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Rocky Flats Plant

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(Site Profile/Docket Number 032)

Location: Golden, Colorado

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 one open/active SEC petition from Rocky Flats Plant. The petition did not qualify for evaluation, but the petitioner disagreed with NIOSH’s findings and asked for an Administrative Review of the decision. Three HHS employees who were not involved in the original decision have been appointed by the Director of NIOSH to conduct the Administrative Review.

Class(es) Added to the SEC

  • April 1, 1952 through December 31, 1958: Employees of DOE, its predecessor agencies, or DOE contractors or subcontractors who were monitored or should have been monitored for neutron exposures while working at the Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, Colorado, for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days from April 1, 1952, through December 31, 1958, or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the SEC.

    Note: This class was established from Petition 30

  • January 1, 1959 through December 31, 1966: Employees of DOE, its predecessor agencies, or DOE contractors or subcontractors who were monitored or should have been monitored for neutron exposures while working at the Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, Colorado, for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days from January 1, 1959, through December 31, 1966, or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the SEC.

    Note: This class was established from Petition 30

  • April 1, 1952 through December 31, 1983: All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors who worked at the Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, Colorado, from April 1, 1952, through December 31, 1983, 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 included in the Special Exposure Cohort.

    Note: This class was established from Petition 192

Classes Not Added to the SEC

  • DOE employees or its contractor or subcontractor employees at the Rocky Flats plant in Golden, Colorado, who were exposed to radiation dose from 1967 through 2005 and who were exposed to any radiation dose other than neutron dose from 1952 through 1966.

    Note: This class was established from Petition 30

  • January 1, 1984, through December 31, 2005: All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors who worked at the Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, Colorado, from January 1, 1984, through December 31, 2005.

    Note: This class was established from Petition 192

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 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.

Worker Outreach Activities for Rocky Flats Plant:

Advisory Board Work Group on Rocky Flats Plant

This Work Group is responsible for reviewing the Rocky Flats Plant Site Profile, the SEC petition from Rocky Flats Plant petitioners, the NIOSH Evaluation Report of the petition, the SC&A Review of the Rocky Flats Plant 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:

  • David Kotelchuck, Ph.D., MPH (Chair)

  • R. William Field, Ph.D., M.S.

  • Phillip Schofield

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 pdf icon[215 KB (9 pages)]
    Revised August 4, 2020

    Revision Includes: Captures the other sections of this TBD due to Advisory Board comments and items associated with SEC-00192. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

  • Site Description pdf icon[1.0 MB (80 pages)]
    Revised February 1, 2007

    Revision Includes: Approved Revision 01 revised in response to formal OCAS and ORAU comments. Includes additional incidents and occurrences post-1981. This revision addresses Worker Outreach comments as described in CT-0200 and CT-0204, in Section 2.4.5. Revised to consider attribution per ORAU direction and to respond to Union member comments. Incorporates NIOSH formal review comments. No further changes occurred as a result of formal internal review. Constitutes a total rewrite of document. This revision results in no change to the assigned dose and no PER is required.

  • Occupational Medical Dose pdf icon[281 KB (17 pages)]
    Revised August 19, 2019

    Revision Includes: Updates occupational medical X-ray doses for AP and LAT lumbar spine in Table 3-7; for PFG, AP, and LAT chest in Table A-1; and AP and LAT lumbar and PA chest in Table A-2 based on information presented in ORAUT-OTIB-0006, Revision 05. Table 3-7 column header dates corrected to read “1951–1970” and “1971–1974”. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

  • Occupational Environmental Dose pdf icon[1 MB (57 pages)]
    Revised September 1, 2020

    Revision Includes: Addresses Advisory Board comments and items associated with SEC-00192. Added discussion of Federal Bureau of Investigation raid in 1989. Updated internal intakes to be consistent with external because the sources of the data are the same. Updated onsite ambient values. Deleted Attachment B. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of document.

