Proceedings of Nepa Advisory Committee on Radiation Tolerance of Military Personnel (Report No. Nepa-1011-Ier-16)

Page 1

#i!?hiRCHiiD EN CINE AND AIRPLANE CORPORATION PROCEEDINGS OF NEPA ADVISORY CU IT TH Z ON RADIATION TOLERANCE OF MILTTARY PERSONNH,

Page 2

ORDER OF BUSINESS Call to order--Chairman Dowdy Minutes of t h e Chicago Meeting, June 23, 1948-- Report of Executive Committee Meeting of Probable Results t o Humans: Report of Committee on Human Radiation Problems-- Report on Suggested Problems f o r Research Recommendations toNE PA relative to its Biology

Page 3

NEPA ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON RADIATION TOLIBANCE U. of South Dakota Oak Ridge, NEPA Naval Med, Research Inst it ute Travelers Ins. Co., HOUAENDER, Alexander, Ph.D. Oak Ridge, Nat'l. Lab. KAL IT IN SKY, Andrew Oak Ridge, NEPA SIMbTONS, Gordon Oak Ridge, NEPA

Page 5

get ahead with our program. If the meeting will come to order,I think we will We are just a little late now. I am changing the order of the program just a little. things is opening remarks by Mr. Ward, Mr. Sims, and Mr. Simmons, and just before closing this afternoon. One of the first However, I think we will defer those remarks until I would like to call on Mr. Ward, however, to introduce some guests that he has with him. Mr. Ward. with us this morning, as most of you may know. on Mr. Harbison, who isa member of the Legal Department of the Travelers Insurance Company, to introduce his associates. Dr. Dowdy, w e have some members of the insurance fraternity I would like to call This is Mr. Harbison. MR. HARBISON: We are very glad t o be here. Travelers has been very much interested in this whole subject. Some years ago w e were asked to in sure a project out in Washington built by Dupont. and we had no knowledge whatever of what we were insuring. assure you that is a type of activity on the part of insurance compani es which was unknown, and i s unknown today. t o know very much as t o what they are insuring. We insured it, They generally want We were very happy t o go into that, and we have had a very great in - te rest in this whole matter ever since. We feel very greatly indebted t o Mr. Ward for making it possible for us to sit i n and be here today. Mr.Stratton of Travelers is on my immediate left ; and Dr. Whiting of Travelers is next to him. They are very much interested in this whole subject of radiology. Mr. Stratton has had a great deal to do with it fora number of years past ; and Dr. Whiting follows it very closely, CHAIRMAN DCPVDY: Thank you, Mr. Harbison. We are very glad to have you and your associates, Mr. Stratton and Dr. Whiting, with us this I would like to introduce Dr. El linger. He is with the Naval Research group a t Bethesda. I think most of you know him. Dr. Selle,will you read the minutes o f our meeting that we had i n Chicago on June 23.

Page 6

#'The first meeting of the NEPA Advisory Committee on Radiation Tolerance of Military Personnel was held June 23, 1948, atthe Palmer House, Charles H . Perry as temporary secretary. Dr. Shields Warren served as temporary chairman and Dr. . Mr. Chairman, I trust Iwill not have t o read the list of the in di - vi dual s who attended that meeting. most o f you have before you at this time. This i s similar tothe one which brief the group relative to the objectives of the NEPA Project and t o indicate some of the medical problems involved. Wr. Sins discussed the limitation of performance of chemically fueled aircraft in consequence of the incompatibility of speed and range. He presented certain fundamental aspects of aerodynamics and commented briefly on advantages t o be gained from the application of atomic energy to aircraft propulsion. the Congressional Air Policy Board and ofthe Hoover Committee, and also commented briefly on the projected use of atomic energy for mili - Mr. Ward summarized pertinent discussions of "Acting Chairman Shields Warren charged the Advisory Committee with the responsibility or' deciding what can and should be done in order to in sure protection to the personnel operating the hypothetical type of p l a n e such as Mr. Sims and Mr. Ward described. tTAne lect ion of permanent officers of the Committee was then held. Dr. Andrew H. Dowdy was e l e c t e d Chairman, and Dr. Charles H. Perry, "Mr. Simmons spoke of the radiation problem a s it will apply to mili - tary personnel comprising the crew of a nuclear aircraft. He pointed out that under operating conditions, it is not desirable to accept the present radiation standards established for existing ground i n - stall at ions, such as the stationary pile and the usual hot radiation "bfr. Simmons indicated certain subjects of interest to NEPA about which further information was requested. tio ned were : Among those subjects men1. Actuarial statistics relating to human survival at various levels of radiation. 2. Variations in human sensitivity to mixed radiation such as would prevail in the vicinity of are actor of the type 3 . Methods determining the degree of physiological sensitivity

