PUBLIC LAW 106-398—APPENDIX 114 STAT. 1654A-505 (2) The advice of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health under paragraph (1) shall be based on exposure assessments by radiation health professionals, information provided by the Department of Energy, and such other information as the Advisory Board considers appropriate. (3) The President shall request advice under paragraph (1) after consideration of petitions by classes of employees described in that paragraph for such advice. The President shall consider such petitions pursuant to procedures established by the President. (b) DESIGNATION OF ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.—Subject to the provisions of section 3621(14)(C), the members of a class of employ- ees at a Department of Energy facility may be treated as members of the Special Exposure Cohort for purposes of the compensation program if the President, upon recommendation of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, determines that— (1) it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the class received; and (2) there is a reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have endangered the health of members of the class. (c) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—The Secretary of Energy shall provide, in accordance with law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the members and staff" of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health access to relevant information on worker exposures, including access to Restricted Data (as defined in section 11 y. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014(y)). SEC. 3627. SEPARATE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC SILICOSIS. (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.— Congress finds that employees who worked in Department of Energy test sites and later contracted chronic silicosis should also be considered for inclusion in the compensation program. Recognizing that chronic silicosis resulting from exposure to silica is not a condition unique to the nuclear weapons industry, it is not the intent of Congress with this title to establish a precedent on the question of chronic silicosis as a compensable occupational disease. Consequently, it is the sense of Congress that a further determination by the President is appropriate before these workers are included in the compensation program. (b) CERTIFICATION BY PRESIDENT.—^A covered employee with chronic silicosis shall be treated as a covered employee (as defined in section 3621(1)) for the purposes of the compensation program required by section 3611 unless the President submits to Congress not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act the certification of the President that there is insufficient basis to include such employees. The President shall submit with the certification any recommendations about the compensation program with respect to covered employees with chronic silicosis as the President considers appropriate. (c) EXPOSURE TO SILICA IN THE PERFORMANCE OF DUTY.— A covered employee shall, in the absence of substantial evidence to the contrary, be determined to have been exposed to silica in the performance of duty for the purposes of the compensation program if, and only if, the employee was present for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days during the mining of tunnels at a Department of Energy facility located in Nevada or Alaska for tests or experiments related to an atomic weapon.
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