Document text
Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
Page 1
Honorable John 0. Pastore Chairman, Joint Committee Congress of the United States on Atomic Energy Dear Senator Pastore : With regard to your letter of April14,1971,expressing the contin u ing interest of tlie Joint Committee on Atomic Energy inthe review of the radon daughter exposure limits for uranium miners,1 assure you that AEC h2s been very active in its efforts to ensure that all aspects of this exposure control problem are based on sound scientific and technological considerations including current radio - logical health protection practices. From the in ccp tion of the Inter agency Uranium Mining Radiation Review Group by the Federal Radiation Council in January of 1969 through the present, AEC senior staff have been very much involved in this review. In addition to AEC representation on the Review Group by Commissioner Larson and the Assistant General Manager for Operations,Mr.Erlewine, AEC has had two or more representatives t o each of seven Subgroups established ' t o review the broad areas o f health effects, exposure control, economics, medical aspects and dos ime try.As the lead agency for the Subgroups on economics and on radiation measurements and equipment, AEC has provided both chairmen and funding.All of these representatives have been supported by AEC Headquarters divisions,field organizations and conThe epi dem lo logical study was undertaken by U.S. Public Health Service personnel, predominantly at Salt Lake City.In order to obtain better methodology and data interpretation, Subgroup IA establishment by the National Academy of Sciences - National Re - search Council of an ad hoc advisory cominittee of epidemiologists and biometric ian s. The PHS report of the epidemiological study became available to AEC and other agencies in January of this year, a few Weeks before the final meeting of Subgroup I A on February 9.
Page 2
Honorable John 0. Pastore -2-. At this meeting,the N.4S-ERC report on the epidemiological study was released to the Subgroup members. added mortality for one year for the group of miners previously studied, and were essentially identical to the 1968 findings of the previous NAS-NRC Ad Hoc Advisory Committee reported at the 1969 JCAE inary form and has received only a limited distribution by HEW. understand this report is still under revision. The finding ' s were based on the The PHS epidemiological report was presented in prelim - An assessment of the economics effects of various radiation exposure standards for uranium miners was performed under the aegis of Sub_ _ - fer ring $300,000 to the Federal Radiation Council for this purpose. ' The study was performed under contract by Arthur D.Little,Inc. This is a public report that has received widespread dissemination. It was sent in pre - publication form immediately to both the Atomic Industrial Forum and the American Nining Congress for their review and comments. hbout 200 copies have been sent to industry,agencies, and other interested parties. On December 2 , 1970, the functions of the Federal Radiation Council were transferred to the newly-formed Environmental Protection Agency. On January 26, 1971, the Administrator of EPA, Nr. Ruckelshaus wrote to Secretary Kichardson, HEI7, requesting that the Inter agency Review Group forward copies of the Subgroup reports to him by March 15 and final considerations of the Review Group itself by April 15. He specifically asked that the Review Group not provide a recommendation but outline two o r more courses of action and the facts and arguments for and against. each course. ple ted by February16 and sent to Dr.S tei nfeld in his capacity as Chairman of the Inter agency Uranium Mining Review Group for trans - mitt alto EPA. Reports of all thc Subgroups were comOn March 22, Commissioner Larson wrote to Dr.S tei nfeld requesting a meeting of the Inter agency Review Group to discuss these reports agency comments; AEC ' s comments were provided by letter of April7 from Commissioner Larson(enclosure2), which stated the preference of AEC to establish an exposure guide of 8 WLM per year as of July 1, 1972, with subsequent changes to be contingent upon further studies including epidemiology, control technology and economics. AEC has not predicated this position on the basis of epidemiological findings but rather on a reasonable balance of minimizing exposures
Page 3
En clo cures : Commissioner Ramey, w / encl Commissioner Johnson, w / encl Comm; ssi on erw / encl