Attributions and Annotations section. Added references and made editorial changes. Incorporates formal internal review comments.

  • Occupational Medical Dose [315 KB (29 pages)]
    Revised October 1, 2007

    Revision Includes: Initiated to include Attribution and Annotation section. Incorporates formal internal review comments most of which were editorial and pertained to more than the added Attributions and Annotations section. Table 3-6 had the factor of two removed that was applied to the organ dose values for the ovaries, testes, and uterus. Incorporates formal NIOSH review comments.

  • Occupational Environmental Dose [233 KB (41 pages)]
    Approved May 7, 2004

  • Occupational Internal Dose [1 MB (73 pages)]
    February 8, 2013

    Revision Includes: Adds new SEC designation to Section 5.1.3 and incorporates definitions and directions for dose reconstruction for claims that are excluded from the 1943 through July 31, 1955, Special Exposure Cohort. Removed Section 5.4 and Attachment B from the text and Table of Contents. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.

  • Occupational External Dose [688 KB (92 pages)]
    Revised September 10, 2007

    Revision Includes: Initiated to include Attributions and Annotations, Purpose, and Scope sections, and additional references. Made editorial changes. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.

Technical Information Bulletins

  • ORAUT-OTIB-0021 Rev-01: External Coworker Dosimetry Data for the X-10 Site [208 KB (12 pages)]
    Revised November 7, 2006

    About this Document: Establishes the technical basis to provide information to allow Dose Reconstructors (Health Physicists) to assign doses to workers at the X-10 site who have no or limited monitoring data, based on site coworker data.

    Revision Includes: Approved Revision 01 due to release of ORAUT-OTIB-0052, Rev. 00. Per new document requirements, added a table of contents. This revision results in an increase in assigned dose and a PER is required. This revision also documents minor corrections to Table 2 that do not require a PER.

  • ORAUT-OTIB-0034 Rev-03: Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for X-10 [649 KB (37 pages)]
    Revised May 5, 2014

    About this Document: Establishes the technical basis to assign X-10 internal doses based on coworker bioassay data.

    Revision Includes: Removes the inclusion of the Pilot Plant in Section 4.3.5 and Section 5.2, 1st bullet. Updates references. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.

Advisory Board and NIOSH Discussions on Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/X-10)

The documents listed under this section were prepared by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (or their technical support contractor) or NIOSH. Some of the items listed below are working documents and were developed for discussion purposes only. The documents represent preliminary positions taken on technical issues. Draft, preliminary, interim, and white paper documents are not final positions unless specifically marked as such.

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

Public Comments on Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/X-10) Documents

How to Submit Comments

Comments on Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/X-10) 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 (023) on all comments.

Comments Received:

Document Archive for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/X-10)

  • Section 2: Site Description

    • Revised August 30, 2006 [1 MB (80 pages)]

      Revision Includes: Constitutes a total rewrite as a result of biennial review. Text was revised to reflect recent construction and other site changes. In addition, the revision added guidance in Section 2.2.55 that maintenance workers should be evaluated using coworker data when appropriate, in response to comments received from the Worker Outreach Meeting with the Oak Ridge Atomic Trades and Labor Council on November 8, 2004. No further changes occurred as a result of internal formal review. Incorporates NIOSH formal review comments. This revision results in no change to the assigned dose.

    • Approved November 14, 2003 [849 KB (66 pages)]
  • Section 3: Occupational Medical Dose section

    • Page Change Revision July 21, 2006 [230 KB (27 pages)]

      Page Change Revision Includes: Approved page change revision initiated to incorporate recent direction from NIOSH to include details for the definition of a DOE facility on page 5 in Section 3.1. Adds Purpose and Scope sections on page 6. Revised to delete the uterus as a surrogate organ to the ovaries on page 15 in Section 3.5 and on page 24 in Table 3-7 in Section 3.4. Makes corrections in Table 3-5 on pages 20 and 21 and in Table 3-6 on pages 22 and 23 in Section 3.6. Incorporates NIOSH formal review comments. No sections were deleted.

    • Revised October 29, 2004 [224 KB (26 pages)]

      Revision Includes: Revised to remove 25% timing error correction from ESE and organ dose values from PA chest exams between 1964 and 1990.

    • Site Profile: Occupational Medical Dose section [226 KB (27 pages)]
      Approved April 20, 2004
  • Section 5: Occupational Internal Dose

    • Revised October 1, 2007 [2 MB (74 pages)]

      Revision Includes: Initiated to include Attributions and Annotations, Purpose and Scope sections. Revised Section 5.4. Made editorial changes. No further changes occurred as a result of formal internal review. Incorporates formal NIOSH review comments

    • Page Change Revision May 30, 2006 [1 MB (70 pages)]

      Revision Includes: Update required language in the Introduction on page 8 in Section 5.1. Adds Section 5.4 on pages 28 and 29 on using air monitoring data to assign best estimates of internal dose for unmonitored ORNL workers during the 1944-1947 period. Makes reference changes on pages 30 and 32 in the Reference Section. Adds Attachment 5B, on pages 67, 68, 69, and 70, which gives the technical justification for this protocol. No changes occurred as a result of internal formal review. Incorporates NIOSH formal review comments. No sections were deleted.

    • Approved June 29, 2004 [1 MB (64 pages)]
  • Section 6: Occupational External Dose
  • ORAUT-OTIB-0021 Rev-00: External Coworker Dosimetry Data for the X-10 Site [71 KB (8 pages)]
    December 29, 2004
  • Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for X-10

    • ORAUT-OTIB-0034 Rev-02: Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for X-10 [606 KB (37 pages)]
      Revised January 21, 2014

      About this Document: Establishes the technical basis to assign X-10 internal doses based on coworker bioassay data.

      Revision Includes: Revision to modify Sections 4.3.5, 5.1, and 5.2 to reference OTIB-0054 rather than provide fission products ratios based on environmental monitoring records. Clarification added that Type S strontium should only be applied if exposure to strontium titanate is assumed. In addition, guidance on when to assign the 95th percentile intake rates was added.

    • ORAUT-OTIB-0034 Rev-01: Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for X-10 [618 KB (39 pages)]
      Revised April 23, 2013

      About this Document: Establishes the technical basis to assign X-10 internal doses based on coworker bioassay data.

      Revision Includes: Plutonium modeling updated to include best estimate intakes for Type S material. 95th-percentile intakes added for all nuclides. Attachment A data tables expanded to include information on the number of samples and employees used in the statistical analysis.

    • ORAUT-OTIB-0034 Rev-00: Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for X-10 [580 KB (29 pages)]
      December 13, 2005

      About this Document: Establishes the technical basis to assign X-10 internal doses based on coworker bioassay data.

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