(a) In connection with the duties of the Director of the Defense Nuclear Agency, as Department of Defense Executive Agent for the Nuclear Test Personnel Review Program, relating to the preparation of radiation dose estimates with regard to claims for Veterans’ Administration [now Department of Veterans Affairs] disability compensation and dependency and indemnity compensation under chapters 11 and 13, respectively, of title 38, United States Code—“(1) the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe guidelines (and any amendment to those guidelines) through a public review and comment process in accordance with the provisions of section 553 of title 5, United States Code—“(A) specifying the minimum standards governing the preparation of radiation dose estimates in connection with claims for such compensation,
“(B) making such standards uniformly applicable to the several branches of the Armed Forces, and
“(C) requiring that each such estimate furnished to the Veterans’ Administration [now Department of Veterans Affairs] and to any veteran or survivor include information regarding all material aspects of the radiation environment to which the veteran was exposed and which form the basis of the claim, including inhaled, ingested, and neutron doses; and
“(2) the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Director of the National Institutes of Health, shall—“(A) conduct a review of the reliability and accuracy of scientific and technical devices and techniques (such as ‘whole body counters’) which may be useful in determining previous radiation exposure;
“(B) submit to the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs [now Secretary of Veterans Affairs] and the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate, not later than July 1, 1985, a report regarding the results of such review, including information concerning the availability of such devices and techniques, the categories of exposed individuals as to whom use of such devices and techniques may be appropriate, and the reliability and accuracy of dose estimates which may be derived from such devices and techniques; and
“(C) enter into an interagency agreement with the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs [now Secretary of Veterans Affairs] for the purpose of assisting the Administrator in identifying agencies or other entities capable of furnishing services involving the use of such devices and techniques.
“(b) The Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs [now Secretary of Veterans Affairs], in resolving material differences between a radiation dose estimate, from a credible source, submitted by a veteran or survivor and a radiation dose estimate prepared and transmitted by the Director of the Defense Nuclear Agency, shall provide for the preparation of a radiation dose estimate by an independent expert, who shall be selected by the Director of the National Institutes of Health and who shall not be affiliated with the Defense Nuclear Agency, and the Administrator shall provide for the consideration of such independent estimate in connection with the adjudication of the claim for Veterans’ Administration [now Department of Veterans Affairs] compensation.”