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OFFICIAL USE ONLY ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE da Operations Office and Test Site S. Atomic Energy Commission Las Vegas, Nevada OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY The lOlst meeting of the Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine, U . S. Atomic Energy Commission, was held on November 14-16, 1963 atthe AEC Nevada Operations Office and Test Site. AEC Division of Biology and Medicine, and various members of his staff, Health and Safety Laboratory, AEC New York Operations Office, were also Committee members present The agenda consisted of (1) atour of the Nevada Test Site on November 14, (2) a discussion of the program of the Nevada Operations Office and ancillary activities on November 15, and (3)a briefing on recent developments in the Division of Biology and Medicine, and an executive session on November 16. Dr. Hodges, who served as acting chairman of the ACBM atits September meeting, was elected permanent chairman. a new chairman, the scientific secretary offered his resignation, which With the selection of A highlight of the tour was the opportunity to observe the final preparations for, and the actual conduct of,an underground nuclear test. Other points of interest were visits to the Rainier Tunnel, Sedan Crater, BREN Tower, the moving point source and the Nuclear Rocket Development Station(Project Rover). In general, the ACBM was very favorably impressed by the facilities and personnel of the NTS and the effective coordination of activities, many of which involve the interplay of different laboratories and agencies. impressed by the presentation of Dr. Alvin Graves (LASL), who discussed in general terms, some of the reasons for testing of nuclear devices. Since the need for continued experimentation and testing is not generally appreciated by the public at large,several members of the ACBM suggested might have a very salutary effect. The Committee was particularly .- that a report to the public along the lines of Dr. Graves' briefing The WOO program and organization were described by Mr.William Bonnet, Deputy Manager. This office, which administers the various contracts in regard to operation of the NTS, has the primary responsibility for planning and conducting nuclear tests. agencies, such as LASL, LRL and DOD, have permanent representation at WOO, although there is no direct contractual arrangement for cooperative studies. On the other hand, the Nuclear Rocket Development Station at Interested laboratories and OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY NTS represents a joint effort of NASA and AEC, which has been formalized through the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office in Washington. This program was described by Dr.C. Maupin, Health and Safety Director of the Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Co., which isthe major contractor at NTS. medical care, industrial safety including radiological aspects, and fire protection.A new medical facility is under construction. The medical situation appears to be marginal, in large part because of the diff i - cul ties in recruitment ' of physicians. present salary scale for physicians was unrealistic, although this is only apart of the problem of recruitment. It was suggested that the Public Health Service or Department of Defense might assign medical officers to the NTS and Dr. Dunham's office was asked t o make an informal inquiry about the feasibility of such an arrangement. there was little apparent effort to create an intellectual climate i n this division which might be conducive to attracting and holding medical staff with competence . The ACBM expressed the view that the Also, some felt that The activities of the Radiological Safety Department were described by Mr.Milligan. This department is responsible for all on - site monitoring and related operational support services including training.Plans are under way for whole body counting t o supplement the bio-assay program. The ACBM was favorably impressed with the activities in this area. Off - site monitoring, which is the responsibility of the Public Health Service,was described by Mr. 0. Place k. He indicated that there are 30 airysampling stations around the periphery of the NTS. In addition, water and milk supplies are sampled periodically, and several hundred volunteers from surrounding communities participate in a film badge program. He noted that the latter has a certain public relations value. A PHS Laboratory is located on the Las Vegas campus of the University of Nevada. Mr. Placek alluded briefly to pro osed studies of the efficiency of high vs. low volume air samplers for 1131 levels i n food and milk, and air and milk. who may be exposed while performing monitoring duties,will also be and of relationships between 1131 levels in persons,. - OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY LAWRENCE RADIATION LABORATORY, LIVERMORE Two aspects of the Livermore program related to NTS programs were presented by Drs. Gofman and Nish. and distribution of radio nuclides from various devices (Gofman) and the development of instrumentation for rapid and mobile radiation detectors (Nish). The ACBM was interested to learn about these activities. These were concerned with the quality DIVISION OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE ACTIVITIES AT NTS Several DBM programs atthe NTS are carried out under contract with Edgerton, Germerhausen and Grier, Inc.Radiological shielding studies in which a moving point source i s used to simulate fallout radiation were discussed by Mr. Burson. and "ground roughness" shielding studies, which are obviously relevant to civil defense considerations. Aerial radiological measuring surveys with the objective of relating ground dose t o aerial spectrum were described by Dr. Blase of the Santa Barbara Laboratory o f EGG. These include both "skyline" The development of a radiation source for the UCLA ecological (desert mouse) project at NTS was described by Dr. Blase. facility, which will use a3xlo4c cesium source,is intended to provide a dose of 4 r - 0.4 per day over a 20 acre site. the area may be uniform, itis recognized that there will be a variable spectral distribution.A thermoluminescent implant dosimeter is also aspects of this program and further discussion was deferred until the January meeting, when a detailed report will be made by Dr. Wolfe. Apropos of this,the Committee suggested that in the future the committee should give greater opportunity for the DBM staff to comment specifically on various programs and problems as the occasion arises at future meetings. Although t h e dose over The ACBM raised s'everal questions about the biological Dr. Dunham noted that (1) the F.Y. 6 4 budget for DBM is likely to be atthe level of F.Y. 63, (2) final negotiations are under way for the Michigan State University Radiobotany Program and (3)-Mr. L. J. Deal has been-made Chief of the Civil Effects Brazch. referred briefly to the Anderson Centrifuge Project at ORNL; virus - like bodies have been found in over 80 percent o€ human leukemias, butit has not yet been possible to demonstrate evasiveness of the separated virus,possibly because of in activation by the cesium chloride used i n separating the various fractions. OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY The Minutes of the 100th and lOlst meetings were approved with several minor amendments suggested by t h e membership. elected Vice Chairman of the Committee. Advisory Committee f o r Biology OFFICIAL USE ONLY