Where operations involve research, manufacture, handling, transportation, use of or exposure to radioactive materials, and are not performed for or under the direction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or any government agency, a supplemental rate may be applied to such operations.  

Exception:  Where the radiation hazard involved arises from a reactor or is equivalent to the radiation hazard of a reactor, the rating provisions of Code 9984 “Atomic Energy –   Project Work.”

In the rating of employers under Code 9985, it is the prerogative of the carrier to determine the supplemental rate it feels is adequate to cover the radiation hazard in employers that engage in research, manufacturing, handling or transportation involving radioactive materials.  In general, these employers are written at the rate of the classification that would normally describe the employer’s operations.  The radiation hazard is covered by a supplemental rate, which the carrier determines on the basis of its own underwriting judgment.  The employers that have been rated under this rule are laboratories engaged in research on radioactive materials, isotope dealers and instrument manufacturers who use radioactive components in their instruments, etc.     

The use of supplemental loadings on employers where the radiation exposure is limited to just a few employees, as is the case of hospitals, universities, industrial plants and certain kinds of contractors, has been infrequent.  In these cases, if a supplemental loading was applied to those employees who have a radiation exposure, the additional premium would usually be inconsequential. 

Examples of these situations would be a large foundry with two or three employees using Cobalt-60 to check castings for flaws; an oil pipeline contractor who has a small crew to check pipeline welds either by X-ray equipment or Cobalt-60; and a paper mill or, in fact, any type of mill that uses isotope gauges to measure the thickness or density of materials like paper, sheet metal, rubber and plastics.  The tobacco industry, for example, is now using radioisotope density gauges to determine the quality of cigarettes.  It now employs more of these gauges, perhaps, than any other single industry, but the number of employees with a possible radiation exposure compared to the number of employees in the tobacco industry is so limited that it can be considered as a normal industrial development.  The use of radioisotopes for both diagnosis and therapy in hospitals has become standard practice.  At least two radioactive isotopes have already been accepted as pharmaceuticals.  There is an exception in the note under this classification that provides “where the radiation hazard involved arises from a reactor or is equivalent to the radiation hazard of a reactor, that the rating provisions of Code 9984 “Atomic Energy – Project Work” will apply.  Code 9984 relates to atomic energy projects that may involve the operations of, or experimental work on, nuclear reactors.  The procedure of rating these employers is an “agreed upon” basis between the carrier, the contractor and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.