Sixty-Ninth Meeting of the Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine (Companion Document Is 710362)

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY "he 69th meeting of the Advisory Committee f o r Biology and Medicine, Ui SO Atomic Energy Commission, was held on June 22 and 23, 1958. Jane 22 session vas convened in Room 1101, 1717 H Street, 1. Y., and the meeting of Jtrne 23 was held in Roost Sl36, AEC lieadquarters, Germantown. Advisory Committee atesiberdin attendance: &. Simeon T. Cantril, In Executive Session the Coaxnittee continued with a discussion of the research evaluation and contract procedures which hadpbeen considered at the 68th meeting. current and projected fim year budget for DIN. king the discussion of budgetary matters it was brought out that the increase from 37.9 million in FY 1958 to 62.4 million in FY 1962 did not contain a proviso for an increase in administrative personnel within the staff to supervise the research g a t s and contracts. To date Dr. Dunham had not been able to obtain a commitment that would increase DBtrI staff comensurate with the increase in projected workload. It uas the opinion of the Committee that an increase in the administrative staff would be reqaired to effectively administer the increased funds for research and to follow Committee occasion vas had to bring up this matter, which discussion was participated in by the General bger. Dr. Shilling reviewed for the Committee a staff paper "Plan for contents embodied concepts discussed in the 68th meeting by the Committee, particularly as it concerned the utilization of non-Division personnel as scientific reviwers, scientific advisory committees and scientific consultants in the evaluation of research proposals and brornd prog-tic lines of investigation. Hr. Stanuood again reviewed in more-detail the At the luncheon held by Hr. Straws for the . Dr. Shilling emphasized the magnitude of the problem of scrutinizing offsite research proposals and the evaluation of programs in terms of over all Commission needs. In order to perform the evaluation of t h e individual offsite contracts in a satisfactory manner and-still conserve effort so as to effectively evaluate the major researchuategories both offsite and onsite a revised "Research Evaluation ahd Contract Procedurew was presented f o r consideration. the mechanltcs of offsite research evaluation it was suggested that with Following considerable discussion of OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY respect to renewal of contracts in the range $25,000 - $5O,ooO each contract need be visited by the responsible scientific representative of DER and one or more outside revieuers not mme than once prior to the end of the third year of the contract. The revieu of the project visit may then be presented before the research committee of D B prior to reneual. project site visits may require evaluationby more than one member of the program category team in additfon to non-Division personnel, is in most aspects currently functioning and any alterations made were for purposes of gaining time for a better look at the entire program and coordination with onsite research. The Gommitbe concurred in the plan as Certain of these The general plan as presented for review, evaluation and administration & SAFETY CRITERIA FOR NEVADA TEST SITE Dr. Dunning revievtd for t h e Committee the historical development of safety criteria for Ids radiation safety, both offsite and ansite. detailed evaluation of regional offsite exposures brought out the intricacies of all the factors relating to testing of ueapons when seeking to comply with the safety criteria evolved;- The record, however, is one of a remarkable close compliance with only exceptional offsfte levels of radiation exceeding the established criteria and none of these of a magnitude injurious to any of those potentially exposed, Dr. Dunning emphasized t h e increasing diff3culties of adhering to established safety criteria due to the increased use of lVTS throughout the year by other groups than those concerned with ueapons testing, In. OAK RIDGE RADIATION ACCIDENT Dr. Dunhan~bkiefed the Committee on the details of the accident which occurred at O a k Ridge in June. the accident occumed, the estimate of doses received by the uorkers and the details of their physical status and medical care at the hospital of the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies. the exposed personnel w e f c still hospitalized and under investigation. As of this time the eventual status of those receiving the highest exposure could not be predicted with certainty. Hospital and its staff made evident the value of such facilities for the cafe of those involved in any major radiation accident occurring on AEC installations, The Committee will be deeply interested to have further reports on the status of these workers. He outlined the circumstances d e r which At the time of this-pePort The availability of the Oak Ridge OFFICLAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY,. A detailed paper on this subjectuas presented by Hre Hollister, The subject of the possible mu&ogenic effect by incorporation of C-JL in chromosome material was discussed by Dr.Tottef', Present at the meeting were Dr. George dell of bs