Page 7

4. Additional study and refinement of the rem and rep concepts, - and the arrival at a better correlation between various types of radiation and associated conversion factors. 5. Methods of increasing resistance to the physiological effects "Mr. Simmons spoke a t some length on the problem of reactor shielding j particularly in relation to shield weight and t o personnel protection and airplane performance. He mentioned that increasing the speed of the airplane by decreasing the weight of the shield would expose the crew to a higher radiation level,but would reduce the duration of exposure and would favor survival from enemy action. The configuration, design and weight of the shield, as well as the position of the reactor in the plane, would all vitally affect the detailed design of the power plant and the nature and extent of the radiation hazard. "Mr. Simmons indicated that as a starting point for the design of the shield, an arbitrary exposure value of 1rep per hour for 25 hours might be used as a basis of discussion. This figure represents an increase over present laboratory standards by a factor of 100 as based on the so-called permissible exposure of 0.1 rper working day, or approximately .01 rper hour. "Considerable general discussion ensued concerning the probable the required to train the crew of a nuclear powered plane and t o complete a specific military assignment. "Mr. Kal it in sky discussed further shield design from the viewpoint of hazards from enemy actim and indicated that such hazards are inversely dependent upon the degree of radiation protection afforded the crew. Wr. Shields Warren commented briefly on phases of work inthe A.B.C. and on data available from the Manhattan District Operations which have immediate bearing upon the radiation protection problem under "Dr. Calkins discussed a prepared mimeographed report which he dis - tribute d among the members present. This report concerned certain well-known physiological effects of whole body radiation and offered proposals for biochemical research aimed at increasing the physiological tolerance to ionizing radiations. "Among the chemicals suggested by Dr. Calkins for study were: 1. For preventing the hemorrhagic syndrome: to lui dine blue, protamine sulphate,antioxidants,to be used with or without rutin and Vitamin C. 2. For fortifying against the non-descript toxic phenomenon: ethylene disulphonate, theophorin, antioxidants. 3. For combatting bacterial infection : penicillin and sulfa

Page 8

"Dr. Calkins ' comments were followed by remarks by Drs. Dowdy, Shields Warren, Brues and Newell on anti - his tami nics,rutin and Vitamin P, and "There ensued an involved open discussion on radiation data from human sources, and on methods and procedures necessary for obtaining addit ional radiation data on man. the obvious need for systematic collection of all available data on radiation effects and the exploration of methods of ameliorating damage and increasing the body tolerance to ionizing radiations. " Prior to the noon recess,Mr. Ward injected the wish that there be given no immediate statement o r comment relative to the allowable o r permissible radiation exposure of personnel. the present meeting is preliminary and that available information i s inadequate t o support any statement of permissible exposure at this time, and that long-range planning seems necessary to obtain the exact information needed for the Project. Dr. Newell and Dr. Dowdy further stressed Dr. Dowdy indicated that "On reconvening rollowing the noon recess,Dr. Dowdy appointed an Tuecutive Committee to assist the Chairman and Secretary in conducting the affairs of the Advisory Committee. He appointed to this subcommittee Drs. Robert s. Stone; Robley Evans; Stafford L. Warren; and "The Chairman also appointed a subcommittee on Available Data t o assist in the collection of pertinent information being obtained at various Atomic Ehergy Installations and Universities conducting biological investigations on radiation. He named on this committee: Dr. G. Fail la Dr. Raymond E. Zi rk le for the University of Chicago and Argonne National D r . Wright Langham f o r Los Angeles; and Dr. Rupert Anderson from South Dakota, who is especially requested to obtain data on the biological aspects of radiation. " D r . Dowdy charged each member of t h e Subcommittee on Available Data with the responsibility of summarizing, o r having summarized, for NEPA the pertinent information on radio biology coming from his own area of activity ; and presenting the material to the Executive Cornnittee within six months, so that the latter committee might have ample time to edit the material for presentation to the Advisory Committee at its next "This summary is to serve as a basis for recommendations relative to additional research which will be required to answer specific questions arising from the radiation protection problem. "The Chairman requested that in summarizing the available information, the members keep in mind the following items:

