Biology Research in Hanford Laboratories

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IHANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION - RICHLAND, WASHINGTON X IS DOCUMENT IS PUBLICLY ED ON UNCLASSIFIED AND OFFICIAL USE ONLY DOCUMENTS 1FILES ROUTE SIGNATURE AND DAT EROUTE TOI PAYROLL NO. 1LOCATION DATE

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That a large laboratory engaged in life sciences research is located in what has been considered a remote area of the Pacific northwest often surprises visitors. from principally a plutonium-producing center to a diversified, broadly based complex of research, technology, and production for peaceful purposes, its remoteness i s vanishing. Iianford's potential is increasing. is to describe apart of that complex - the Biology Laboratory - its facilities, program, and scientific staff. for further information are invited. With the evolution of Hanford The purpose of this booklet

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Hanford was chosen as the site for the earliest plutonium production reactors because of its comparative isolation and ample supply of water. The early reactors needed both - the former for security and the latter t o remove by-product heat. Water pumped from the Columbia River cooled the reactors and returned to the river containing radio nuclides produced by neutron activatTon of solutes in the water. radio nuclides could damage the fish(then, as now, a valuable resource of the Columbia River) became the first problem i n biology 8t Ranford. From this beginning in 1944, the program of the laboratory developed t o encompass other biological facets of production a t Hanford. radioactive wastes of the Hanford plant are widely varied in nature end released to river, soil, and air, a broadly based program of biological monitoring and research resulted. To find whether these I n 1946, the biological program vas essentially one of monitoring - the planned exposure of fish to reactor effluent to metsure its toxicity, and the sampling of animals inthe environs of Hanford t o measure their radio nuclide content. That year the first contractor for the operation of Hanford, DuPont de Nemours and Company, relinquished responsibility tothe General Electric Company, and the "Manhattan District " of the Army Engineers, formed during World War 11, relinquished control to the newly established Atomic Energy Commission. By 1950, some 50 people were employed, and all biological studies had-been brought together in are actor ?ea, 30 miles north of Richland.

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Aquatic biology st uCi es were still of predominant concern; an a j or program of radio iodine toxicity studies in sheep was unde,vay, and various up ect s of radio nuclide metabolism were being studied in small animals and plants. Since 1950, personnel have more than doubled and laboratory facilities have been expanded t o accommodate an enlarged program. The early emphasis on monitoring has been gradually replaced witha broader concern for radio nuclide metabolism and radiation effects,in general, and with studies utilizing radiation and radio nuclides in the investigation of biological problems unrelated to radiation. The past 10 years have seen the development of a number of research areas which are,toa degree, unique t o our laboratory. Miniature swine are being extensively employed in studies of radionuclide metabolism and toxicology. This animal is,in many respects, an appropriate "stand-in" for man. strain of swine, i s undergoing development. A pure-bred colony Of approximately 200 beagles is employed ina broad program of use of radio nuclide tracer techniques, has largely supplanted the earlier program of " biological monitoring" ofthe Hanford environs. This program has not only utilized the extensive controlled environs of the Hanford reservation,but has also been involved with studies of " fallout " throughout the Northwest and i n Alaska. A field and laboratory ecology program, making In all of its research programs, the Biology Laboratory has had the inestimable advantage of close liaison and cooperation with the

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more than TOO professional scientists - chemists, physicists, mathemat ici ens, meteorologists, geologists - employed in the to tel Hanford plant operation; and access to may special facilities not duplicated elsewhere inthe world. Row, as Hanford diversifies to a broader economic base, other changes and opportunities are expected. Beginning i n January 1965, we anticipate a new era of growth and evolution as part of the Pacific Northwest Laboratories of the Battelle Memorial Institute.

