Oak Ridge National Laboratory (X-10)
Also Known As: Clinton Laboratories, ORNL, University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory
| Location | Special Exposure Cohort Employees (SEC): |
| Oak Ridge, Tennessee | June 17, 1943 – July 31, 1955 |
| Eligible classes of employees from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (X-10) Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and their loved ones, have an increased chance of successfully pursuing their Part B or Part E claim with the Department of Labor because generally they will be eligible for potential compensation from the EEOICPA fund if the worker was employed at the X-10 Laboratory, or other designated SEC facilities, for at least 250 days during the SEC period listed above and later developed one of 22 specified cancers. Workers whose employment occurred outside of the SEC class period can of course still file a claim for benefits under Part B or Part E of the EEOICPA, though they may have to wait for NIOSH to complete a dose reconstruction for their case. |
During the Manhattan project, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) site was used by the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory to construct the first pile semiworks – a test plant that would move the plutonium product process from the research stage to large scale production. DuPont began construction of the test pile, the X-10 reactor in March 1943 and was ready for operations by January 1944. A research facility designated as the Clinton Laboratories was built during the war to support X-10 reactor activities and included chemistry, health and engineering divisions.
After the war, the laboratory was transformed from a war production facility to a nuclear research center and changed its name to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1948. The Laboratory’s research role in the development of nuclear weapons decreased over time, but the scope of its work expanded to include production of isotopes, fundamental hazardous and radioactive materials research, environmental research, and radioactive waste disposal.
Throughout the course of its operations, the potential for beryllium exposure existed at this site, due to beryllium use, residual contamination, and decontamination activities.
Below find a Department of Labor graph for the total EEOICPA benefits paid for claims at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (X-10):