Page 9

1. Methods of detecting slight biological changes, particularly those having a practical clinical application. 3. Variation in biological effects with intensity and rate of admini strat i on. 4. Summation of multiple doses of the same type of radiation or combinations of different types of radiation. 5. The biological effective ratio of nnf ft o 1%. Perry stated that Dr. Dowdy would also serve a s Chairman of the Subcommittee on Available Data and t h a t all summaries from committee members should be sent to Dr. Dowdy. #!The Chair then appointed a Subcommittee on Human Radiation Problems, "Members of this subcommittee were also admonished t o keep i n mind: 2. The rton ratio. 3. Effects of combined radiation. 5 . The smallest detectable biological reaction. Wuring the latter part of the afternoon discussion was directed to : 1. Clearance of technical information. 2. Radiation exposure levels between 25; and 100 r. 3. Engineering problems concerning the reactor,shielding, and 4. The anticipated neutron t o gamma ray ratio of aircraft reactor 5. Specific phySiOlOgiCd ef feh ts of ionizing radiations and possible mekhods of preventing radiation effects by chemical and pharmacological means. * 1F0130wing a few remarks from Mr. Ward in appreciation of the efforts of the Committee in their deliberations,the meeting was adjourned placed Dr.Perry as Secretary of the NEPA Advisory Committee on Radiation Tolerance of Military Personnel.I1J

Page 10

Thank you, Dr. Selle. Are there any corrections to CHAIRMAN DWDY: Any further corrections ? (There was no response.) Ifnot,the minutes will stand approved as read. This Committee i n June was assigned two tasks. information toNE PA relative to the probable results on humans of various dosage levels of acute total body radiation. The second was t o make re com end at ions to NEPA relative to a research program which would further clarify or fill in any gaps inthe information w e now have relative to human exposure under the conditions pertaining to the NEPA Project. The first was to give and I edited this material. We presented it tothe Brecutive Committee on December 10 i n San Francisco, a t which time the information was gone over very, very carefully ; corrections made; and also the probable resul ts to humans from various dosage levels which had been presented t o the Executive Committee was thoroughly discussed, not only as tothe results but to the exact wording. Corrections were made on this. the report and the probable results in line with the recommendations of The probable results on humans was then sent out to the Executive Committe e members following this revision for their further correction ; following which it was then put outin mimeographed form t o all members of this Committee. that any divulgence would b e detrimental. t o our country ' s security. It does, however, have information from one report on human accidents, pending, and the Atomic mergy Commission felt that the report as such I might tell you the reason for the classification which w e have on here as " Restricted. " This information a s it i s contained in this little blue,legal - size,very convenient package has nothing in it so it is classified in this respect from a personal relationship or from a medical legal problem aspect. Some of these cases are still cannot be put out for public consumption. So, i f any discussion relative to these particular cases should ensue this morning, we might have t o ask some of our visitors to leave the room while this is being discussed. However, I hope that a detailed discussion of the data as compiled will not be necessary, because it has been inthe hands of each member for atleast approximately a We returned to Los Angeles and corrected 2I notice it was issued on 'February 15. DR. NEWELL: Two or three weeks.

Page 11

We probably will have t o go into some detailed discussion on Section Ix of it relative to the various dosage levels and probable results on So I hope we will not have t o go into detail on it. However, again I would like to emphasize that this has been very carefully studied by the Executive Cornnittee and has been issued to each o f you; and if there are any particular comments on it, I think they would probably have been made. I received a letter from Dr. Cant ril expressing regrets in not being able to be here,but he did in general accept Article IX of this report. So, at this time, if there is any discussion on the available data as such, it i s open for discussion. DR. NmELL: You don ' t want discussion on Article IX at the moment? CHAIRMAN DGWDY: Not riEht now. That is coming up later. We realize that this information i s not all the information in the country on this ous members, p …