Part 218—guidance for the De- Termination and Reporting of Nuclear Radiation Dose for Dod Participants in the Atmospheric Nuclear Test Program (1945–1962)

(a) Upon request by the Veterans Administration in connection with a claim for compensation, or by a veteran or his or her representative, available information shall be provided by the applicable Military Service which shall include all material aspects of the radiation environment to which the veteran was exposed and shall include inhaled, ingested and neutron doses. In determining the veteran’s dose, initial neutron, initial gamma, residual gamma, and internal (inhaled and ingested) alpha, beta, and gamma shall be considered. However, doses will be reported as gamma dose, neutron dose, and internal dose. The minimum standards for reporting dose estimates are set forth in § 218.4. (b) The basic means by which to measure dose from exposure to ionizing radiation is the film badge. Of the estimated 220,000 Department of Defense participants in atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, about 145,000 have film badge dose data available. The information contained in the records has been reproduced in a standard format and is being provided to each military service, which can use the film badge dose data to obtain a radiation dose for a particular individual from that service. This is done upon request from the individual, the individual’s representative, the Veterans Administration, or others as authorized by the Privacy Act. Upon request, the participant or his or her authorized representative will be informed of the specific methodologies and assumptions employed in estimating his or her dose. The participant can use this information to obtain independent options regarding exposure. (c) From 1945 through 1954, the DoD and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) policy was to issue badges only to a portion of the personnel in a homogeneous unit such as a platoon of a battalion combat team, Naval ship or aircraft crew. Either one person was badged in a group performing the same function, or only personnel expected to be exposed to radiation were badged. After 1954, the policy was to badge all personnel. But, some badges were unreadable and some records were lost or destroyed, as in the fire at the Federal Records Center in St. Louis. For these reasons the Nuclear Test Personnel Review (NTPR) Program has focused on determining the radiation dose for those personnel (about 75,000) who were not issued film badges or for whom film badge records are not available. (d) In order to determine the radiation dose to individuals for whom film badge data are not available, alternative approaches are used as circumstances warrant. All approaches require investigation of individual or group activities and their relationship to the radiological environment. First, if it is apparent that personnel were not present in the radiological environment and had no other potential for exposure, then their dose is zero. Second, if some members of a group had film badge readings and others did not—and if all members had a common relationship with the radiological enviroment—then doses for unbadged personnel can be calculated. Third, where sufficient badge readings or a common relationship to the radiological environment does not exist, dose reconstruction is performed. This