Docket Number: 2960-2002

NOTICE OF FINAL DECISION

This is the decision of the Final Adjudication Branch concerning your claim for compensation under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).

On November 20, 2001, the district office issued a recommended decision finding that [Employee] was a member of the Special Exposure Cohort, as that term is defined in § 7384l(14) of the EEOICPA; that he was diagnosed with lung cancer, a specified cancer as listed in § 7384l(17) of EEOICPA and 20 C.F.R. § 30.5(dd)(2); and concluding that you, as the survivor of [Employee], are entitled to compensation in the amount of $150,000 pursuant to § 7384s of the EEOICPA.

In order to be afforded coverage under EEOICPA as an SEC member, the claimant must show that the covered employee: (1) was an SEC member under § 7384l(14); and (2) was diagnosed with a specified cancer as defined in § 7384l(17). To qualify as a member of the SEC under § 7384l(14) the following requirements must be satisfied:

(A) The employee was so employed for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days before February 1, 1992, at a gaseous diffusion plant located in Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio, or Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and, during such employment - -

(i) was monitored through the use of dosimetry badges for exposure at the plant of the external parts of employee’s body to radiation; or

(ii) worked on a job that had exposures comparable to a job that is or was monitored through the use of dosimetry badges.

The Department of Energy has verified [Employee]’s employment as a Department of Energy contractor employee of more than 250 workdays prior to February 1, 1992 at the Oak Ridge, TN complex (at Y-12, K-25 (the GDP), and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory). However, contrary to the district office’s recommended decision, there is no evidence in the case file which confirms its finding that [Employee] was monitored for exposure to radiation through the use of dosimetry badges. Rather, the appropriate portion of the EE-3 (Employment History) concerning dosimetry badges was left blank.

According to the Department of Energy sponsored report entitled Recycled Uranium Mass Balance Project Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant Site Report (BJC/OR-584), released in June 2000, “worker radiation monitoring was in place since the site’s earliest days of operation. Film badges or film rings (for potential hand exposures) were requested by supervisors for those employees routinely assigned to work in areas where penetrating radiation was likely to be encountered.” Because the Department of Energy verified [Employee]’s employment as intermittently from 1969 through 1984, I find that [Employee]’s employment at the Oak Ridge GDP satisfies the requirements of EEOICPA § 7384l(14)(A).

On December 6, 2001, the Final Adjudication Branch received written notification that you waived any and all objections to the recommended decision. The undersigned has reviewed the facts and finds that [Employee] was a member of the Special Exposure Cohort, as that term is defined in § 7384l(14) of the EEOICPA; that [Employee]’s lung cancer is a specified cancer under § 7384l(17) of EEOICPA and 20 C.F.R. § 30.5(dd)(2); and that you are the eligible surviving beneficiary of [Employee] as defined under § 7384s of the EEOICPA and the implementing regulations. The undersigned hereby affirms the award of $150,000.

Jacksonville, FL

Sidne M. Valdivieso

Hearing Representative