Docket Number: 62217-2005

EMPLOYEE: [Name Deleted]

CLAIMANT: [Name Deleted]

FILE NUMBER: [Number Deleted]

DOCKET NUMBER: 62217-2005

DECISION DATE: January 13, 2005

NOTICE OF FINAL DECISION

This is the decision of the Final Adjudication Branch concerning your claim for compensation under Part B of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 7384 et seq. (EEOICPA or the Act). For the reasons set forth below, your claim for benefits under Part B of the Act is accepted. A copy of this decision will be provided to your Power of Attorney.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On September 30, 2004, you filed a Form EE-2, Claim for Survivor Benefits under the EEOICPA. Your claim was based, in part, on the assertion that the employee worked for a Department of Energy (DOE) contractor at a DOE facility. You stated on the Form EE-2 that you were filing for the employee’s lung cancer. On the Form EE-3, Employment History, you stated the employee was employed at the gaseous diffusion plant (K-25) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee for the period of April 1, 1944 to April 1, 1952. Through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) employment database, employment was verified from June 6, 1945 to October 23, 1951. An autopsy report established that the employee was diagnosed with lung cancer.

On December 14, 2004, the Jacksonville district office issued a decision recommending that you are entitled to compensation in the amount of $150,000 for the employee’s lung cancer. On December 17, 2004, the Final Adjudication Branch received written notification that you waive any and all objections to the recommended decision.

In order for the employee to qualify as a member of the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) under § 7384l(14)(A) of the Act, the following requirements must be satisfied:

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.

42 U.S.C. § 7384l(14)(A).

Through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) employment database, employment was verified at K-25 from June 6, 1945 to October 23, 1951, a period greater than 250 days. You indicated on the Form EE-3 that the employee wore a dosimetry badge. ORISE confirmed that he was assigned badges 01386, 00214, and 13992.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On September 30, 2004, you filed a Form EE-2, Claim for Survivor Benefits under the EEOICPA.

2. The medical evidence is sufficient to establish that the employee was diagnosed with lung cancer.

3. Lung cancer is a specified cancer under § 7384l(17)(A) of the Act and § 30.5(dd)(2) of the implementing regulations. 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(17)(A); 20 C.F.R. § 30.5(dd)(2).

4. The employee was employed at K-25 from June 6, 1945 to October 23, 1951. The employee is a covered employee as defined in § 7384l(1) of the Act. 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(1).

5. The employee is a member of the Special Exposure Cohort, as defined in § 7384l(14)(A) of the Act. 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(14)(A).

6. In proof of survivorship, although you were unable to submit your marriage certificate, you submitted a copy of the employee’s death certificate, legal Oak Ridge Plant documents that establish your marriage to the employee, and one of your children’s birth certificates which indicates that you and the employee were married on January 1, 1924. Therefore, you have established that you are a survivor as defined by § 30.5(ee) of the implementing regulations. 20 C.F.R. § 30.5(ee).

7. The district office issued the recommended decision on December 14, 2004.

8. On December 17, 2004, the Final Adjudication Branch received written notification that you waive any and all objections to the recommended decision.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

I have reviewed the record on this claim and the recommended decision issued by the district office on December 14, 2004. I find that the employee is a member of the Special Exposure Cohort, as that term is defined in the Act; and that the employee’s lung cancer is a specified cancer under the Act and implementing regulations. 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384l(14)(A), 7384l(17)(A); 20 C.F.R. § 30.5(dd)(2).

I find that the recommended decision is in accordance with the facts and the law in this case, and that you, as an eligible survivor of the employee as defined by the Act, are entitled to compensation in the amount of $150,000 pursuant to Part B of the Act on the basis of the employee’s lung cancer. 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384s(e)(1)(A), 7384s(a).

Jacksonville, FL

Jeana F. LaRock

District Manager