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Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines
A variety of policies, procedures, and guidelines are used to complete dose reconstructions. They are developed and updated as necessary. Links to the documents are listed below in alphabetical order. The document number, a brief description of the document, and the date the document was approved or revised is provided, when available.
Do you know the title of the policy, procedure, or guideline you are looking for? If you know the title, click on the letter below that corresponds to the first letter of the policy, procedure, or guideline’s title to move where the link and information for the document you are looking for is located on this page.
A
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Alternative Dissolution Models for Insoluble Pu-238 [823 KB (52 pages)]
Document Number: DCAS-RPT-005 Rev. 01
Revised: August 17, 2018
Revision Includes: Removes a typos (SRS) in section A.5.1. Adds text in section A.2 to explain why Mound-13 chosen as representative.
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Applications of Regression Models and Ratios [879 KB (48 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0106 Rev. 00
Approved: August 3, 2023
About this Document: New report generated to illustrate the benefits and detriments of using regression models versus ratios. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
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Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0102 Rev. 00
Approved: December 2, 2021
About this Document: New report to assess the adequacy of Los Alamos National Laboratory bioassay results for the construction of a co-exposure model. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
B
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Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0094 Rev. 00
Approved: September 13, 2019
About this Document: Provides fractions of claimants with external and internal monitoring data and who were subcontractor construction trade workers at the Savannah River Site between 1972 and 1997. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
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Bounding Intakes of Exotic Radionuclides at Los Alamos National Laboratory [970 KB (54 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0101 Rev. 01
Approved: August 30, 2023
About this Document: Revision initiated to correct self-identified errors discovered while screening documents used to generate Tables 3-1 through 3-5, and A-2 through A-7. The errors consisted of large area swipes, direct reading surveys, external radiation surveys, and radiological work permit related contamination and air monitoring surveys that were mistakenly entered. There were also duplicates of some surveys that were entered as well as some that should have been entered that were missed originally. Added per year to many of the 100 mrem occurrences throughout the report. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.
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Breathing Zone to General Area Air Concentration Ratios in Small Workrooms [12MB (81 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0097 Rev. 00
Approved: March 29, 2021
About this Document: New document initiated to evaluate the data from several air sampling studies performed in small workrooms. The air sample data were evaluated in terms of breathing zone air concentrations and air concentrations measured from general area air samplers. A statistical evaluation of the potential ratios of the breathing zone air concentrations and the general area air concentrations is presented in this document. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
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Conflict or Bias Policy
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NIOSH Policy on the Appearance of Bias for the EEOICPA Program & General Conflict of Interest Requirements [3 MB (10 pages)]
March 30, 2016About this Document: Summarizes the legal requirements regarding conflicts of interest which apply to NIOSH employees and members of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health as Federal employees. It also outlines NIOSH’s Appearance of Bias Policy regarding participation in activities related to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).
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Descriptions of Key Program Functions and Program Support Functions [150 KB (6 pages)]
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Acts Affecting a Personal Financial Interest (18 U.S.C. 208) [81 KB (3 pages)]
About this Document: Provides a step-by-step roadmap for handling conflict-of-interest and bias issues in a manner consistent with the NIOSH AOB Policy.
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Please Note: The documents listed above contain detailed information about the NIOSH Conflict or Bias Policy and its implementation. Additional information about the policy, such as contact information and disclosure statements, can be found on the Conflict or Bias Policy page.
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Criteria for the Evaluation and Use of Co-Exposure Datasets [116 KB (12 pages)]
Document Number: DCAS-IG-006 Rev-00
Approved: March 6, 2020
About this Document: Provides guidance for the evaluation of personnel monitoring data used in the reconstruction of doses to unmonitored workers who are covered under the EEOICPA.
Please Note: this document replaces Draft Criteria for the Evaluation and Use of Coworker Datasets, Rev. 4.1.1.
D
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Data Access and Interview Procedures [301 KB (14 pages)]
Document Number: OCAS-PR-010 Rev-00
Approved: January 23, 2009
About this Document: Initial version of procedure describing the coordination and submission of data requests to the Department of Energy.