  • Occupational Internal Dose pdf icon[5 MB (263pages)]
    Revised September 1, 2020

    Revision Includes: Captures Advisory Board comments and items associated with SEC-00192. Includes update to the co-exposure study in Attachment D to capture the data from OCAS-TIB-0014. Added 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 pdf icon[3 MB (109 pages)]
    Revised January 14, 2019

    Revision Includes: Revision initiated to capture Advisory Board comments and items associated with SEC-00192. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

Technical Information Bulletins (TIBs)

  • ORAUT-OTIB-0058 Rev-01 PC-1: External Coworker Dosimetry Data for Rocky Flats Plant

    About this Document: New Technical Information Bulletin to provide information to allow dose reconstructors to assign doses at the Rocky Flats Plant to certain workers who have no or limited monitoring data, based on site coworker data.

    Note: This document has been canceled. There is no longer a need to keep this information in a stand-alone document. The information contained in this document has been incorporated into the Rocky Flats Plant Site Profile section: Occupational External Dose.

  • ORAUT-OTIB-0038 Rev-00: Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site 

    About this Document: New Technical Information Bulletin for assigning Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site internal doses based on coworker bioassay data.

    Note: This document has been canceled. There is no longer a need to keep this information in a stand-alone document. The information contained in this document has been incorporated into the Rocky Flats Plant Site Profile section: Occupational External Dose.

  • OCAS-TIB-014 Rev-00: Rocky Flats Internal Dosimetry Coworker Extension–CANCELED
    Approved December 7, 2006

About this Document: Extends TIB 38: Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. In order to extend the analysis beyond 1988, data was obtained from the Rocky Flats site’s HIS-20 database. The purpose of this TIB is to extend the previous TIB 38 utilizing the same methodology.

Note: This document has been canceled. There is no longer a need to keep this information in a stand-alone document.The information was incorporated into ORAUT-TKBS-0011-5 Rev 02: Occupational Internal Dose.

  • ORAUT-OTIB-0027 Rev-00: Supplementary External Dose Information for Rocky Flats

    About this Document: Establishes the technical basis for supplementary external dose information for Rocky Flats Plant.This document has been canceled. There is no longer a need to keep this information in a stand-alone document. The information contained in this document has been incorporated into the Rocky Flats Plant Site Profile section: Occupational External Dose.

  • ORAUT-OTIB-0050 Rev-00:Use of Rocky Flats Neutron Dose Reconstruction Project Data in Dose Reconstructions

    About this Document: Establishes the technical basis to establish guidance for the use of Rocky Flats Neutron Dose Reconstruction Project data in dose reconstructions.

    Note: This document has been canceled. There is no longer a need to keep this information in a stand-alone document. The information contained in this document has been incorporated into the Rocky Flats Plant Site Profile section: Occupational External Dose.

Advisory Board and NIOSH Discussions on Rocky Flats Plant

The Rocky Flats 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-0010 Rev-00: Program Evaluation Report: The Effect of Rocky Flats Neutron Dose Reconstruction Project Data pdf icon[21 KB (2 pages)]April 13, 2007

    About this Document: New document to report the impact of data received from the Rocky Flats Plant Neutron Dose Reconstruction Project.

    Summary: Neutron doses at Rocky Flats were re-evaluated as part of the Rocky Flats Neutron Dose Reconstruction Project (NDRP). These records were provided to OCAS as part of the individual dosimetry records. The application of the NDRP data to dose reconstructions is described in ORAUT-OTIB-0050, Rev. 00.

  • OCAS-PER-0021 Rev-00: Program Evaluation Report: Rocky Flats Plant Dose Reconstruction Method Modifications pdf icon[14 KB (1 page)]September 20, 2007

    About this Document: New document to determine which previously completed claims require evaluation for the effect of revising Rocky Flats Plant TBDs and TIBs.