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LEGEND FOR GRAPH Several aspects of Biology grovth over the pest ten years are shown in this graph. reflect the increased quality of staff which i s perhaps better evi - denced by the increasing rate of publications and oral presentations. In arriving at annual publication rates, only full - length papers i n scientific journals or books were counted, include only those made at regional,national or international meetin gs of scientific societies,or at special symposia of national or international scope. documents reflects a decline in problems of a security classified nature,results of which could not be published inthe open literature ; and a policy during recent years of including all progress reports in a single document issued annually. The annual budget figures include some funds from theU.S.Air Force and from the AEC Division of Production, but over 90% of the total is from the AEC Division of Biology and Medicine. but do not include capital equipment or construction costs. The modest grovth in scientific staff does not The decreasing rate of publication of AEC These figures include all "overhead" charges ,

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The principal Biology facilities are located adjacent to a reactor area, thirty miles north of Richland, Washington. 'rJhile within the Hanford Reservation, they are outside of exclusion area fences and permission to visit the laboratory i sees i ly arranged. The main laboratory building is a four story structure with some 30,000 square feet of floor space. biology activities except those associated with the use of large animals.and aquatic organisms, end a portion of the ecology studies. Special facilities in the main laboratory include15specially air - conditioned rooms for housing small animals,a 10,000 curie Co6' y - irradiation room, a 250 KV? X-ray unit, two electron microscopes, controlled environment chembers for plant growth studies,a centralized facility for radio nuclide analyses,a library of approxim at ely 6,000 bound volumes and with current subscriptions to over 220 journals, and a conference room seating 100; in addition to the more usual laboratory and service facilities. This building houses all A second laboratory building houses the e qua tic biology program and most of t h e ecology program. extensive trough and aquarium fec ili ties, which are supplemented by outdoor ponds. A small hatchery and ponds are located in another area where reactor - associated studies are conducted. The ecology program utilizes the 800 acre Rattlesnake Springs Ecological Preserve, located in a remote area of the Hanford Reservation where field studies employing radio nuclides may be conducted with minimal Its 9,000 square feet include

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Large animal studies are conducted ina complex of buildings and outdoor pasturage which provide accommodations f o r 400 sheep, 450 miniature pigs and 200 beagles. goats are also maintained. These facilities include highly developed equipment for the exposure of dogs and smaller animals to radioactive aerosols, and a partially underground, low-background counting room for total-body counting of large animals. A fev cows and a flock of pygmy

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EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES and expansion into areas of wider interest and more general app lica - tion,activities have been introduced to stimulate creative research within the laboratory and t o broaden our influence in the general scientific community. Some of the more significant of these activities are briefly described below. ’ Seminars and Lectures. An exchange seminar program was initiated i n 1958 with Washington State University. 20 representatives of WSU have spoken t o us and 19 of our scientists have made presentations at WSU. IOorthwest institutions are encouraged to include our laboratory in i n areas of their specialty at such Northwest institutions as the University of Washington, Washington State University,the University Members of our staff rather routinely present lectures of Oregon and Oregon State University.A course in radio biology is offered by members of our staff at the University of Washington Center for Graduate Study i n Richland. Institutes of Radiation Biology. I n 1959 the Division of Biology and Medicine of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission initiated a program of Summer Institutes in Radiation Biology. We assisted the University o f Washington in the establishment of such an institute and have participated each summer in their program of teaching high school and junior college science teachers the fundementals of radiation

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caopus for brief periods, and providing students the op port u it y to spend afew days with investigators in our laboratory. of Montana and Utah, and Oregon State University have established similar progrtms i n which we have cooperated to a lesser degree. This has involved sending instructors to the University Radiological Physics Fellowship Training. This is a graduate prop am conducted by the University of Washington under Atomic Energy training at Hanford. Several of these Fellows, each summer, chose to obtain this experience inthe Biology Laboratory. Its participants spend a summer of on-the-job Graduate Traininq. Four people are currently doing thesis work i n our laboratory for credit toward graduate degrees t o be awarded by Washington State University or the University of Washington. Biology Staff members hsve been granted leaves-of-absence to pr sue graduate work toward a Ph.D. degree. Trainfng of U.S.Air Force Veterinarians. This program was initiated in 1952 t o provide research experience in radiation biology to selected Air Force veterinarians. Twelve officers have completed one- t o two-yew tours of duty in our laboratory. Training of Foreign Scientists. Tvo International Atomic Energy Agency postdoctoral fellows were assigned to our laboratory for one of Ankara, Turkey; the second w& from the Indian Atomic Energy Establish - ment i n Bombay. Scientists from France, India, Japan, and Norway have The first of these was professor of physiology from the University spent shorter periods with us to gain special training and experience.

