Special Exposure Cohort (SEC)

The SEC was established by the Act/EEOICPA. Claims compensated under the SEC do not have to go through the dose reconstruction process.

To qualify for compensation under the SEC, a covered employee must:

• have at least one of the 22 SEC cancers and
• have worked for a specific period of time at one of the SEC work sites.

The Act also allows for additional groups of employees (called classes of employees) to be added to the SEC. Classes of employees and work sites can be considered for addition to the SEC through a petition process run by NIOSH.

To help individuals interested in the petition process, NIOSH has an SEC Petition Counselor and an Ombudsman to NIOSH.

SEC Rule

The SEC Rule, Procedures for Designating Classes of Employees as Members of the SEC (42 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 83),  PDF [132 KB (13 pages)] describes the procedures used to add a class of employees to the SEC.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created the SEC procedures rule to ensure that:

• Petitions are submitted by authorized parties
• Petitions are justified
• Petitions are given uniform, fair, and scientific consideration
• Petitioners are given the opportunity to be involved with the petition process

Topics Covered under the SEC Rule:

• How HHS will determine:
  • if it is feasible to estimate the radiation dose that a class received, and
  • if there is a reasonable likelihood that the radiation dose may have endangered the health of members of the class
• The procedures that are necessary to add a class of employees to the SEC
• Individuals and organizations that are qualified to submit an SEC petition on behalf of a class
• Minimum requirements that must be met for an SEC petition to qualify for consideration
• Procedures to involve and notify petitioners in the petition process and to allow petitioners to seek administrative reviews of proposed decisions

SEC Cancers

In addition to having worked for a specific period of time at one of the SEC work sites, a covered employee must also have at least one of the following types of cancer to qualify for compensation under the SEC:

• Bone cancer
• Renal cancers
• Leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia) provided the onset of the disease was at least two years after first exposure
• Lung cancer (other than in-situ lung cancer that is discovered during or after a post-mortem exam)
• The following diseases provided onset was at least five years after first exposure:
  • Multiple myeloma
  • Lymphomas (other than Hodgkin’s disease)
  • Primary cancer of the:
    • Bile ducts
    • Brain
    • Breast (female)
    • Breast (male)
    • Colon
    • Esophagus
    • Gall bladder
    • Liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated)
    • Ovary
    • Pancreas
    • Pharynx
    • Salivary gland
    • Small intestine
    • Stomach
    • Thyroid
    • Urinary bladder

Classes Added to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC)

A “class of employees” is defined in the SEC rule as a group of employees who work or worked at the same DOE facility or AWE facility, and for whom the availability of information and recorded data on radiation exposures is comparable with respect to the informational needs required to complete a radiation dose reconstruction as required under The Act.

The sites listed below currently have classes of employees in the SEC. Please click on the links below to view the specific details of the class definition and petition information.

Submitting Comments on SEC Documents

NIOSH welcomes comments from interested stakeholders (claimants, organized labor groups, worker advocacy groups, etc.) on the SEC documents. Please include the name of the work site, the title of the document, or the Site Profile/Docket Number when submitting comments. All comments should be sent to NIOSH:

Department of Health and Human Services
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Robert A. Taft Laboratories, MS-C34
1090 Tusculum Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45226

Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

Telephone: (513) 533-8611

Fax: (513) 533-8285

Email: nioshdocket@cdc.gov