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Chapman Valve

On This Page

Special Exposure Cohort
Worker Outreach Activities
Advisory Board Work Group
Technical Documents
Advisory Board and NIOSH Discussions
Program Evaluation Plans and Reports (PEPs and PERs)
Public Comments
Document Archive

(Site Profile/Docket Number 042)

Location: Indian Orchard, Massachusetts

Also Known As: Chapman Valve Manufacturing Co., Crane Co.

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 Chapman Valve.

Classes Not Added to the SEC

All Atomic Weapons Employees who were monitored, or should have been monitored for radiological exposures while performing Atomic Energy Commission work at the Chapman Valve Manufacturing Company (i.e., Building 23 and Dean Street facility) in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, from January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1949, and from January 1, 1991 through December 31, 1993

Note: This class was established from Petition 43

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 43
Steps in Petition Process:	Petition Details:
Date Received	August 23, 2005
Date Qualified for Evaluation	November 9, 2005
Summary of Information in Petition	Location: Indian Orchard, Massachusetts Job Titles and/or Job Duties: Various Period of Employment: From 1948 through 1949 and from 1991-1995 (DOE Remediation) 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	August 23, 2005 [2.2 MB (42 pages)] (1948 through 1949 and from 1991–1995)
Federal Register Notice Announcing that a Chapman Valve SEC Petition has met the Minimum Qualifications for Review and Evaluation	December 27, 2005 [78 KB (1 page)] (1948 through 1949 and from 1991–1995)
SEC Petition Evaluation Report	Revised February 5, 2008 [224 KB (43 pages)] (January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1949 and January 1, 1991 through December 31, 1993)
Evaluation Report Sent to the Advisory Board	August 30, 2006 (Revision 1) (January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1949 and January 1, 1991 through December 31, 1993)
Petition Discussed by the Advisory Board	The petition was discussed by the Advisory Board on September 20, 2006; May 3, 2007; July 18, 2007; January 8, 2008; April 8, 2008, June 26, 2008, February 10, 2010; May 20, 2010, July 14, 2010, and February 23, 2011, during its regular meetings. Note: Agendas and transcripts for Board meetings will be posted on the Advisory Board and Public Meetings page as soon as they become available.
Advisory Board Recommendation on SEC Petition	March 28, 2011 [27 KB (1 page)] (January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1949 and January 1, 1991 through December 31, 1993)
HHS Letters to Congress Regarding the SEC Petition	June 3, 2011 [104 KB (9 pages)] (January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1949 and January 1, 1991 through December 31, 1993)
HHS Designation/Determination of Additional Members to the SEC	Determination: June 3, 2011 [36 KB (4 pages)] (January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1949 and January 1, 1991 through December 31, 1993) Note: A “designation” means that HHS is recommending a class be added to the SEC. A “determination” means that HHS is recommending a class not be added to the SEC.
Federal Register Notice: Designation/Determination Regarding a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort	Determination: June 24, 2011 [50 KB (1 page)] (January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1949 and January 1, 1991 through December 31, 1993) 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	Note: This only applies if the class is added to the SEC.
Federal Register Notice: Final Effect of Designation of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort	Note: This only applies if the class is added to the SEC.
Letter to DOL Regarding the Addition of a New Class of Employees to the SEC	Note: This only applies if the class is added to the SEC.

SEC Petitions Not Qualifying for Evaluation

Not applicable at this time

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 Chapman Valve:

February 14, 2005
Meeting with Chapman Valve Manufacturing, held at Western Massachusetts COSH office, Springfield, Massachusetts
Final Minutes [50 KB (12 pages)]

Advisory Board Work Group on Chapman Valve

Work Group Members:

John W. Poston (Chair)
Bradley P. Clawson
Genevieve S. Roessler, Ph.D.

Meeting Information:

February 9, 2011
Teleconference Meeting of the Advisory Board’s Work Group on Chapman Valve

Time/Location:

3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Meeting Type: Teleconference; Public, No Comment Period

Teleconference: +1-866-659-0537
Participant Code: 9933701

Pre-Decisional Document Policy

Available Meeting Items:
- An agenda will be provided at a later date.
- Transcript [71 KB (38 pages)]
June 25, 2008
Meeting of the Advisory Board’s Work Group on Chapman Valve

Time/Location:

7:30 a.m. Central Standard Time (CST)
Meeting Type: Face-to-Face; Public, No Comment Period

Millennium Hotel Complex
200 S. 4th Street
St. Louis, MO 631121
Phone: (314) 241-9500

Teleconference: +1-866-659-0537
Participant Code: 9933701

Pre-Decisional Document Policy

Available Meeting Items:
- An agenda will be provided at a later date
- Transcript [87 KB (40 pages)]
May 1, 2008
Meeting of the Advisory Board’s Work Group on Chapman Valve

Time/Location:

10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Meeting type: Face-to-Face; Open to Public; No Public Comment Period

Cincinnati Airport Marriott
2395 Progress Dr.
Hebron, KY 41048
Phone: (859) 586-0166

Teleconference: +1-866-659-0537
Participant Code: 9933701

Pre-Decisional Document Policy

Available Meeting Items:
- Agenda [53 KB (1 page)]
- Transcript [405 KB (108 pages)]
April 23, 2007
Teleconference Meeting of the Advisory Board’s Work Group on Chapman Valve

