H-Division Progress Report, September 20 - October 20, 1955 (Redacted)

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At the beginning of this report period, R-Divlslon Bnd t h e Laboratory suffered a serious lore in the unexpected death of Dr. ThOnKu I!. WtC, Ledcr Of the Radiological Phyricr Group, H-6. took virtual charge of all activittes relating to monitoring end health physics radiologic safety at tertr, both in KeveQ and at Eniwetok. part in the field at every test operation from 1951 until his death. years of his life were devoted primarily to calculations which might improve the a c c m c y of forecast8 of the location and intensity of fallout following full-scale detonations. He reco&zed as ope of the leading authorities In thir field and his lose will be felt keenly. Tcm White cam t0 Lor i n 197 and He played a prominent The last few Dr. White’s duties as Leader of the Radiological Physics Orarg will be B86upLed by Dr. Harvey I. Israel, a staff member of the G r o ~ psince early 1952. *Includes 3 caruals end 3 limited.

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Antonlo Mantoys war transferred fKm DP b o t to tht General Hmitoring Section on Septanber 26. Shirley Drc6back left for 8 There are ten roc)L-fission On October 13, amber of the Group H-4 was evapomting adl qUaUtlty Of plutonium in solution in Roara 236 of H€U, Bullding. side o f s hood on the north wall bench; it collrirtcd of heat- & 1 x 1 1/2" t e a t tube contsining the 1 cc solution over a hotplate mpplemented vith an infrared heat lamp. A t the vatnt drynerr war reached, a rcddirh-colored reaidue cmnenc.4 irrulng fram the tart tube. vent up the There vas no telephone i n t& IYXII, DO the tscbniclo. to call E-1. H-I peraomcl betectcd IWO to 2000 c/m in the hall The 0 1 4 coafamlnatlon 011 the technician wa6 on hi0 ohoer which red. into which the technician had walked, and -8 contmlnatlacl Decontreiaatim of the ko leaat-affected ~OCU end the hll war ucaplirbad i with little difficulty by nrFng Verrene. The other rocum werm clord Until a thor- i ough check could be d e . Air -1-1 we- started i n Roar 236 .nb i n tbt hll, and nore coun- vere Wan. Unfortunately, it v u not, uad activity w u carried on dmor all the v.y to tb instrument exchange .N. l a %& buement. I t v u fardl that the ceiling Of Roar 236 ttut the ceiling could b v e becare coota~Inated. of the heavy fallout on the mper and the porrible hi@ ma^ d r count 02 32 d/m/m3. This v(u th;ouiplt to be the ciwe Several of the f o ~ceiling blocL. vem efor die peal. The cover for the ceiling lilgt. end the walls were cont a ml mW ; over 2000 c/m v u detected on the cooling grill i n back of the refrigeratar. The floor

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catwu eveatorilly reduced to = e m by h.nb-rcrubblng each tile with rtael -1, Dutch Clasarer d El. Fortunately, anly the bootiel of dt oF ing moancl became cont x dna ted during the clsUrUp. was drawn thraugh the e-t and into the intake duct or onto the roof. !be only exhauat for Rocr 236 is thrOu& the bood. Luckily, no c o n ~ l p . t ~ o n Urine -le collection v u rtarttd cm the veek end foUawing t h i 8 incident. Rocrp 21, SI@a wlildfog. Bo UDUIUJcoa+-.zrution or alr coullt, rerulkd w i t h the exception of 164 d/m/m3 in the regulu 235 -a, w h W s8tCri.l warn cleaned were ured which contributed to higber lcvtlr of rdi at iar cu CLU fl lo atl on ohmcod t o 1. On d 24, VII rsltsd for the fint tip. in Atrryce K0 2. Bay0 activities for the mod increued coaribtmbly, and larger rourcee 1. A cdibrmtion of o m of th9p UaWQi&&Cjli&$ -my tmitr waa would no longer be necessary to continue prdorfng. b. Work v u begun on the cilibration of Ten S i t e badger vltb the thick C Rd mi Un f€lbr by applying a correction factor to a Calibration macle with tba rtendard cadalum thiclmeOrO ao that in the future only ocu type of calibratloo w i l l consideration dwill utilise thc net denrity .athod. 3. The EuUord-type trititm cantainer war re car u idd for it8 We i n the external valve rollld be covered with an outer prohcting d a e rad rerutdtkd to the

