• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Send News
  • Subscribe

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds




New class of Y-12 employees being evaluated for worker compensation program

Posted at 12:53 pm December 14, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Y-12 Aerial Photo June 2012

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above in June 2012. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

 

A new class of employees at the Y-12 National Security Complex is being evaluated for possible inclusion in a worker compensation program that involves certain illnesses and work at sites affiliated with the U.S. Department of Energy.

The class of employees being evaluated now would have worked at Y-12 between January 1, 1958, through December 31, 1976, and they would have had an aggregate total of at least 250 work days, according to a notice published in the Federal Register on Friday. The class could change, however, based upon the evaluation.

The decision to evaluate the petition for the Y-12 employees was announced by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

It’s not clear when the petition was filed, who filed it, or how long the evaluation might take. Oak Ridge Today has requested more information from the CDC.

The new class of Y-12 employees are being evaluated for inclusion in what is known as the Special Exposure Cohort, which is part of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, or EEOICPA.

Advertisement

Among the employees already included in that Special Exposure Cohort as part of work at Oak Ridge sites are certain classes of workers at Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25), Clinton Engineer Works, Oak Ridge Hospital, Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies Cancer Research Hospital (ORINS), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (X-10), S-50 Oak Ridge Thermal Diffusion Plant, and Y-12.

The Y-12 classes already included in the Special Exposure Cohort worked at the plant between March 1, 1943-December 31, 1947, and January 1, 1948-December 31, 1957.

The new class that is being evaluated worked at Y-12 later (1958-1976).

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act established the Special Exposure Cohort for certain classes of employees. It allows eligible claimants to be compensated without the completion of a NIOSH radiation dose reconstruction or determination of the probability of causation. To qualify for compensation as a member of a special cohort class, a covered employee must have at least one of 22 specified cancers and must have worked for a specified period of time at one of the Special Exposure Cohort work sites.

Employees or their survivors from any of the facilities that are included are eligible for benefits if they contracted one or more of the specified cancers after they began their covered employment.

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, which includes the Special Exposure Cohort, was enacted in October 2000.

It includes several Special Exposure Cohort classes established by statute, including employees who worked at gaseous diffusion plants (used to enrich uranium) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Paducah, Kentucky; and Portsmouth, Ohio, for at least 250 days before January 1, 1992, among other conditions.

Advertisement

Other employee classes can be added to the Special Exposure Cohort by the secretary of Health and Human Services under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. That could include the new Y-12 class.

The Federal Register included a notice Friday that one new class has been added. It’s for employees at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, between January 1, 1995, and December 31, 1996.

The Special Exposure Cohort includes many other classes of employees across the country, including at other laboratories, companies, and sites. (You can see the list here.)

Part B of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, which became effective on July 31, 2001, compensates current or former employees (or their survivors) of the U.S. Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and certain of its vendors, contractors, and subcontractors who were diagnosed with a radiogenic cancer, chronic beryllium disease, beryllium sensitivity, or chronic silicosis, as a result of exposure to radiation, beryllium, or silica while employed at covered facilities.

The EEOICPA also provides compensation to individuals (or their eligible survivors) awarded benefits by the Department of Justice under Section 5 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA).

Part E of the Act, which was enacted later, on October 28, 2004, compensates DOE contractor and subcontractor employees, eligible survivors of such employees, and uranium miners, millers, and ore transporters as defined by RECA Section 5, for any occupational illnesses that are causally linked to toxic exposures in the DOE or mining work environment.

You can learn more about the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act here.

You can learn more about the Special Exposure Cohort here.

You can see the Federal Register notice here.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. This is a free story. Thank you to our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. You can see what we cover here.


Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

Copyright 2018 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Health, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: beryllium, beryllium sensitivity, cancer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic beryllium disease, chronic silicosis, Department of Justice, EEOICPA, Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, Federal Register, illness, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH, radiation, radiation dose reconstruction, Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, radiogenic cancer, RECA, silica, special exposure cohort, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, uranium, worker compensation, Y-12 National Security Complex

Advertisements

Join the club!

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Most of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require at least four hours to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

  • Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
  • Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

  • Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
  • Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

  • Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

Commenting Guidelines

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.

More Government News

Governor authorizes $10,000 reward in Thomas Thrasher death investigation

The Oak Ridge Police Department and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigated the death of a 29-year-old man found dead in a second-floor apartment at this Rolling Hills Apartments building in Oak Ridge on Monday, … [Read More...]

Horizon-Center-Motorsports-Track-6-Feb-11-2020

Motorsports park will not be built in Oak Ridge

Part of the site where a test track and research facility or motorsports park was proposed on the back side of Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak … [Read More...]

Political redistricting to be discussed at Lunch with League

Debby Gould Political redistricting will be discussed at Lunch with the League in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, April 20. The virtual meeting is scheduled to start at noon April 20. It is hosted by the League of Women … [Read More...]

Death penalty to be discussed at Lunch with League

Marshall Jensen The death penalty in America will be discussed during a Lunch with the League meeting at noon today (Tuesday, April 6). The virtual meeting is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. It … [Read More...]

City of Oak Ridge Seal

Planning Commission to discuss site plans for storage facility, apartments

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission will discuss a site plan for the planned storage facility at Main Street Oak Ridge and apartments on Emory Valley Road on Thursday. The storage facility would be built along … [Read More...]

More Government

More U.S. Department of Energy News

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION AT 103 PALLADIUM WAY, HORIZON CENTER INDUSTRIAL PARK, OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE (DOE/EA-2159) The U.S. … [Read More...]

Public Notice: Final environmental assessment available for Lithium Processing Facility at Y-12

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE LITHIUM PROCESSING FACILITY AT THE Y-12 NATIONAL SECURITY COMPLEX (DOE/EA-2145) AND FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) … [Read More...]

Horizon-Center-Motorsports-Track-6-Feb-11-2020

Motorsports park will not be built in Oak Ridge

Part of the site where a test track and research facility or motorsports park was proposed on the back side of Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak … [Read More...]

Oak Ridge High School Main Entrance

ORHS student wins first place at Tennessee Junior Science & Humanities Symposium

Oak Ridge High School student Daniel Joy won first place at the Tennessee Junior Science and Humanities Symposium Poster Presentation Competition held virtually in March, the school system said in a press release. The … [Read More...]

ORNL names operations deputy

Alan Icenhour has been named deputy for operations at ORNL. (Photo credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Department of Energy) Alan Icenhour has been named deputy for operations at the U.S. Department of Energy’s … [Read More...]

More DOE

Recent Posts

  • ASAP has Virtual Information and Resource Fair
  • Man wanted in Ohio hides in Oak Ridge church, but K-9 finds him
  • Governor authorizes $10,000 reward in Thomas Thrasher death investigation
  • Man pursued by police runs into church, taken into custody
  • Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center
  • Public Notice: Final environmental assessment available for Lithium Processing Facility at Y-12
  • THP report: Child hit by pickup walked into travel lane
  • First Presbyterian offers free meals, groceries Thursday
  • Girl hit by vehicle on Edgemoor Road
  • Motorsports park will not be built in Oak Ridge

Search Oak Ridge Today

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2021 Oak Ridge Today