Special Exposure Cohort

SPECIAL EXPOSURE COHORT

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) established a Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) for certain classes of employees. The SEC allows these employees to receive compensation under Part B without the completion of a radiation dose reconstruction and causation determination.

A SEC site is a site at which the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) could not reliably estimate how much radioactive exposure workers received. This can be for reasons such as poorly monitored doses of exposure or improper or incomplete records of exposure.

If an employee worked at a SEC site during a SEC period for at least 250 days and has one of the following 22 cancers, the approval process under EEOICPA Part B is simpler. The 22 SEC cancers include:

Leukemia, excluding chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The onset is to have occurred at least two years after a worker was initially exposed at a SEC site during a SEC period.
Primary or secondary Lung Cancer. This does not include in situ lung cancer that is discovered during or after a post-mortem exam.
Primary or secondary bone cancer.
Primary or secondary renal cancers.
Other Diseases. For the following diseases, workers must have experienced the onset at least five years after they were initially exposed:
- Multiple myeloma
- Lymphomas (other than Hodgkin’s disease)
- Primary cancer of the:
  - Thyroid
  - Male or female breast
  - Esophagus
  - Stomach
  - Pharynx
  - Small intestine
  - Pancreas
  - Bile ducts (includes Ampulla of Vater, which is also known as hepatopancreatic ampulla)
  - Gall bladder
  - Salivary gland
  - Urinary bladder
  - Brain (malignancies only)
  - Colon (includes rectum and appendix)
  - Ovary
  - Liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B is present)

There are over 75 SEC sites and facilities nationwide.

The Cold War Patriots Help Center is available to share additional information and answer questions about the SEC process. Call us at (888) 903-8989.