168 – 168 - Risk Analysis and Related Topics
Necessity for Public Domain Availability of Computing Software for Federal EEOICPA Compensation for Exposure to Nuclear Weapon Radiation
Chris Barker
Consultant
The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act(EEOICPA) compensates individuals who develop and were diagnosed with one or more cancers and had a prior work history with radioactive materials at US Department of Energy facilities. My relative informed me of exposure because they machined plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons at Rocky Flats. NIOSH reconstructs dose from film strips that recorded radiation exposure, by algorithms in a computer program -Interactive Radio Epidemiological Program (IREP). The algorithms generate a prediction of the probability of occurrence of cancer(s). The computer program code and documentation are not in the public domain. Surprisingly, claimants, their authorized representative, other advocates and board members who advise NIOSH on dose reconstruction methods are forbidden from accessing this program in which they can verify the accuracy of an individual’s dose reconstruction. I review the publicly available details of the dose reconstruction re-construction and probability of occurrence of cancer. We advocate a policy that the full software program code is available in the public domain for the benefit of claimants.