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In Chicago fmm Octdbvr 17 to 21. Safety Conrultank, to be a t the Laboratory on October 24-26 to look a t problemo of ccuprasaed and ceobtutiblo -ea. Vu io us fntereoted grorrpr will be contacted. st.rd.rd -tine Procedures for the nvin lJxmtocp bailding at hnchar mency Procedurw far the Site were rcvlcwed. Durbg th. month an attempt MI made to ronoally orgbnize the action Leader8 into an cr dn in i at nti ~ o body w i l l meet the lart veek of each mnth for one and aoe-h.lf hour6 fat the purpomca Of adring the Gmug Lerdrr m action to be t a k a in mttelu that affect the G m p far purposes of helping to decide Croup pollciee. Thio On October 13, a con tamina td accident oecurrtd In Rocr 224 in which an gnount of plutoaium eutimrted at about 5 mg was s p i l l d , rerultlng In contamination of a wall, a portion of the floor, the ceiling and one bench tap. The ContaainatiCm

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w vary effectively brou&t under control by the excellent efforts of the Decoatamiffition Section of Group E-1. the Yxiiversity of California Board of Regent6 on October 16. n-e Biophysics Section demonetrated the operation of the Htlman Counter for the ~ir*:p~rat.t:onor final reports for Operation Teapot. nr:et:-ng on nctxher 10 on "Sane Research Activities of the Bianedicel Research GKNp.'' Association meeting i n Santa Fe on October 12. ;Jri;kt Largkm. presented a talk t o the New Mexico State Furses' Aesociatioll 1. General Remark6 on Section Activities Harry Foreman attended a Meting on October 20 and 21 at the Argonne Mationsl Laboratory on "Experimental and Clinical Approache6 t o the Treatxent of Poisonlng by Radioactive Substances." He presented a talk on three case6 of contamination and their treatanent with C a EMlA which occurred a t thir Laboratory. t h e University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry In Rochester, Ifew York, and presented a paper entitled "The Prognostic Si@ificance of Erythrocyte Chollnesterase Titers: A Report of Four Casem." She a l a 0 consulted on toxicological problem. Jean Sabine attended the annual meeting of the Alum1 Association of Ch ni fic nti on c4aagad t o Jea Sabine gave a paper of Medical Technologistr in Taor OD 0 a. Radloirotqer in Boner of Animals from New Mexico Mountain Ranges H-6 and H-5 consirtr merely i n mdloautographing sections of bones of cattle and deer found dead Ln various areas in New Mexico. Sias of activity frop! the egiphyeir of one cattle bone e r seven da;ys of contact with film. The l e v e l of canteaination, however, is obviourly qulte low. Results t0 date conrirt of definite b. Effect of x Wat ion on Lipid Synthesis in Rats (ma, Lot&, Liny) Completion of the experimcnt reported i n part last month gave the following additional results: the Bdrehals gave a relative synthetic r a t e about 35 times a6 fast in the

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im.diated rats a8 i n fasted controls and about 17 tines u fart u i n fed controls. The adrenal weight6 did not vary sigaificantly in the three groups and the t o t a l cholesterol content of the adrenals of 6 rats was 3.6 mg in the fed cantmls, 2.5 mg in the X irradiated animals sad 1.5 mg inthe fasted controls. Win- Pigs and Mice (oould, Late, Lflly). Previous reports have described a very striking effect of 2400 r of whole body X rays on hepatic cholesttrol synthesir in rat6, and a very marked increase in liver weight Mcw with controls 48 hours after irradiation. This effect is now being investigated i n guinea pigs and d C e * Preliminary results on gulnea pigs Indicate: 1)an increase i n hepatic cholesterol synthesis by a factor of about 4 to 5 ; 2 ) no effect on cholesterol syntherir i n the w intestine; 3) an increase in liver weight (intern of per cent of body weidlt) of about 25s; and 4) guinea pig d l intestines showed a rate of cholesterol sfllthosfs about 40 times as rapid M liver. Only four anWs vcre used so these r e ulta . / PCh-ex 47 h borri yy $ $iwOther results are not c. Effect of X Irradiation 013 Liver Size and on Lipid Synthesis i n e - o @ & a & m t 13$,Mice showed a dpLau increase i n liv bared on 60 animals. Preabyterian Ifospital, Chicsgo, Illinois,to see if psitosterol 1s ago sited fn tiesues after abSOrpti0n and particularly to find oiit If it is concentrated in my particular ti sale. 1) biood sterol specific activlty values show that the @-sitoeterolwas absorbed by tiis k.lminel patient fairly well although not as well as i n the 5 n o m men previously studied; 2 ) it disapgtaxul Prom blood more rapidly thsn label& cholesterol normally does, w i t h B half-time of about 4 day6 for the first week; 3) the high vdue for bile indicates that si to ste roi is separated from chole8teml and selectiveiy excreted by the l i v e r in bile; 3 ) the low values in art cr lal tissue m e consistent with previous data on equilibretton of labeled blood cholesterol with rtrterial w a l l cholas terol, and give no evidence 4 mi? eelectLve deposition i n any tissue etudied. would have been reached on t2ae second day and would probably have been a good deal higher. Ve ob-ned peak specific activity valuer i n the range of 'j'OOO-lO,OOO 24 hours after a 1 mc dose; g,, one might predict a value of 30,000-4~,000d/m/mz. This study is being carried &%t~-fb?o!!%f6h%?'~%.%$%!#, "he points of interest are: Judging fram the results on fLve nomtal men, the peak blood Level e. Effect of Yephrosis on Lipid Synthesis i n Rats (Stamler, Wissler, As a continuation of last mnth's report, e second experiment

