Epidemiologic Studies

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Study Records, 1944-1993

Location:

Active:
Inactive: LANL, Technical Area 59, Rooms 201, 209, and 210, Los Alamos, NM 87545

Originating Office: LANL, Occupational Medicine Group, Epidemiology

Finding Aids: 1) None; 2) Shelf list; 3) None

Disposition Authority: 1-3) Unscheduled

Series Description: The Health Study of Workers started in 1974 as an attempt to perform a long-term study of the health of workers in the nuclear industry, particularly those in plutonium areas. Records in Room 201 consist of 10 binders of materials compiled for a March 1991 project site review. Included are: agendas and minutes of the Advisory Committee on Epidemiology; copies of publications of Epidemiology staff related to radiation studies (1973-1991); project budget proposals which include descriptions of the study (1981-1991); discussions of analytical data and results; and coding instructions for Rocky Flats, Mound, Albuquerque Operations Office, Los Alamos, Pantex, and Savannah River study materials. There are no personal identifiers in these records.

Records in Room 209 include "241" and UPPU [plutonium workers for the Manhattan Project] files, both of which contain correspondence between persons conducting and plutonium workers involved in the study; health questionnaires; correspondence between study investigators and private physicians; study notes; and employee death certificates and medical records. Also included are records pertaining to four workers who were involved in an accident at Los Alamos during April 1946; medical records for a worker life study program instituted at Rocky Flats after a 1964 plutonium accident; and interview instructions and blank interview sheets.

Also in Room 209 are log sheets for telephone interviews held in conjunction with the study. These sheets indicate telephone call dates and times, specify whether or not calls were answered, and contain interviewers' initials and notes. The interview notes provide employee names, addresses, telephone numbers, secondhand information, employment data, social security numbers, personal and family health histories, and educational backgrounds. The notes also indicate whether individuals witnessed nuclear testing during their employment at nuclear facilities; the nature of substances to which employees were exposed; employee smoking habits, ethnic and religious backgrounds, birthplaces, and military service; interview time and duration; and interviewers' names and debriefing information.

Records in Room 210 consist of radiation exposure information for Rocky Flats and Zia Company employees. These files contain the following types of records: Rocky Flats employee record cards, internal and external exposure records, and urinalysis reports; study correspondence; logs documenting work completed; analyses of Zia Company radiation records; and trip reports, some of which relate to the Hanford Health and Mortality Study.

Data Elements: 7-8, 11-13, 16-18, 20, 22-25, 28, 31, 35-39, 42-45, 47, 53-56, 58-62, 65, 68-69, 71