Office of Compensation Analysis and Support (OCAS)

General Activities on Atomic Weapons Employer (AWE) Cases

The Act (EEOICPA) established a compensation program for individuals who, over the past 50 years, have performed duties uniquely related to the nuclear weapons production and testing programs at the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies. The list of covered employees also includes workers from certain Atomic Weapons Employers (AWEs).

2008 Data Search and Capture Efforts for AWE Cases

OCAS will reconstruct radiation doses by evaluating all appropriate data relevant to which an individual worker or group of workers have been exposed, particularly when radiation monitoring data are unavailable, incomplete, or of poor quality. Early in 2002, DOE indicated that they had provided all data and information they held on AWE sites. OCAS has been able to locate radiation information needed to conduct dose reconstructions.

OCAS along with Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), the contractor hired to support NIOSH's responsibilities under the The Act, have been involved in data search and data capture efforts. These efforts are being conducted at various DOE sites and federal and private records storage locations throughout the United States.

Listed below are the data search and capture efforts for AWE sites that occurred in 2008. When available, we have included the sites for which information was recovered. The most recent efforts are at the top of the list:

• Kansas City Federal Records Center
  Kansas City, MO
  July 2008
  
  During this data capture effort, 102 boxes of information were reviewed and 146 documents were retrieved. Uranium guidelines, radiological survey results, and characterization results were retrieved for the Baker Brothers facility; site plan, low level waste storage disposal records, gamma-ray exposure rate surveys, and reports of analysis were retrieved for the Albany Research Center; and sampling data and an activity safety envelope for remedial action were retrieved for the Associated Aircraft Tool and Manufacturing Co.
  
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• Atlanta National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
  Morrow, GA
  June 2008
  
  Twenty-three boxes of information were reviewed and 303 documents were retrieved during this data capture trip such as: shipments of billets to sites from the B&T Metals & Revere Copper and Brass facilities; progress reports from 1943 and 1945, badge results, air sampling results, and radium body burdens for the Linde Ceramics Plant; discussions of pitchblende as a source for polonium as well as uranium and radium, March and October 1944 film badge results, and a 1942 summary of experimental work with uranium for the Vitro Manufacturing (Canonsburg) facility.
  
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• Atlanta National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
  Morrow, GA
  May 2008
  
  Thirty-six boxes of information were reviewed and 176 documents were retrieved. The following information was retrieved: reports on transactions between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Vitro Manufacturing (Canonsburg) facilities; correspondence regarding material transfers and a sampling of Atomic Nuclear Propulsion logbooks dating from 1955 from the General Electric (Ohio) facility; a roster of employees that identifies actual time spent on Manhattan Engineering District and Atomic Energy Commission work, inventories of uranium scrap to be burned, and a brief history of the types of ore handled at the Vitro Manufacturing (Canonsburg) facility; plant processes and problems, radiological survey data, and internal and external dosimetry data for the Harshaw Chemical Co. facility.
  
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• MoundView
  Miamisburg, OH
  May 2008
  
  During this data capture trip, the following information was retrieved: uranium rolling data for Allegheny Ludlum Steel and Bethlehem Steel; enriched uranium and thorium procedures for and enriched uranium shipments to Sylvania Corning Nuclear Corp. (Bayside); and trip reports for Simonds Saw & Steel. Fifteen boxes of information were reviewed and 89 documents were retrieved.
  
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• MoundView
  Miamisburg, OH
  April 2008
  
  Fifteen boxes of information were reviewed and 237 documents were retrieved during this data capture effort. The following documents were retrieved: TH02 project, processed thorium nitrate, thorium oxide powder, enriched uranium and thorium receipts, blood chemistry work, incident reports, process reports, and off-site air sampling data.
  
  This effort recovered information on the following AWE sites:
  
  

  General Electric Company (Ohio)

  W.R. Grace

  
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• Argonne National Laboratory - East
  Argonne, IL
  March 2008
  
  Sixty-nine boxes were reviewed and 126 documents were retrieved during this data capture effort. The following documents were retrieved: radiological logbooks (1944-1945); external exposure data; miscellaneous personnel files; historical files such as memos, activity reports, and miscellaneous information (1942-1949); laboratory notes (1944-1945); experiment investigation reports; incident reports; Metallurgical Laboratory Project Handbook (1945); animal experiments (1944-1945); personnel listings (1944-1945); air sample data; radiation surveys; correspondence files; personnel exposures; incident reports; and weekly activity reports.
  
  This effort recovered information on the following AWE site:
  
  

  Metallurgical Laboratory

  
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• United States Department of Energy Headquarters
  Germantown, MD
  March 2008
  
  During this data capture trip, relevant parts of the Manhattan Engineering District History manuals were retrieved. Processes were described and captured.
  
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• MoundView
  Miamisburg, OH
  March 2008
  
  Thirty-one boxes were reviewed and 356 documents were retrieved. Mound Plant Ac-227 bioassay data, neutron dosimetry tests, lists of authorized entrants for the R Building Corridor 5 Project, analysis of liquid scintillation count of plutonium, paired neutron-photon whole body, extremity dosimetry results, plutonium body burden data, polonium kidney and spleen lifetime doses, and incident reports were retrieved.
  
  This effort recovered information on the following AWE site:
  
  

  Sylvania-Corning Nuclear Corp. (Bayside Laboratories)

  
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• MoundView
  Miamisburg, OH
  February 2008
  
  During this data capture effort, 25 boxes of information were reviewed and 96 documents were retrieved. Thorium accountability documents, film badge correspondence, film badge results, air samples, radon monitoring results, uranium inventories, isotopic and chemical analyses, environmental surveillance plans, spoil pile radiological surveys, water sample results, and gamma neutron survey results were retrieved.
  
  This effort recovered information on the following AWE sites:
  
  

  Vitro Manufacturing

  W.R. Grace (Erwin)

  
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• State of New Jersey, Department of Environmental Radiation
  Trenton, NJ
  January 2008
  
  During this data capture, 14 Boxes, 2 File Cabinets, and 6 Shelves of information were reviewed. Ninety-three remediation and environmental documents were retrieved.
  
  This effort recovered information on the following AWE sites:
  
  

  Du Pont Deepwater Works

  Kellex/Pierpont

  Maywood Chemical Works

  Westinghouse Electric Corp. (Bloomfield)

  
  

Technical Documents Used in Dose Reconstruction

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. General information on these documents and a listing of approved technical documents can be found on the Technical Documents Used in Dose Reconstruction page.

Report on Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination at Atomic Weapons Employer Facilities and Beryllium Vendor Facilities

This update to the Report on Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination at Atomic Weapons Employer Facilities and Beryllium Vendor Facilities is the second revision of the original study reported in November 2002 and revised in June 2004. NIOSH is required to submit this report by the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2005, which amended The Act. This report evaluates whether significant residual contamination remained at atomic weapons employer or beryllium vendor facilities after such facilities had concluded work for DOE or its predecessor agencies.

Report
PDF 2.3 MB (9 pages)

Appendix A-1
PDF 30 KB (12 pages)

Appendix A-2
PDF 46 KB (14 pages)

Appendix A-3
PDF 536 KB (236 pages)

Appendix B-1
PDF 22 KB (4 pages)

Appendix B-2
PDF 23 KB (4 pages)

Appendix B-3
PDF 237 KB (96 pages)

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