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ha6 becn cclgletcd. Thia differed i n th.t thc C14-acetak waa ads in in teed are or two dsya ai- provoking kidney damage by the inJectiou of r a b b i t rnti-rat Iribncy results is too great t o Sllw any definite conclusfona t o be dram but there io a tendency b u d s hi@er valuer in the nephrotic rate. All animals were on stock diets. The variation between the 0 l r C d . y ana 2 - d 4 Two additional rtudier were campleted. counts were hi@ enm& ao that the valuer for fetal tie8uer have greater o ign if fc we than in prcviour 6tudier. Due to larger dorer of T-cholesterol having been fd, tht W t i I m the standpoint of chollnerteraec titerw hemolytic disease and jaundice. The foll 1) i n primary hemolytic conditions the cI(E t i t e r is conuisteatly above no& (1.3 to 2.1: the no- range is 0.8 t o 1.2); and 2)in hemolytic and ict eric conditiotu secondary t o other direare t h e titer is law to normal. lart lbnth, which wag designed t o tart the validity of the use of rt ability conatant8 of chelate8 for predicting the behavior of chelating 8genta in the body, YU CaQlettd. The details of the ucperiment w e r e deecribed i n last month's progrera report. The finding8 in the colltrolr confira the n d t s of &apriltaa. of intereot tht notvithotaadlng the c l o u rinihrity in chcnical behavior of the c l e ~ ~ n t 8teated there ia s wide variation i n the metabolic behvior. Thlr ir not an artifact of preparation becaare the epleeu dues for all of the elemnta tarfed were to the liver, the valuer i n the spleen vould be very hi&. Thlr hi& reteatloo of Ce and Pm In the liver l r probably related t o cation sics. Both of these cation8 are i n the same actions of the livmr. If the material bad be= iaacted in a colloid fonr and far thir reaeon atuck of rite u calcium and probably enter into the metabolic reThe e f f e c t of the chelating agenta was clorely comelated to fh. at ability constant in the four maw e tested.Y t kira, bever, yu ancmlour ym affected by the chelating agent, I.c.,w i t h respect to the

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1. Gene- llararks on Section Actlvlties Major Samuel Rothezmel, USA, He, a r s i w ta thlr Laboratory, rerigpod hir On October 2, Irene Boom talked to the New Mexico Society of Medical Turney, and Lea@uu, appeared in the October ireue o Clinical Medicine. Clsnlfication ch. carmission and terminated his duty here on Septenber 15. the Jounral of Blo ~ ogica lChdstry. mitted for publlccrtion In the Jauprl of Laboratory d Clinical Eladfclne. The carplebd mnureript hu been mubc . Biological Effects of Expomxre to Hi* Cancantrations of ' M t i t m in Mice &&&,&g (woodward, me).A manuscript hu been prepared om this rtudy and ir in the procerr of being edited. been prepared which reports the results of t h i s study. prior to suknissioa for posrible publication. A manuscript has been campleted for publlcstian as an Id. Metabolimn of C14-L.b.led Nicotinic Acid and Related C m by e M of a vmrrcript on thir rtudy h u been cmpleted. f. Of fi883OZi ta in Hice (Furchner, Ellinwood). A Purmscrlpt has A t prerent it i r being edited 3. York in Progress a. A Strady of the Passage and Adaptation of AIC Leukemia in I M 8 t e d Swlrr mice that had been irrdiated aad injected with AK mtue leukd83 ranth8 prcviouely. names were taken for pathologicd rvrrrinrt(om of the 9uisr Obrervatlonr on the lorrg-tezm lethality studlea are still In proeperr. b. Protective Effect of Msrrou on Spleen-Shielding puring x Irrdirtim studies I n the SSwirr CFU and C f l Black rtrainr of mice rhouul a rl@ificant tlecreaee i n mortality in anlmalr irradiated vith the femurs shlel&d. There nus no remarkable

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gmtection f x m AK leukemia "takes" in the ixmdiated, dhielded ep.aup. detailed etudy of the Strong E mice showed similar result8 w i t h only sli8ht protection frcrn AK leukemlc takes i n the lower radiation doses (200 to 300 r). hundred C f l Black lnice were used in …