    Summary: The Department of Labor indicated they will return all claims to NIOSH that were not determined to be a member of the SEC. Therefore, no evaluation of the modifications to dose reconstruction methodology is necessary. NIOSH will complete a new dose reconstruction for all claims returned by DOL using the current methodology. It should be noted that some of these claims will be unaffected by these modifications and some dose reconstructions may decrease as a result of removing dose associated with the SEC basis.

    The last document to be revised to incorporate changes as a result of the SEC deliberation and designation was the external dose section of the Rocky Flats Technical Basis Document. This document was revised on August 17, 2007. Therefore, the returned claims should consist only of those approved prior to that date. This totals 590 claims, some of which NIOSH previously requested a return based on other PERs.

Miscellaneous Documents

Public Comments on Rocky Flats Plant Documents

How to Submit Comments

Comments on Rocky Flats 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 (032) on all comments.

Comments Received

Document Archive for Rocky Flats Plant

Site Profile Document Archive

  • Site Profile

    • Introduction

    • Site Description pdf icon[920 KB (58 pages)]
      Approved January 10, 2004

    • Occupational Medical Dose

      • Revised June 27, 2017 pdf icon[640 KB (27 pages)]

        Revision Includes: Updates occupational medical X-ray doses for PFG, AP and LAT lumbar spine, and AP chest examinations. The AP chest examination dose update is specific to those performed starting June 11, 2001. Skin dose guidance and doses are also included in Attachment 1 of this revision based on information presented in ORAUT-OTIB-0006 Rev 04. Additional information regarding the availability of X-ray inventory sheets starting around February 2009 is included. CLL uncertainty parameters have been included as well. Updates Table A-2 to separate skin dose values for PA chest examinations between 1971 and 2001 into two time periods (1971-1984 and 1985-2001). Corrects transcription errors in Table A-1 of 8 skin doses for LAT exams performed prior through 1970 to correctly reflect values listed in ORAUT-OTIB-0006 Rev 04. Incorporates formal internal review comments. No changes occurred as a result of formal NIOSH review. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

      • Revised April 23, 2007 pdf icon[476 KB (20 pages)]

        Revision Includes: Initiated to revise Table 3.4.2-2 (now Table 3- 6), text, and dose estimate tables to be consistent with ORAUTOTIB- 0006 Rev 03 PC-1. Revised Table 3.2-1 (now Table 3-1) and text to specify the inclusion of termination X-rays for the period of 1952-1986. Revised Table 3.4.1-2 (now Table 3-5) per commitment tracking form dated 02/06/2006. Revised to include attribution information per ORAU direction. The Worker Outreach comment from CT-0203 was addressed. Worker outreach comment from the June 23, 2004, meeting of the United Steelworkers of America Local 8031 and Rocky Flats Security Officers Local Union 1 was addressed in Section 3.1. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of document. This revision results in an increase in assigned dose and a PER is required.

      • Approved February 9, 2004 pdf icon[227 KB (27 pages)]

        About this Document: New Technical Basis Document for the Rocky Flats Plant – Occupational Medical Dose. Incorporates NIOSH review comments. First approved issue.

    • Occupational Environmental Dose

      • Revised April 23, 2007 pdf icon[1 MB (57pages)]

        Revision Includes: Update to Section. 4.1.1 with standard NIOSH text, updated intakes to reflect site-wide maximum intakes which required obtaining location-specific model output as opposed to location-averaged output. Converted intake units to Bq, changed recommended AMAD to 0.3 ìm for some years, clarified that resuspension was addressed in modeling. Added CDPHE data for 1999-2005, other clarifications re SC&A comments. Attachment B updated to incorporate ICRP 68 organ dose factors. Worker Outreach comments pertaining to CT-0202 and CT-0208 have been addressed in a revision of Section 4.2.3. Revised to incorporate attribution per ORAU direction. Incorporates NIOSH formal review comments and an additional comment, changing recommendation of 0.3 ìm to 1.0 ìm AMAD for certain years. Constitutes a total rewrite of document. This revision results in an increase in assigned dose and a PER is required.

