U.S. Department of Energy Site Remediation Workers: Assessing the Availability of Worker, Exposure, and Medical History Information

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ahrenholz, Steven H. ; Kinnes, Gregory M. ; Robinson C ; Silver S ; Taulbee T ; Ahrenholz, Steven H. ; Kinnes, Gregory M. ; Robinson C ; Silver S ; Taulbee T
• Description:
  Since 1989, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) mission has shifted from weapons production toward environmental restoration and remediation at 134 former and current sites. Remediation workers face diverse and sometimes unanticipated exposure hazards, both radiological and chemical, not previously encountered by production era workers. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently conducted feasibility studies at seven of these sites to identify the remediation workforce and their activities and to examine the availability of exposure data. DOE remediation workers are involved in defined activities including decontamination, decommissioning, deactivation, dismantlement, environmental restoration, and hazardous waste. These activities can involve exposure to one or more waste types such as low-level radioactive waste, low-level mixed waste, spent nuclear fuel, and transuranic waste which can involve over 50 different radioisotopes and a myriad of chemical agents. Remediation workers are not uniquely identified at most sites due to changes within the DOE and individual site management structure and organization from the production era to the present. The implementation of tiered subcontracting practices, which increased the number of on-site contractors, and the increasing use of general occupational job titles has made identifying and tracking remediation workers extremely difficult. Therefore, the number of workers involved in remediation activities at the seven study sites could only be estimated (approximately 10,000 in 1996). [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Hazardous Substances Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Radiation Safety
• Keywords:
  Decontamination Exposure-levels Hazardous-materials Hazardous-waste-cleanup Occupational-hazards Radiology Workers
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary ; Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; OD - Office of the Director ; DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; OD - Office of the Director
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  82-83
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20022476
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, June 1-6, 2002, San Diego, California. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2002 Jun; :82-83
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, June 1-6, 2002, San Diego, California
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:92fd54e42c2e42f75ad758537852e20ad05048e8c6867e99cf93bc35f091e98bddda9c463368b82f0a189650a96cd541d9e655eb5dd0ab47b3c4fcf55d1b00f8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199243/cdc_199243_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 691.38 KB ]