§7384q Designation of Additional Members of Special Exposure Cohort

Summary

The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health must tell the President if there is a group of Department of Energy workers who probably were exposed to radiation but whose radiation dose cannot be estimated accurately. The Board’s advice must come from exposure studies by radiation health experts, information from the Department of Energy, and any other relevant facts the Board uses. The President will ask for this advice after people in those worker groups send petitions, and the President will follow his own rules for handling those petitions. If the Advisory Board recommends it, and subject to the provisions of section 7384l(14)(C), the President can add a worker group to the Special Exposure Cohort for compensation if he finds two things: it is not feasible to estimate the group’s radiation dose accurately, and there is a reasonable chance the dose harmed their health. The Director of NIOSH must give a recommendation and all backup paperwork to the Advisory Board within 180 days after the President gets a petition. After the Board recommends adding a class, the President has 30 days to decide and tell Congress. If the President approves, he must also send a report that meets the rules in section 7384l(14)(C)(ii). If the President does not send a decision in 30 days, then the day after the deadline counts as if the required report was submitted for purposes of section 7384l(14)(C)(ii). The Secretary of Energy must give the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Advisory Board members and staff access to relevant worker exposure information, including Restricted Data (as defined in section 2014(y)).