Memo to Seaborg, Et Al, Subject: Study of the Lifetime Health and Mortality Experience of Employees of AEC Contractors - Status Report on Collection of Radiation Data on Hanford Employees

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Comis sion er bey 1118, March 17, 1971, and the wran dun datedMuch 18, 1971, from W. B. McCool, the f o ~ ~ o u i n gfntetim rtatus report on the above subject Data have been abstracted from the records of those employee8 having worked at the AEC Hanford site from the beginning of operation in 1944 tothe present time. ' he data 8re organized rad placed i n automatic data processing systems suitable for retrieval a d analysis. Ths information collected covers areas auch M : active and non-radioactive agents, smplqyea vork hi a tory rad personae1 data. lfnder the present plan, employee axperiemcc for ruccereding pus will be included until the data u e of mfficient quality and quautity t o allow the study of specific populations at risk from r pec if fc environmental stresses which can be identified and cheracterized. The goal of the 8tudy is t o determine whether there occupational radiation or other environmental exposure and t h e lifetime health and mortality experience of AEC contractor anplopess. external radiation, internal any correlation between A t Hanford, to date, records have bean abstracted on approximately 32,000 employees and 17,000 rib lia g controls. A listing of thir population has been rent to the Social Security A & fn it t ration for identification on a continuous basis of the decaased and their State

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of residence at the time of death. requested from the States so that the t h and C ~ U H of death can be determined. There m e 3,296 former cPop10p.88 md 1,540 controls known t o hsve died. The death certificater of rpprcnlnutaly 2,500 of theae r r e now being processed by the Social Security Adafniotration for cauec of death. A preliminary an a lye in will be d on this fraction of the Hanford population and the result# presented t o the Mviaion of Biology and Medicine on Hap 12, 1971. results of t h i s preliminary analysis of mortality will give additional i n e i g h t as to the need for inclusion of other facilities into the It f6 anticipated that other AEC employee popu1ationa presently under study include those of the Oak Ridge facilitferr and a few selected uraniun feed plants. Negotiations are underway t o include the Mound Laboratory employees in the study beginning in May 1971. John R. Totter, Director Diviefon of Biology and Medicine