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Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
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tional Laboratories, interested contractors, 'etc. versity of 'California, - Los Angeles project have recently made. a fundamental .discovery' concerning the mechanism by which ionizing radiation d e - . tion constitutes a slgniflcant '&va&e i n the field.'. They found that the.. - 1 polysaturated essential qatty acids, which are intimately concerned with. grovth'md new cell formation, when irradiated undergo a shift of the lso- . related to free radical and consequent peroxide formation in, the acid.mole- , tion similar t o auto-oxidation myst. '.. be taking ?lace. For this rea$on, the finding thata substance which I s with an ionic yield of 16 which i s very high and shows that a' chain .reac-.... ...,... University of California Radiation Laboratory - Berkeley. Work hai These ex:-a tar ted on the radiation chemistry of dilute aqueous solutions. cperiments &e of theoretical importance i n the consideration of one possi-.' ' . 8ale way for the origin of organic materials on this earth utilizing cosmk Ways as the high energy Source and the atmosphere as the d i l u t e aqueous Bombardments were made using the 40 MeV helium ion beam of the
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Whether or not carbon-carboa bonds and carbon-nitrogen bonds t h a t exist in biological material can also be formed and more highly organized structures created under the influence of high energy radiations is at present under investigation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Health and Safety D i - vision, NYW, has reported t h a t experiments were begun a t MIT Under b?. Robley D. Evans on studies of bone grafts using dogs injected with C a 45. The C a 45 migrations will * b e studied i n hot grafts t o cold hosts and i n cold grafts to hot hosts. Instrument development. Arrqngements have been made f o r the Natlonal Bureau of Standards t o furnish the Radiation Instruments- Branch under the Zamboni Pile (high voltage) battery development contract: (1) A 3,000 volt pile for inclusion i n a K-25 designed small portable alpha proportional counter, and (2) 60 volt piles which may be used ina her- ' metically sealed quartz fiber dose rate meter developed at t h e fwgonne National Laboratory.- Tfie indefinite life of the Zamboni pile will permit the operation.of the Argonne instrument t o be continuous and indefinite and, since essentially no current is required, once it is calibrated and sealed the instrument should require no further maintenance. Evaluation of instruments. Twenty radiation detection instruments valued a t $5,280 were received in stock and forty-one instr9ents valued at-$13,744 were shipped t o laborajiories for inspection and evaluation. New equipment valued a t $1,890 was ordered during the month. Loan of instruments. Pre$imin&-y arrangements have been made t o loan the Food and Drug Administration 32 survey meters for a period of 2 to3 months for their use i n training inspectors and chemists.. Eight scaling units and one automatic sampling changer were loaned t o the USAF for use in test activities. New York Operations Office. Following Commission approval of a $1,300,000 level of support i n Fiscal Year 1952 and a new plan of operation for the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission contract, a meeting was held inNew York t o implement the approved plans, ters the contract for t h e Division of Biology and Medicine. and Dr. Bardie attended for the Division, Mr. Meid, Business Manager, N a - t ional Academy of Sciences (the contractor), arid Mr. Milton Evans, Business Manager, ABCC i n Japan, also attended. The meeting w a s called by
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s of cod cation struction of the c ili ties were taken. steps toward comme Brookhaven National Laboratory. Mr. Brown, Executive Officer of the Division, met with Mr. Van Horn, AEC Area Manager, a t Brookhaven t o r e v i e w the FY 1952 construction budget. It was agreed that further'consideration should be given t o a "Four-yeax Plan'' a t Brookhaven, grouping related and intkr-dependent construction items in one package and scheduling each facility over the next four yews as it i s needed. "housekeeping" construction items are sometimes supported by different programs F d some items are Wt i ally dependent for their justification on yet t o be approved facilities. of the Division of.Biology and Medicine, and Dr. Langham of the L o s AlGosScientific Laboratory, revfewed t h e Mound Laboratory personnel protection problems and the role of the Biology Laboratory i n the study of the effects of exposure on Mound Laboratory workers. Biology Laboratory, described the biology program and stressed the need for improved facilities. program on substitute materials was carefully reviewed .and arrangemnts made f o r the program t o be cancentrated in the Future at Mound Laboratory and for Los Alamos t o f0rwai-d t o Mound the data it has accumulated. Dr. Anthony, Director of the The Los Alamos and Mound Laboratory biological Examination of a typical. uranium mine. Dr. W. Bale, Consultant t o the Division of Biology a d Medicine, i n cooperation Kith a representative of the Uniied States Public Health Seryice visited a typical -uranium mine i n the Colorado Plateau afea f o r the purpose of making measurements of the concentration of airborne degradation products of radon t o which miners are exposed. and the long-life degradation products of radon are present i n appreciable amounts leading t o weekly exposure of the miners t o radiation dosages i n excess of the 0.3 rem per week which is normally considered an acceptable dose. While there are several factors which indicate that the miners are not i n immediate pekil, nevertheless, years of exposure to these dosages may well involve some risk. for the purpose of evaluating the hazard as realistically as possible and The results show that radon concentrations &re high Further studies are planned with USPHS Mallinckrodt Chemical Company, St. Louis, Missouri. The Biophysics -ranch has found that the present environmental control aro<p, under the qi rect ion of Elr. K. S. Caplan, assumed charge March 19487 and.has hade . ' " tic ally every worker had received radiation in excess of permissible dose,r -3 the latest cluarterly average shows that no one now exceeds the permissible 2.ost commendable progress i n reducing personnel exposure. and only 7% of the workers receive more t h a n half the permissible
