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Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25 Site)

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(Site Profile/Docket Number 026)

Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Also Known As: East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP)

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 Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25 Site).

SEC Petitions Not Qualifying for Evaluation

One petition was received, but was later closed because the class was already established by the Act. Two additional petitions were received, but did not meet requirements to qualify for evaluation.

Classes Added to the SEC

  • Employees who worked at least 250 days before February 1, 1992, at a gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah, Kentucky; Portsmouth, Ohio; or Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and who were or could have been monitored in those jobs using dosimetry badges

    Note: The SEC was established by the Act. The K-25 Site was one of the classes that Congress included when the Act was signed.

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 Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25 Site):

Advisory Board Work Group on K-25, Paducah, and Portsmouth (Gaseous Diffusion Plants/GDPs)

This Work Group is responsible for a review of the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25 Site) 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:

  • Paul L. Ziemer, Ph.D. (Chair)

  • Henry A. Anderson, M.D.

  • Josie Beach

  • David Pompa

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 [94 KB (9 pages)]
    Revised May 4, 2006

    Revision Includes: Incorporates introductory language and updates the document for biennial review. No further changes resulted as a result of formal internal review.

  • Site Description [128 KB (14 pages)]
    Revised October 4, 2006

    Revision Includes: Revised the Introduction to include required language by NIOSH. Added Purpose and Scope sections. Deleted unnecessary Figure 2.1-1 in Section 2.2. Responded to Worker Outreach comments 22 and 24. No further changes occurred as a result of formal internal review. No changes were required due to the K25 Worker Outreach SPFPA and IGUA Worker Outreach meeting held on April 5, 2006 or K25 Worker Outreach PACE Local 5-288 and Pace International Union Worker Outreach meeting held on April 6, 2006. This revision results in no change to the assigned dose.

  • Occupational Medical Dose [532 KB (28 pages)]
    Revised November 18, 2019

    Revision Includes: (1) Updates doses to the present era, (2) provides directions about lumbar spine examination records, and (3) provides IREP dose distributions and statistical parameters for B-lymphocytes (Table 3-3). Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

  • Occupational Environmental Dose [581 KB (22 pages)]
    Revised June 22, 2007

    Revision Includes: Added Attributions and Annotations section. No further changes occurred as a result of formal internal and NIOSH review. This revision results in no change to the assigned dose and no PER is required.

  • Occupational Internal Dose [257 KB (24 pages)]
    Page Change Revision October 4, 2006

    Revision Includes: Page change revision to update required language in the Introduction on page 5. Adds Purpose and Scope sections on pages 6 and 7. Incorporates Worker Outreach comments in on page 12 in Section 5.5 and page 14 in Section 5.6. Adds RU sentence on page 11 in Section 5.4. Adds two references to page 17. Incorporates NIOSH formal review comments. Incorporates internal formal review comments. Corrects dates on page 6 in Section 5.3 for consistency. Provides reference to Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for K-25. This revision results in no change to the assigned dose.

  • Occupational External Dose [164 KB (24 pages)]
    Page Change Revision September 26, 2006

    Revision Includes: Approved page change revision to add required language on pages 7 and 8 in Section 6.1. Changed wording on pages 11 and 15 in Sections 6.5.2.1 and 6.6 respectively. Tables 6-4 and 6-5 on pages 14, 15, and 16 in Sections 6.5.1 and 6.5.2 in Rev 00 have been replaced with Table 2 from ORAUT-OTIB-0026 Rev 00 PC-1. Added references on page 21 in Reference Section. This revision addresses comments from the K25 Worker Outreach SPFPA and IGUA Worker Outreach meeting held on April 5, 2006 or K25 Worker Outreach PACE Local 5-288 and Pace International Union Worker Outreach meeting held on April 6, 2006. All worker outreach comments were considered. In a number of comments, the information was already covered and no change to the document was made. Incorporates internal and NIOSH formal review comments. To address Worker Outreach comment PACE #48, Table 6-4 and 6-5 were replaced with Table 2 from ORAUT-OTIB-0026. No sections were deleted. This revision results in no change to the assigned dose.

Technical Information Bulletins

  • ORAUT-OTIB-0026 Rev-00 PC-2: External Coworker Dosimetry Data for the K-25 Site [136 KB (11 pages)]
    Page Change Revision November 15, 2006

    About this Document: Establishes the technical basis to allow Dose Reconstructors (Health Physicists) to assign doses to certain workers at the K-25 site who have no or limited monitoring data, based on site coworker data.

    Revision Includes: Approved page change revision due to release of OTIB-0052. Updates required language on page 4 in Section 1.0. Lists ORAUT-OTIB-0052 Rev 00 as a reference on page 6 in Section 5.0. Removes Section 8.0 on page 10, changes title and inserts on page 11. No further changes occurred as a result of formal internal and NIOSH review. No sections were deleted. This revision results in an increase in assigned dose and a PER is required.

