Savannah River Site Dose Reconstruction Project – Aiken, South Carolina

What is the Dose Reconstruction Process?
  • Gather information about area of radiation exposure and assess data
  • Identify pathways of internal and external exposure
  • Determine methods of calculation to estimate screening doses and exposures
  • Develop methods to assess and estimate environmental doses
  • Determine risk of environmental exposures through selected calculation method
  • Document reconstruction procedures and results

Overview

CDC first became involved in health studies at Savannah River Site in 1992 following a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Energy.

Project Activities

The Savannah River Site, located near Barnwell, South Carolina, was constructed during the early 1950s to produce the basic materials used in the fabrication of nuclear weapons, primarily tritium and plutonium-239. Researchers completed the first phase of the project — the comprehensive data assessment and retrieval phase— in 1995. This phase involved an exhaustive records search of more than 50,000 boxes of records. The next phase was completed in 2001. In this phase the researchers estimated the quantities of radioactive and chemical material released from the Savannah River Site between 1954 and 1992.

Current Status of Project

The project was completed in September, 2006.

The Savannah River Site Searchable Bibliographic Database

 

The State (Columbia , SC newspaper)