      • Revised June 29, 2004 pdf icon[664 KB (56 pages)]

        Revision Includes: NIOSH material added to Introduction; Table 4-1 Columns corrected; Table 4-2 values corrected; P. 50 table list change; Sect. B.2 3H dose factor discussion added; P. 52 table ID changed. Averaged two 1973 Pu and Am intake values to provide one annual estimate; changed FEIS reference citation on p. 8, and corrected reference list for 2 citations.

      • Approved January 6, 2004 pdf icon[659 KB (56 pages)]]

    • Site Profile: Occupational Internal Dose

      • Revised September 30, 2014pdf icon[2.9 MB (177 pages)]

        Revision Includes: Revision initiated to incorporate Advisory Board comments, the approval of SEC-00192, and new dose reconstruction approaches in assessing tritium, 233U, and recycled uranium. Incorporates additional clarifications on current dose reconstruction guidance. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.

      • Revised August 17, 2007 pdf icon[2.3 MB (162 pages)]

        Revision Includes: Initiated to capture Advisory Board comments associated with the June 2007 Advisory Board meeting. Incorporation of thorium and internal coworker from ORAUT-OTIB-0038 and OCAS-TIB-014. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.

      • Revised February 1, 2007 pdf icon[1.7 MB (123 pages)]

        Revision Includes: Approved Revision 01 revised to reflect current introductory material. Revised in response to Union comments. Change made to Table 5- 9. Constitutes a total rewrite of document. This revision addresses Worker Outreach comments as described in CT-0201, CT-0206, and CT-0207. Revised to incorporate attribution, per ORAU request. The Worker Outreach comments from the June 23, 2004, meeting of the United Steelworkers of America Local 8031 and Rocky Flats Security Officers Local Union 1 are addressed in Section 5.3.2 and 5.4.2 regarding internal organ counts; Sections 5.2.1.2, 5.2.2.2, 5.2.3.2., and 5.2.4.2 regarding particle size and that as many reports as possible have been reviewed in the writing of this section. The Worker Outreach comments from the June 23, 2004, meeting of Colorado State Building and Construction Trades regarding whole body counting are addressed in Sections 5.3.2 and 5.2.4. Incorporates internal and NIOSH formal review comments. This revision results no change to the assigned dose and no PER is required.

      • Page Change Revision December 13, 2005 pdf icon[1.5 MB (103 pages)]

        Revision Includes: Page change initiated to incorporate recent direction from NIOSH to include DOL review comments on page 7 in Section 5.1. Change made to Table 5.3.1.4.2-2 on page 17 in Section 5.3. No sections were deleted.

      • Approved January 12, 2004 pdf icon[1.5 MB (102 pages)]

    • Occupational External Dose

      • Revised October 20, 2010 pdf icon[4.6 MB (105 pages)]

        Revision Includes: Page change initiated to update references and NIOSH required language on pages 10 and 11 in Section 6.1. Corrected text inconsistencies to indicate that non-affected original neutron dose, in addition to NDRP neutron dose, should be used in the reconstruction. Original neutron dose, in addition to notional neutron dose, should not be used in dose reconstruction. These changes occurred in pages 48 and 49 in Section 6.7.3.3. Updated references throughout and on page 65 in the Reference Section. No sections were deleted. No changes occurred as a result of formal internal review. Incorporates formal NIOSH review comments.

      • Revised August 14, 2007 pdf icon[1.5 MB (105 pages)]

        Revision Includes: Initiated to capture Advisory Board comments associated with the June 2007 Advisory Board meeting. The following OTIBs have been incorporated into this document during this revision: ORAUT-OTIB-0027, ORAUT-OTIB-0050, and ORAUTOTIB- 0058. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.