  • ORAUT-OTIB-0035 Rev-00 PC-1: Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for K-25 [246 KB (19 pages)]
    Page Change Revision July 21, 2006

    About this Document: Establishes the technical basis for assignment of K-25 internal doses based on coworker bioassay data.

    Revision Includes: Approved page change revision to add updated language to Section 1.0 on pages 5 and 6. Details were added to page 6 in Section 2.0. The date in Section 5.1 and in Table 5.1 on page 8 was changed from 1948 to 1945. Attachment C, Estimate of Intake Rates for 1945-1947 was added to pages 18 and 19. Incorporates internal and NIOSH formal review comments on pages 6, 7, 8, and 9 in Sections 2.0, 4.0, 5.1, and 5.2 respectively. No sections were deleted.

Advisory Board and NIOSH Discussions on Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25 Site)

Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25 Site) 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-0011 Rev-00: Program Evaluation Report: K-25 TBD and TIB Revisions [17 KB (2 pages)]

    September 26, 2007

    About this Document: New document to determine which previously completed claims require a new dose reconstruction as a result of changes to the K-25 dose reconstruction methods.

    Summary: There were 432 claims completed by NIOSH between 11/24/2004 and 8/31/2006 that resulted in a POC less than 50%. This does not include claims that may have been submitted in that time frame but subsequently returned to NIOSH for any reason. All these claims will be reviewed by NIOSH to determine if external co-worker data was used. NIOSH will request that DOL return those claims completed before 5/21/2005 determined to have been completed using external co-worker data. NIOSH will also request the return of those claims completed with external co-worker data between 5/21/2005 and 8/31/2006 if they are deemed a Construction Trades worker. DOL will be provided with documentation for the remaining claims indicating the claim did not meet these criteria.

Public Comments on Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25 Site) Documents

How to Submit Comments

Comments on Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25 Site) 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 (026) on all comments.

Comments Received

At this time, no comments have been submitted.

Document Archive for Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25 Site)

  • Site Profile: Introduction [31 KB (5 pages)]
    Approved January 6, 2004
  • Site Profile: Site Description [110 KB (14 pages)]
    Approved January 12, 2004
  • Site Profile: Occupational Medical Dose
    • Page Change Revision November 7, 2006 [116 KB (12 pages)]
      Revision Includes: Approved page change revision to update required language on pages 4 and 5 in Section 3.1. Updates acronyms and abbreviations on page 3. Adds a Purpose Section and a Scope Section on page 5. No sections were deleted. No further changes occurred as a result of formal internal review. No changes required to this document due to Worker Outreach comments. This revision results in no change to the assigned dose and no PER is required.
    • Approved June 29, 2004 [95 KB (12 pages)]

  • Site Profile: Occupational Medical Dose

    • Revised March 28, 2013 [225 KB (21 pages)]

      Page Change Revision Includes: Updates doses according to site-specific information and recently revised ORAUT-OTIB-0006. Incorporates resolutions to Sanford Cohen & Associates comments. Also incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

  • Site Profile: Occupational Environmental Dose
    • Page Change Revision September 26, 2006 [252 KB (21 pages)]
      Page Change Revision Includes: Approved page change revision to include new standard language on page 6 in Section 4.1. Adds reference to page 13 in Reference Section. No sections were deleted. No changes occurred as a result of internal formal review.
      OCAS comment was addressed. No changes were required due to the K25 Worker Outreach SPFPA and IGUA Worker Outreach meeting held on April 5, 2006 or K25 Worker Outreach PACE Local 5-288 and Pace International Union Worker Outreach meeting held on April 6, 2006. However, the document previously addressed the following comments:
      From K25 Worker Outreach SPFPA and IGUA Worker Outreach meetings April 5, 2006-Response to Comment #30: Atmospheric releases are addressed in Section 4.2.1.
      From K25 Worker Outreach PACE Local 5-288 and Pace International Union Worker Outreach comments April 6, 2006-Response to Comment #4: Fires are discussed in the reference “DOE (U.S. Department of Energy), 2000b, Independent Investigation of the East Tennessee Technology Park.” Response to Comment #33: Atmospheric releases of Uranium and other radioactive materials are addressed in Section 4.2.1. Response to Comment #45: Because of the known limitations of air monitoring environmental intakes are calculated based on releases of materials; this is discussed in Section 4.2. Response to Comment #46: As documented in Section 4.3.1, neutron exposures were not reported for environmental results until 2003.
      This revision results in no change to the assigned dose.
    • Approved December 29, 2004 [242 KB (19 pages)]
  • Site Profile: Occupational Internal Dose
  • Site Profile: Occupational External Dose [204 KB (24 pages)]
    Approved November 24, 2004
  • Technical Information Bulletin: External Coworker Dosimetry Data for the K-25 Site
  • ORAUT-OTIB-0035 Rev-00: Technical Information Bulletin: Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for K-25 [150 KB (15 pages)]
    Approved August 9, 2005