Time/Location:

9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Meeting Type: Teleconference; Public, No Comment Period

Teleconference: +1-866-659-0537
Participant Code: 9933701

Pre-Decisional Document Policy

Available Meeting Items:
- Agenda: To discuss Chapman Valve.
- Transcript [344 KB (86 pages)]
April 10, 2007
Meeting of the Advisory Board’s Subcommittee for Dose Reconstruction Reviews

Time/Location:

9:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Meeting Type: Face-to-Face; Public, No Comment Period

Cincinnati Airport Marriott
2395 Progress Dr.
Hebron, KY 41048
Phone: (859) 586-0166

Teleconference: +1-866-659-0537
Participant Code: 9933701

Pre-Decisional Document Policy

Available Meeting Items:
- Agenda: This meeting has been scheduled to discuss the Chapman Valve SEC petition.
- Transcript [529 KB (131 pages)]
February 23, 2007
Meeting of the Advisory Board’s Work Group on Chapman Valve

Time/Location:

8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Meeting Type: Face-to-Face; Public, No Comment Period

Cincinnati Airport Marriott
2395 Progress Dr.
Hebron, KY 41048
Phone: (859) 586-0166

Teleconference: +1-866-659-0537
Participant Code: 9933701

Pre-Decisional Document Policy

Available Meeting Items:
- Agenda: This meeting has been scheduled to discuss Chapman Valve.
- Transcript [552 KB (146 pages)]
Items for Discussion:
- Issues Matrix for Chapman Valve SEC Petition Evaluation Report [142 KB (5 pages)]

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.

Technical Basis Documents

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.

Chapman Valve Manufacturing, Indian Orchard, Massachusetts [467 KB (33 pages)]
Revised September 12, 2008

Advisory Board and NIOSH Discussions on Chapman Valve

The Chapman Valve 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.

Draft: Issues Connected to the Chapman Valve Exposure Matrix and the SEC Petition Evaluation Report [2.1 MB (120 pages)]
Contract No. 200-2004-03805
Task Order No. 5
SCA-SEC-TASK5-0054
December 6, 2006

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-0022 Rev-00: Chapman Valve TBD Revision [15 KB (1 page)]
September 20, 2007

About this Document: New document to determine which previously completed claims require evaluation for the effect of revising the Chapman Valve TBD.

Summary: There were 31 Chapman Valve claims completed with a probability of causation below 50% prior to the revision to the TBD. Twenty one of these were completed using TIB 4. Because that document describes a higher dose estimate than the revision to the Chapman Valve TBD, no further evaluation is necessary for those claims. The remaining 10 Chapman Valve claims were completed using revision 0 of the Technical Basis Document. NIOSH is requesting that these claims be returned for a new dose estimate. A new dose reconstruction will be completed for each of the claims using the latest revision to the Chapman Valve TBD.

Public Comments on Chapman Valve Documents

How to Submit Comments

Comments on Chapman Valve 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 (042) on all comments.

Comments Received

Draft: Issues Connected to the Chapman Valve Exposure Matrix and the SEC Petition Evaluation Report [2.6 MB (120 pages)]
May 18, 2007
Contract No. 200-2004-03805
Task Order No. 5
SCA-SEC-TASK5-0054
December 6, 2006
Letter received from Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry and Congressman Richard E. Neal regarding the Chapman Valve SEC petition [325 KB (4 pages)]
September 19, 2006
Comments from Richard D. Miller: Comment on Chapman Valve [120 KB (2 pages)]
May 31, 2005

Document Archive for Chapman Valve

Special Exposure Cohort Petition Evaluation Report for Chapman Valve [298 KB (43 pages)]
Approved August 31, 2006
Technical Basis Document
- Revised October 16, 2006 [315 KB (32 pages)]
  
  Revision Includes: Replaced boilerplate language in Section 1.0. Added information from February 2005 Worker Outreach meeting. Added additional claim-supplied information. Added discussion supporting assumption of unenriched uranium. Added information regarding the use of a furnace/incinerator and provided a comparison of internal exposures to NUMEC incinerator operators with derived Chapman Valve exposures. Added information on the radiological safety program from a 1952 newspaper account. Added information regarding the month of the previously reported 1948 fire. Provided information developed for SEC petition evaluation report. Reanalyzed intake regimes as directed by OCAS using the largest of the 40 results not associated with the fire, 0.03 mg/L, for each sampling period to calculate a non-fire intake rate, and using the largest result associated with the fire, 0.08 mg/L, for the June 11, 1948 result, and keeping the other results the same as for the nonfire scenario to calculate the fire-associated intake scenario. Both intake scenarios are directed to be constant distributions in IREP. Added a comparison of Chapman derived air concentrations with air concentrations measured at other facilities. Added figures showing location of chip burner and dust, debris and soil sampling.
  
  Corrected two residual radioactivity external exposure values (increased rates by a factor of 2). Incorporated formal internal review comments, NIOSH and DOL comments. This revision results in an increase in assigned dose.
- Approved February 22, 2005 [189 KB (22 pages)]