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Foreign Assianments and Scientist EXChEJIReS. W o members of our staff spent ayear on leave with the International Atomic Energy Agency. One wes assigned t o Tunisia, the other to Greece. Prior to the test ban, our scientists assisted with several studies in the Pacific Test Area, related to fisheries and marine ecology problems. I n 1960 we initiated a program of one year scientist exchenges, the first of these involving an exchange with the United Kingdom's Agricultural Research Council's Radiobiological Laboratory. exchange was initiated with the assignment t o our laboratory of a scientist from the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Research Project. The Royal Veterinary College, Stockholm, Sweden, is currently interested in such an exchange. National Committee Anpointments. Six of our senior staff members have served on the Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation Committees of the National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council. We are also represented on committees of the U.S.Air Force, Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Office, and o f t h e National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. Hanford Siolopy Symposia. These annuel symposia, sponsored by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Division of Biology and Medicine, have served to organize knowledge in the fields covered. The first symposium, on the Biology of the Transuranium Elements, was held in tives f r o m England, France, West Germany and Canada. The Hanford Symposium on the Biology of Radioiodine was held in June 1963, with

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140 visitors registered end. eight foreign countries represented. The third symposium in the series,held in May 1964, was on the subJect of Inhaled Radioactive Per tic les and Gases. About 160 visitors registered, with eight foreign countries represented. The complete proceedings of these symposia have been published each year as the December issue of the Healtfi tph vs b Journ a.

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Inthe pages which follow, an effort is made torev i ev the areas of research interest in the Biology Laboratory, and to intro - duce the scientific personnel of the laboratory. The division of effort implied by the organization of material in this section is Laboratory often cooperate on t h e same problem, and many problems involve cooperation with persons outside of Biology. Table of Organization will be found at the close of this booklet. Persons from different groups within the Biology The major research programs of the laboratory, summarized in the fol loving pages, include afew which are no longer being several years. A detailed presentation of research results is, of course, beyond the scope of this booklet. Current research results are published annually i n Hanford Bioloffy Reseerch Annual SeDort, a copy of which may be obtained on request. For the most part, however, these are programs of Ehphasis has been placed on findings of the past Published papers listed in this booklet are only illustrative They are i n noof the range of interests of laboratory personnel. sense a complete bibliography of recent work. During 1963, 48 papers were published in.the scientific literature,not including abstracts. During the same period 31 papers were presented at special symposia and a t meetings of professional societies.

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~ A BOL IS MAND TOXICITY STUDIES INSbW ANIMALS biochemistry, x ri nerd metabolism (on educational leave, Univ. of Rochester, 1964-67) biochemistry, mineral metabolism biochemistry, lipid metabolism AEC postdoctoral fellow in biophysics, Univ. of Minnesota, 1960-62. pharmacology, g astro enter ology National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow, Medical Research Council, H amell, England, 1961-62. ' biochemistry, mineral metabolism member Subcommittee on Permissible Internal Dose of National member Subcommittee on Toxicity of Internal Zmitters of Nat ioa al Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement. Academy of Sciences - National Resesrch Council Recent Repres ent at ive Publications : Distribution and retention of plutonium-239 and neptunium-237 inthe rat adrenal,Rdi ation Research 22, 81-94 (1964). Removal of deposited plutonium by triethylenetetraminehexaacetic acid, Factors and conditions modifying the absorption and retention of chronically ingested radio strontium.2Transfer of Calcium and Strontium Across Biological Membranes, Academic Press, New York (1963). Metabolism of zinc-65 inthe rat. exposure limits, Health Physics 6, 6-18 (1961). Consideration of permissible Beta.irradiation of rat intestine, &. 2. Path ol. 9,527-537 (1963).

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As the principal product of Banford, plutonium has occupied a central role in our research program. involving daily feedings of very dilute Pu(N03)k solutions for periods of as long as ayear,firmly established a figure of 0.003% for the gastrointestinal absorption of plutonium in this chemical form. Absorption was shown t o be unaffected by plutonium concentration over a million - fold range. single-feeding studies in pigs. the variation in gastrointestinal absorption with chemical forn of plutonium fed, and with age - abs om tion in very young rats i s es much as 100 times greater than in adults. Early studies with rats, Very similar results were obtained from limited Subsequent studies have demonstrated Numerous experiments were performed to evaluate the skin as a route of plutonium entry, and t o evaluate. the effectiveness of skin decontamination procedures. The intact skin is a very effective ' barrier to plutonium absorption and the first consideration in my effort - t o decontaminate skin must be the preservation of the integrity of the skin barrier. Recent studies employing techniques of bile duct cannulation and …