Alamns Sciehtific Laboratory, who was able to present data concerning cncrgy yield and type of weapon detonatedwhich are factors bearing heavily upon C-14 production in the atmosphere. also participated in by Commander Uatters, Wi sion of Military Bpplication, and particularly as to uhether the C-1L production might v81y with so-called "dirty" and "clean" bombs. In this respect and considering both the induced and released energy, there seems to be little choice in GI.4 production between the fission and thermonuclear weapon, The report as prepared contained prpjected data (Table 1) concerning the possible genetic damage to future generations from Carbon-lh release. It was the opinion of the Committee that+such long-time projecteff gertetic DmAbrought out the paucity of research in thisfield and suggested that The Committee noted the comments of,&. Salisbury concerning this report and agreed with his Division that a condensed paper on the GI4 problem be submitted to the open literature-by staff members uithout its appearing as an official AEC report, and importance that this means of conmwnication.wil1 reach a larger of the report and the thoroughness of its pursuance. This forms EP portio6 of the paper. release in relation to the ?his phase of the discussion was . injury was unsound considering the largely theoretical basis f o r the A discussion of the transmutation effect of GI4 within The.3sub3cctis of sufficient interest The Committee complimented the staff on the quality POSSIBLE FUTURE ADVISOKY CcPlplITTEE REPORT ON RADIOACTM'IY RELEASED Dr. Bugher Brought up the matter of the Committee considering the preparation of a later report which mfght.include possible hazards as yet not made the subject for wide concern. is not of major health importance, he indicated that this and other substances might be considered jointly in a,fept?rt calling attention to the possibility of other isotopes than Sr-90,and Ce-137 being the only potential hazards of released. or induced activity. that prior to our next meeting the groPtp at ANL:evaluate _their uork with long-term fission products as a possible basis for discussion of such a It was suggested by DP. Marinelli This matter vi11 be re-evaluated at the next ACBM meeting. OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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Dr. Bugher called to the attention of the Committee the need for The matter vi11 be adequate amounts of Calcium-47 for metabolic research, Institute had brought this need to his attention. referred to the Isotopes Division for study, This was a discussion contiming from the 68th meeting. The original "Report of the PPedical Board of Review" of 1947 w a s discussed by Dr. Warren. The early history of DEM and its later development uere discussed by Drs, Uarren and Bigher. a sound one and as the Ccmmission*s responsibilfties have developed it appears t6 have been remarkably prophetic. research and health." As the present committee see its reponsibilities, these &main unchanged from the function;as originally stated. Houever the expanded research program both offsite and onsite affokd opportunities for members of the Committee t o familiaffze themselves uith those facets of research in uhich they are most interested and to lend their guidance in the programmatic aspects of DivIsCon-sponsored research. The Committee also feels that it has an obligation to lend support to the staff of DES! in the performance of its duties wherever possible. VIII. INVITATIONAL LUNCHEON BY MFL STRAUSS FOR ACBM The original .report of 1947 still appears to be It is noted from this report , -e principal function of this Committee (ACR4) u w l d be to I recommend to the Commission directly a general policy in the field of ?he Chairman very kindly invited ACBM to a luncheon, In addition there uere present frlessrs. Fields and Cook ahd Admiral Foster, qf the Commission staff. Although the primary purpose of the limchecm was a certain matters pertaining to the welfare of t h e Division of Biology and Medicine in which t h e Chairman has had so sympathetic an interest. an occasion for members of t h e Committee to express their appreciation to the Chairman for his support of t h e Division of Biology and Medicine and his understanding of its mission, Straws, the opportunity was afforded to discuss The Committee noted with regret that this meeting was the last formal. attendance by Df. Shields W m n . His leaving can, we trust, be in part compensated f o r by having him available in a consultative capacity as required. He will continue his duties with t h e Commission and DIN as representative t o t h e UN Scientific Committee. 7Lro of the three candidates OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY previously recommended a t the 68th meeting as potential members of ACm have not yet been cleared through the Commission and hence no d i r e c t approach has been made t o the new member of the Committee to fill the vacancy left by Dr. Warren, me next meeting of ACBM w i l l be October 17-18 at Germantown. meeting f o r September is not scheduled due t o the Geneva Conferencee The f olt wing meeting is planned for November 14-15 a t Argonne National The meeting of January 9-10, 1959 is scheduled for I OFFICIAL USE ONLY