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Department of Energy Classification Review of Documents [38 KB (6 pages)]
Document Number: OCAS-PR-011 Rev-00
Approved: January 22, 2009
About this Document: Initial version of procedure describing the Department of Energy review of OCAS documents.
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Discussion of Variability in Health Physics Data [849 KB (57 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0110 Rev. 00
Approved: May 22, 2025
About this Document: New draft report to discuss various methods to describe and quantify variability in data. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
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Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0107 Rev. 00
Approved: September 15, 2023
About this Document: New report to address concerns about the ability to reconstruct Los Alamos Neutron Science Center worker doses from “exotic” radionuclides. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
E
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Evaluation of EBR-II and BORAX-IV for ORAUT-OTIB-0054 Applicability [480 KB (30 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0099 Rev. 00
Approved: May 8, 2020
About this Document: Provides the results of evaluations of the Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 2 and the Boiling Water Reactor Experiment No. 4 to determine if ORAUT-OTIB-0054 Revision 04 provides bounding internal dose guidance when only gross beta or gross gamma assay measurements are available. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
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Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0089 Rev. 00
Approved: April 19, 2022
About this Document: New document to evaluate issues raised regarding the use of general area air sampling for Argonne National Laboratory-West internal dose assessments.
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Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0091 Rev. 00
Revised: June 10, 2019
About this Document: Evaluates Savannah River Site 241Am source terms between 1971 and 1999 using bioassay frequency tables.
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Document Number: DCAS-RPT-008 Rev 00
Approved: April 27, 2020
About this Document: Evaluates the detection limit for Pb-212 for a lung measurement taken at the Y-12 whole body counting facility from 1992 to 1995. Incorporates internal review comments.
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External Dose Reconstruction Implementation Guideline [5 MB (77 pages)]
Document Number: OCAS-IG-001 Rev-03
Revised: November 21, 2007
About this Document: The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on the components, standards, and methods of external radiation dose reconstruction for probability of causation calculations in support of The Act. It is to be used as a source to help provide specific guidance and methods which can be found in Site Profiles and other site-specific documents.
G
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Document Number: Final Rule: 42 CFR Part 81
Effective Date: May 2, 2002
About this Document: This document covers the guidelines to be used by the Department of Labor to determine the probability that a cancer included in a claim under The Act was caused by workers’ exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons production.
H
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Handling Controlled Unclassified Information [74 KB (17 pages)]
Document Number: OCAS-PLCY-0001 Rev-00
Approved: January 22, 2009
About this Document: New document to establish guidelines for the handling of sensitive documents and information.
I
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Document Number: DCAS-PR-004
Effective Date: April 15, 2011
About this Document: Establishes the requirements for processing Special Exposure Cohort petitions. Revision incorporates changes resulting from amendments to 42 C.F.R. Part 83 and other updates.
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Internal Dose Guidelines [291 KB (50 pages)]
Document Number: OCAS-IG-002 Rev-00
Approved: August 2002
About this Document: The purpose of this guide is to provide basic information on the methods employed in reconstructing doses under The Act. The intent of this guide is to assist a qualified health physicist in determining annual organ dose from exposure to various sources of internal radiation.
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Methods for Radiation Dose Reconstruction [129 KB (23 pages)]
Document Number: Final Rule: 42 CFR Part 82
Effective Date: May 2, 2002
About this Document: The document outlines the methods for estimating the dose levels of ionizing radiation incurred by workers in the performance of duty for nuclear weapons production programs of the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies.
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Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0090, Rev. 01
Revised: March 10, 2023
About this Document: Document revised to address comments received following SC&A review as well as during Working Group discussions. Specific changes include clarifying the document’s scope and intent as being an evaluation of ORNL monitoring capabilities regarding work by Isotope Group employees or within Isotope Group facilities. Accordingly, Appendix C (“Dose Reconstruction Approach for Iodine”) was removed and will be included in a separate document. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.