      • Revised February 8, 2007 pdf icon[1.4 MB (90 pages)]

        Revision Includes: Approved Revision to incorporate NIOSH-requested material, responses to questions by dose reconstructors, responses to Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health review, and attribution of certain statements in document. Constitutes a total rewrite of document. Added Section 6.11, Attributions and Annotations. Worker Outreach comments pertaining to CT-0205 and CT-0209 have been addressed. Incorporates internal and NIOSH formal review comments. The Worker Outreach comments from the June 23, 2004, meeting of the United Steelworkers of America Local 8031 and Rocky Flats Security Officers Local Union 1 are addressed as follows: Lead aprons and port covers, Section 6.5.5; Neutron Dose Reconstruction Project, Sections 6.3.5.2, 6.4.2, and 6.7.3.4; and exposure geometry and gloveboxes, Sections 6.5, 6.6.4, 6.7.4, and 6.8.4. This revision results in an increase in assigned dose and a PER is required.

      • Approved January 20, 2004 pdf icon[1.3 MB (68 pages)]

Technical Information Bulletin (TIB) Document Archive

  • Technical Information Bulletin: Rocky Flats Internal Dosimetry Coworker Extension

    • December 7, 2006 pdf icon[109 KB (17 pages)]

      Document Number: OCAS-TIB-014 Rev-00

      About this Document: Extends TIB 38: Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. In order to extend the analysis beyond 1988, data was obtained from the Rocky Flats site’s HIS-20 database. The purpose of this TIB is to extend the previous TIB 38 utilizing the same methodology.

      Note: This document has been canceled. There is no longer a need to keep this information in a stand-alone document. The information contained in this document has been incorporated into the Rocky Flats Plant Site Profile section: Occupational External Dose.

  • Supplementary External Dose Information for Rocky Flats

    • May 19, 2005 pdf icon[53 KB (9 pages)]

      Document Number: ORAUT-OTIB-0027 Rev. 00

      About this Document: Establishes the technical basis for supplementary external dose information for Rocky Flats Plant.

  • Internal Dosimetry Coworker Data for Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site

  • Use of Rocky Flats Neutron Dose Reconstruction Project Data in Dose Reconstructions

  • Technical Information Bulletin: External Coworker Dosimetry Data for Rocky Flats Plant

    • Page Change Revision March 29, 2007 pdf icon[90 KB (16 pages)]

      Document Number: ORAUT-OTIB-0058 Rev-01 PC-1

      Page Change Revision Includes: Corrects errors in the steps on pages 9 and 10 of Section 7.0. Step 3 was combined with Step 4 in Rev 01. This resulted in a renumbering of the steps. Step 7 in Rev 01 was redundant and was deleted. Tables 7-3 and 7-6 were removed based on comments from NIOSH. In addition, data for 1969 and 1970 was updated based on an analysis of the HIS-20 dataset with readings of “zero” removed. No further changes occurred as a result of formal internal review. Recalculated coworker dose distributions for 1969-70 in Tables 7.1, 7.2, 7.3. 7.4 on pages 11, 12, 13, and 14. Attributions and Annotations Section was added on page 15. This revision results in no change to the assigned dose and no PER is required.

    • Revised January 8, 2007 pdf icon[90 KB (17 pages)]

      Document Number: ORAUT-OTIB-0058 Rev-01

      Page Change Revision Includes: Approved Revision 01 due to the release of ORAUT-OTIB-0052 Rev 00 pdf icon[288 KB (35 pages)] and comments received from NIOSH. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document. Incorporates internal formal review comments. Incorporates NIOSH formal review comments and additional information found regarding neutron to photon ratios for the period 1970-1976. Added Table 6-2. This revision results in an increase in assigned dose and a PER is required.

    • Approved May 12, 2006 pdf icon[135 KB (13 pages)]

      Document Number: ORAUT-OTIB-0058 Rev-00

      About this Document: New Technical Information Bulletin to provide information to allow dose reconstructors to assign doses at the Rocky Flats Plant to certain workers who have no or limited monitoring data, based on site coworker data.

Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) Document Archive

Page last reviewed: September 28, 2015
Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health