Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

(Site Profile/Docket Number 054)

Location: Livermore, California

Also known as: California Radiation Laboratory

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 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Class(es) Added to the SEC

  • Employees of the Department of Energy (DOE), its predecessor agencies, and DOE contractors or subcontractors who were monitored for radiation exposure while working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from January 1, 1950, through December 31, 1973, for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days 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 from Petition 92.

  • All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors who worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California from January 1, 1950 through December 31, 1973, 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 from Petition 163.

  • All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors who worked in any area at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, during the period from January 1, 1974, through December 31, 1989, 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 from Petition 221.

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.

SEC Petitions Not Qualifying for Evaluation

In addition to the petitions listed above, three additional petitions were received but did not qualify for evaluation.

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 LLNL:

  • November 17, 2015 Meeting with current and former workers of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, hosted by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Division of Compensation Analysis and Support (DCAS) Final Minutes [167 KB (7 pages)]

  • March 22, 2006
    Meeting with current employees of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, hosted by the Society of Professionals, Scientists and Engineers/University Professional and Technical Employees/Communications Workers of America Local 9119, AFL-CIO
    Final Minutes [55 KB (7 pages)]

  • March 22, 2006
    Meeting with The Society of Professional, Scientists and Engineers/University Professional and Technical Employees/Communications Workers of America Local 9119 (SPSE), in Livermore, California
    Final Minutes [129 KB (30 pages)]

  • March 21, 2006
    Meeting with Building and Construction Trades Council of Alameda County, AFL-CIO, Oakland, California
    Final Minutes [79 KB (13 pages)]

  • November 30, 2004
    Meeting with Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Council, Society of Professional Scientists and Engineers/University Professional and Technical Employees
    Final Minutes [48 KB (7 pages)]

Advisory Board Work Group on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

This Work Group is responsible for reviewing the LLNL Site Profile, the SEC petition from LLNL petitioners, the NIOSH Evaluation Report of the petition, the SC&A Review of the LLNL Site Profile, considering issues raised by the Board’s contractor (SC&A) concerning the Site Profile and the petition Evaluation Report, and for assisting 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. The Work Group should strive to develop a recommendation to the Board on whether a class should be added to the SEC.

Work Group Members:

  • James E. Lockey, M.D. (Chair)

  • Bradley P. Clawson

  • Loretta R. Valerio

  • Paul L. Ziemer, Ph.D.

Meeting Information:

  • None scheduled 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 [64 KB (9 pages)]

    Page Change Revision, September 12, 2005

    Revision Includes: Page change initiated to incorporate recent direction from NIOSH to include DOL review comments on page 5. Text was modified in Section 1.1. No sections were deleted. Page 5 was changed.

  • Site Description [727 KB (22 pages)]

    Page Change Revision, September 12, 2005

    Revision Includes: Page change initiated to incorporate recent direction from NIOSH to include DOL review comments on page 6. No sections were deleted.

  • Occupational Medical Dose [248 KB (20 pages)]

    Revised August 27, 2010

    Revision Includes: Organ dose from lateral and oblique chest projections that were taken on some workers but not initially listed in the records submitted by LLNL. Also included are skin doses for all projections and periods. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

  • Occupational Environmental Dose [2.3 MB (47 pages)]

    June 9, 2020

    Revision Includes: Revised to address the cancellation of ORAUT-PROC-0060. Incorporates onsite ambient dose data and air concentration data through 2018. Revised 1952 to 1972 tritium air concentration data. Revised to update environmental data tables and references before second formal internal review. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

  • Occupational Internal Dose [1.6 MB (113 pages)]

    Revised September 1, 2020

    Revision Includes: Revision initiated to include the potential and intake rates for type SS plutonium. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

  • Occupational External Dose [1.2 MB (81 pages)]

    Revised February 26, 2010

    Revision Includes: Incorporates LLNL measured personnel doses, LLNL document collections and to respond to comments. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

Technical Information Bulletins (TIBs)

Advisory Board and NIOSH Discussions on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 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.

Public Comments on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Documents

How to Submit Comments

Comments on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 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 (054) on all comments.

Comments Received

Document Archive for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Site Profile: Introduction section [57 KB (8 pages)]
    July 18, 2005

  • Site Profile: Site Description section [518 KB (21 pages)]
    July 29, 2005

  • Site Profile: Occupational Medical Dose section

  • Site Profile: Occupational Environmental Dose

  • Site Profile: Occupational Internal Dose

    • Revised August 12, 2016 [1 MB (113 pages)]

      Revision Includes: Revision initiated to incorporate SEC-000221. Revised Section 5.2.3.1 to incorporate additional guidance for which tritium exposures in the form of metal tritides at LLNL should be considered. Revised Section 5.3.1 to incorporate additional information on gross alpha measurements, and more detailed guidance on the analysis of gross alpha, and plutonium bioassay results. Revised Section 5.3.2.1 to incorporate revisions to OTIB-0054. Added Section 5.3.2.4 to incorporate guidance on the analysis of tritium measurements. Revised Section B.4.2.3 to incorporate revisions to OTIB-0054. Revised Attachment C to incorporate additional guidance on the assignment of coworker intakes. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.

    • Revised December 13, 2010 [1 MB (107 pages)]

      Revision Includes: Updates Table B-9 uranium 95th percentile coworker intakes for those time periods that were based on the 50th percentile intakes with a GSD that were rounded up to 3. The previous revision used the actual GSDs in Table B-8 that were less than 3 to determine the 95th percentile coworker intakes for those time periods. Added information pertaining to solubility types for aged related fission products for P-32 and C-14 in Section 5.3.2.3 and added associated footnotes to Tables B-25 and B-26. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.

    • Revised March 16, 2010 [1.7 MB (107 pages)]

      Revision Includes: Incorporates Attributions and Annotations section and Advisory Board comments associated with the issuance of a LLNL SEC Class. Incorporates the internal coworker study (ORAUT-OTIB-0065) into the TBD as Attachment B. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

    • Approved October 7, 2005 [470 KB (40 pages)]

  • Site Profile: Occupational External Dose section

    • Revised April 26, 2007 [176 KB (24 pages)]

      Revision Includes: Revision to respond to comments by ORAU and Task 5. This revision specifically does not respond to Worker Outreach comments received; which will be addressed in a future revision. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Adds Attributions and Annotations section. This revision results in no change to the assigned dose and no PER is required.

    • Approved October 7, 2005 [152 KB (20 pages)]