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Multiple Imputation Applied to Bioassay Co-Exposure Models [733 KB (20 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0096, Rev. 01
Revised: June 11, 2021
About this Document: Revision initiated to incorporate experience gained from applying multiple imputation to recent co-exposure models. Only the new multiple imputation methods are discussed, whereas, Rev. 00 included comparisons of the then current statistical methods for dealing with censored data with the new multiple imputation methods. In addition, Rev. 01 includes statistical methods (like the coworker R package) that were used for the first time in the INL co-exposure statistical analysis. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
N
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Neutron Dose from Highly Enriched Uranium [498 KB (24 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0060 Rev. 00
Approved: March 28, 2019
About this Document: New document initiated for evaluation of neutron dose from highly enriched uranium at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25), Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and Y-12 Plant. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
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Occupational Medical X-Ray Dose Reconstruction for DOE Sites [215 KB (12 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-PROC-0061 Rev. 4
Revised: June 6, 2017
About this Document: Provides direction for assignment of organ dose from medical X-ray exams based on TBD information. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
Revision Includes: Revision initiated to ensure consistency with ORAUT-OTIB-0006. Appendix C on the calculation of skin dose deleted as duplicate of ORAUT-OTIB-0006 content. Incorporates formal internal review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.
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Occupational Onsite Ambient Dose Reconstruction for DOE Sites [304 KB (26 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-PROC-0060 Rev. 1
Revised: June 28, 2006
About this Document: Provides direction for external onsite ambient dose reconstruction for DOE sites. Revised to include additional DOE sites.
Revision Includes: Revised document to include additional DOE sites. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments. Constitutes a total rewrite of the document.
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Document Number: Revised Final Rule: 42 CFR Part 83
About this Document: This document specifies the procedures by which the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will determine whether to add new classes of employees from the Department of Energy and Atomic Weapons Employer facilities to the Cohort. HHS will consider adding new classes of employees in response to petitions by, or on behalf of, such classes of employees. The procedures specify requirements for petitions and for their consideration.
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Document Number: DCAS-IG-003 Rev-01
Revised: October 5, 2010
About this Document: The purpose of this document is to provide guidance as to which sources of radiation are to be included in dose reconstructions that are prepared by NIOSH under Part B of The Act.
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Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0098 Rev-00
Approved: July 22, 2019
About this Document: New draft report initiated to document the rationale for matching ICD-9 codes to ICD-10 codes for predetermined organ and model selections in the Interactive RadioEpidemiological Program. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
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Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0103 Rev. 00
Approved: August 15, 2022
About this Document: Report to address an issue from the Advisory Board on Radiation Worker Health regarding the ability to bound dose for exotic radionuclides for Los Alamos National Laboratory energy employees from 1996 through 2005. This report is supplemental to ORAUT-RPRT-0101 and reviews radiological work permit information to ensure that RCT monitoring was appropriately performed.
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Technical Documents Used in Dose Reconstruction
About these Documents: Technical documents are general working documents that provide historic background information and guidance to assist in the preparation of dose reconstructions at particular sites or categories of sites. They will be revised in the event additional relevant information is obtained about the affected site(s). These documents may be used to assist NIOSH staff in the completion of the individual work required for each dose reconstruction.
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Two-Count Filter Method for Measurement of Thoron Progeny in Air [501 KB (14 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0084 Rev. 00
Approved: April 27, 2019
About this Document: Describes a two-count filter method for measurement of thoron progeny in air.
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Uncertainty in Fitted Dose in Internal Dose Assessments [790 KB (43 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0109 Rev-00
Approved: September 20, 2024
About this Document: New report justifying the use of a geometric standard deviation of 3 when quantifying the uncertainty in fitted dose. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
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Use of Classified Information [184 KB (10 pages)]
Document Number: DCAS-IG-005 Rev-00
Approved: January 7, 2011
About this Document: Guidelines for the use of classified information relevant to The Act
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Document Number: OCAS-IG-004 Rev-00
Approved: August 21, 2008
About this Document: This document provides guidelines for the use of data from other facilities in the completion of dose reconstructions
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Worker Outreach Program [1 MB (32 pages)]
Document Number: DCAS-PR-012 Rev-01
Approved: December 14, 2012
About this Document: Changes address actions from the Outreach Working Group and includes discussion of minutes and notes, announcements at the beginning of a meeting, processing of meeting minutes, action item identification and processing, etc.
Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health Comments on Policy, Procedure, and Guidance Documents
The Advisory Board conducts technical reviews of various DCAS policy, procedure, and guidance documents that relate to dose reconstruction. The Board’s technical support contractor assists in the review process. The purpose of the reviews is to assess the scientific and technical quality of the methods used in dose reconstruction. They also help identify any deficiencies that could have a negative effect on the results or the dose reconstruction process. These reviews can be found on the Advisory Board: Reports from the Technical Support Contractor page of our website.
When the reviews are complete and all issues have been resolved, the Board prepares a brief summary of the resolutions. The summaries help the public understand the results of the technical reviews. These summaries can be found on the Advisory Board: Technical Review Summaries from the Technical Support Contractor page.
Document Archive for Policy, Procedure, and Guidance Documents
B
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Bounding Intakes of Exotic Radionuclides at Los Alamos National Laboratory [826 KB (56 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-RPRT-0101 Rev. 00
Approved: March 1, 2022
About this Document: New report to address an issue from the Advisory Board on Radiation Worker Health regarding the ability to bound dose for exotic radionuclides for Los Alamos National Laboratory energy employees from 1996 through 2005 using surface contamination survey data, air monitoring data, and personnel contamination monitoring to assure that doses for unmonitored workers are less than 100 mrem. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
D
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Draft Criteria for the Evaluation and Use of Coworker Datasets, Rev. 4.1.1 [128 KB (11 pages)]
Revised: July 6, 2015
About this Document: Implementation guide that provides guidance for the evaluation of personnel monitoring data used in the reconstruction of doses to unmonitored workers who are covered under EEOICPA. The criteria are to be applied to the development of new coworker models, as well as retrospectively in the review of existing coworker models.
Please note: this was replaced by DCAS-IG-006 Rev-00: Criteria for the Evaluation and Use of Co-Exposure Datasets.
N
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Revised: June 24, 2009
About this Document: This document is a Statement of Policy by NIOSH about potential or actual conflicts or biases of those persons or entities carrying out responsibilities for the NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Program.
O
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Occupational Medical X-Ray Dose Reconstruction for DOE Sites [189 KB (22 pages)]
Document Number: ORAUT-PROC-0061 Rev. 3
Revised: March 3, 2010
About this Document: Provides direction for assignment of organ dose from medical X-ray exams based on TBD information. Incorporates formal internal and NIOSH review comments.
Revision Includes: Provides direction for assignment of organ dose from medical X-ray exams based on TBD information. This latest revision removes the LAT chest doses for Ames Laboratory in Notes to Table A-1 which are now included in a revised Ames Site Profile; to add guidance for skin dose for PA and LAT chest for post 1970; to better define dose to various areas of skin from PFG, PA and LAT chest pre-1970 and lumbar spine procedures; to remove Table A-1, the quick reference table, and Table B-1, the records availability table; to move the responsibilities of the “subject expert – external dosimetry” to the “dose reconstruction group managers.” Previous revisions that were incorporated into the document: (1) Includes additional sites with approved TBDs, new guidance on X-rays for locations of the skin, and additional X-ray procedures (2) Updates Attachment C to include approved Request for Direction or Operational Change for X-Ray dose assignment to the face and to include updates based on current TBD revisions. Includes recently approved TBDs, change column headings, and alignment of x-ray procedures to align with new headings in Attachment A.
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Performing and Reporting Dose Reconstructions–CANCELED [86 KB (21 pages)]
Document Number: OCAS-PR-003, Rev. 0
Approved: September 24, 2002
About this Document: Establishes program guidelines for performing dose reconstruction.
Submitting Comments on Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines
If you have questions about the documents listed on this page, please contact us at:
Department of Health and Human Services
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Division of Compensation Analysis and Support (DCAS)
Robert A. Taft Laboratories, MS-C45
1090 Tusculum Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45226
Phone: (toll-free) 1-877-222-7570
Fax: 513-533-6826
E-mail: dcas@cdc.gov