Support for Atomic Veterans Dose ReconstructioN

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Oak Ridge Center for Risk Analysis provided technical support to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to develop improved models and methods of quantitative uncertainty analysis for use in dose reconstructions for veterans of military services who were exposed to ionizing radiation during the period of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons from 1945 to 1962. Results of dose reconstructions for radiation-exposed veterans are used by the Department of Veterans Affairs in adjudicating claims for compensation for cancer and other radiogenic diseases.

New models were developed to estimate radiation doses in scenarios for inhalation exposure and to estimate doses to skin from dermal contamination. The adequacy of models previously used in dose reconstructions was evaluated, and assistance was provided to the development of methods of expedited processing of veterans’ claims. Work on uncertainty analysis introduced the use of Monte-Carlo methods to dose reconstructions conducted by DTRA.