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caordination and screening of biomedical- 'experiments and C i v i l Defense. programs 8s well as similar.proposals from within the AM: organization. The Ymager, SFO, through the Division of Military Application, w i l l determine feasibility. The Division has coordinated and recommended a limi t e d scope biomedical program proposed by the Armed Forces Special Weapons program for incorporation i n Operation BUSTER. - Operation JANGLE. A second meeting of the Feasibility Committee to study radiological safety aspects of Operation JANGLE was hela i n Washington. The Committee's function has been t o determine whether or not t h e test c a n be safely carried out within t h e continental limits of the United States and, i f so, to.re com nd m&eorological, physical, and biological data t o be obtained as a result of the burst. tions were reconsidered in the light of additional information'and a modifie d set of criteria was recommended for the tests. i n the original agreement that the tests are feasible. There w a s no change Civil Defense Activities The FCDA bas expressed some concern over possible difficulties in. - bobtaining weapons development data relating to civil defense.. gested by the FCDA that a briefing session for principal staff and AM: Commissioners be arranged f o r the purpose of acquainting the AM: with FCDA prepared by the Biophysics Branch, concerning information relating to the effectiveness of automobiles as shelters during an atomic attack,-was for - warded t o the FCDA for evaluation with respect to shelter planning work. Chalk River accident. A report prepared by the Medical Branch, concerning information relating to 811 accidental explosion at the Canadian Chalk River atomic energy installation, was forwarded t o the FCDA as data of potential value i n the Civil Defense medical planning program. FCDA participation i n FA1 tests. A conference was held with representatives of the FCDA Test Branch, the Division of Military Application; and the Civil Defense Liaison Branch, t o f i r m up FCDA requirements and participation 'in connection with Fall tests. The PCDA submitted a program for testing a total of 46 "back yard" type shelters. Liaison Branch has endorsed the request t o the Division of Military Application for consideration. another program covering the training of FCDA personnel i n radiological The Civil Defense It is understood that the FCDA will submit
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ing and reporting on the Lehigh University Institute of Research'on criShelters i n Existing Buildings Professor Herry L. Bok, Consultant t o the Civil Defense'Liaison Branch, attended the July 25 sessions. ,' AEC personnel shelters. A program for testing AM: personnel shelters of the communal type has been submitted for consideration for inch - sion i n Operation BUSTER, and approved. f o r use at AM: prime Target areas, as part of the AEC Disaster Plan. coordinated by M r . Fleury, Division of Security. These shelters have been designed Clark of Public Buildings Service and MI-. Sherwood B. Smith, AFSWP, D i - rector of GREENHOUSE structural tests, and.discussed the report entitled "The Effects of Atomic Weapons on Glazing and Window Construction" summarizing this par% of the GREENHOUSE test data. The report was in preliminary form but provided useful data on the probable missiles effects of glass and the characteristics of glass substitutes. Instruments and isotopes for civil defense use. made to loan radiation detection instruments for civil defense training purposes t o the FCDA Central Training Center at Oklahoma A&M, and t o the New Jersey State Civil Defense Agency. of radiation sources f o r training purposes. The latter also requested the loan A jointly sponsored AEC-FCDA booklet covering the procedures t o be followed i n submitting requests for the loan of instruments and sources from AM: has been distributed t o AEC and FCDA field agencies.& Combined conferences on emergency feeding - London, England. Several meetings have been held t o discuss the agenda for the combined conferences on emergency feeding t o be held i n London i n late November or The Division of Biology and Medicine' has participated i n = the preparation of the agenda for the conferences, insuring that items of -special interest t o the USAEC will be given appropriate consideration and athat reports of the conferences will be available tothe Division of B i - "'ology and Medicine. It i s anticipated that there will be between 25 and -30 representatives from the United States attending the conferences. Universicy of California Atomic Energy Project - Berkeley. With the exception of s o x minor cleaning up, construction work on the two-
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still to be undertaken prior to the start of the iresearch work t o be con- ' ducted in ' this building extension. Brookhaven Biology Laboratory. !Twelve bids w e r e received, azid opened for the new biology laboratory, with an exceedingly favorable l o w bid of $883,700. This bid pr m its revision of the total budget cost estimate of Hanford Aquatic Laboratorx. A l o w bid of $372,000 'has been receiyed !on the aquatic laboratory. The work is expected t o be completed in'June