Monthly Status and Progress Reports for February 1951 (Partial) (Sec. IV, Biology and Medicine Only)

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t o estimate s.pontarieous.mutation rates for s.everal characteristics which have so' far never been studied. The information on .humq r a t e s of mutatian are important not only toa basic. understanding of human genetics,' but also a better hderstanding and.estimation. .._ of the h&an genetic risks Th? final report of the --ad hoc Colmnittee for evaluation of the human genetic r i s k s associated with nuclear energy has been formally assigned and submitted t o the Director of 'the Division of Biology and Medicine. In this report, the Committee recommends t h a t .a conservative attitude be maintained, that exposures of.persbane1 be mihimized, ana %at re6earch designed t o supply data for more accurate estimaticm of the genetic risks be conthued and expanded. I 4Isotopic experiments i n plants. The State College of.Washicgton plants has i n the past year beea studying the conditions Under which novement didor ' did not take place. reactions occurred on the s'urfaces of roots'and i n the veins of leaves which were severe enough t o constitute effective bldcks t o the utilization of certain mineral nutrients, especially iron. I n the case. of the leaf vein reaction, it was found t o be of sufficient magnitude t o retard the re'-export from'the leaf .of calcium and iron under usual growth conditions. However, it was shown that (1)growth in a.n acid medium and (2) growth at low phosphorus levels caused these elements t o become mobile and easily rendering calcium and iron mgbile, w a s their respective tissue concentrations. Both moved much more readily when t h e i r respeckive tissue concentrations were low. yet available) were freely mobile .under a variety of conditions which were found t o inhibit mwemerit of calcium and iron. It was determined that precipitation Anocher., and perhaps the determining fcictor i n Phosphorus and perhaps sulfur (final results are not Hew York on February 20-21, 1951. The NYOO Health and Safety Division arranged an excellent. prograrc w3ich included papers on a wide range of subjects w i t h special emphasis on radiation arid chemi.cdi hazards of pr'rme imprtazice t o the Commission, Zhe speakers were largely from i%e IVY93

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. under the NYOO. O f partici of. studies of the fallout fr& .tl Even though the daily average might be within;the limits -of time, however short. 3. ' I n the neighborhood of aa AEC plant hmdling'berylli'd compounds,. the. average monthly concentration at the breathing zone' of Rochester, indicate t h a t beryllium is virtually nontoxic when taken by Therefore, .no special liqyid w a s t e disposal mekures need be emNevada tests !The Radiological Safety Group of Owration Ranger had the objectives of assuring safety f o r operating personnel, surrounding pqpylation, livest.ock, and water supplies, a l s o of acquiring factual data t o determine whether the Nevada site could be utilized as a permanent proving ground for operations of certain types. I n addition, members of this group would play a large part i n acquiring and disstaff (mostly from the Health Division), 9 nen from the Los Alamos Protective Force, 3.5 representatives from AM: emergency monitoring teams, This group w a s comprised of 44 people from the Los Alamos IIElaborate plans enabled these people t o monitor the area itself, w h i l e 10 of theIr mobile teams surveyed practically every possible road going north as far as Ely, Nevada; e2st t o Cedar Springs, Utah; south t o Needles and Kingnar,, Arj,zona; arid t o Baker, California, and Tonapah t o &he southwest aid. northwest, respectively. rmzpped out probable areas of radioactive fallout, and other &'OAT-1 planes =allowed the radioactive Cig Gd s as They progressed across country. mere la Fd for evacuzt zg pop i at i ons from E'ne surrounding areas should Wzcliaticjn intensitjes reach a dangerous level, and after each shot.., air

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ina few hours .to' 0.7 mr per. hour. A person remaining in this ,area during either o f ' these tests would not: have received more than a daily per dss i - bers of the Hanford Works,. O a k Ridge,' Argonne, and Brookhaven National * Laboratcries, and the New York Laboratory,. kept check on.radioactivity ' which could be even slightly damaging to he d th - ' .in the air> and i n rain'and snow. .. A t no point w& ay level observed . These tests .verified completely. the belief that detonations of this. type cpad be held at this site with no result iq radiological hazards an$where i n 'the country, provided: certain basic meteorological conditions were respecked. A 'large. amount of info m tion was obtai which has direct application .to civil defense planning. Shelter tests ' connection with the. final detonation on February 6, ysics Branch arranged .an experiment t o investigate the shelter potentialities of automobiles as an aid. to civil defense. .Five automobiles, models 1936-39, all with. turret-tops and safety-glass windows, were s e t out i n various orientations one-half mile apart at distances of one-half t o two and a half miles from ground ..zero. As expected, the car at one-half mile was demolished q d burned. . I The car at one mile w a s singed and the windows on the b l a s t side were broken, but the car remained relatively intact. For some reason, the gasoline i n the t.ank of the car ' a t one and a half miles caught fire, destroying the entire inside of the car. Cars at two miles ,and two and a half miles. were undamaged except for one cracked. window. None of the cars was overturned nor shifted noticeably from its original position,. ' nor were any' tops crushed. The tentative conclusl.on is that a person might take refuge i n a ! back seat and thereby gain fair protection from t.herma?. and blast effects tensit.y of the gamma rays is likely t.o be lethal whetber the car gives . other prot;ecti.on or not. A car- might. be used for prozecs5.m either on the street or i n %he garage at. home. Zikewise, an apyrec.iable' shelter wodd be gain2d by simply rolling under a car parked at the c'w'2 orina -

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February 8 Mr . H a r r y L. Bowman appeased before the Public Buildings :Camthe areas of damage t o be expected f p r different classes of buildings. . from various size bds, and then answered s pci fic questions on shelters, materials of construction, a d -the and DMA outlined salient information and previewed the future t e s t proReview of Kansas City shelter plans. A t the request of the FCDA det nile z plans for a multi-purpose Kansas City air raid shelter (and < . underground garage) were e;ahated with respect, t o the protection that :., ' would be afforded against radiation hazard i n event of atohc bombing. . Evaluation of the plans for protection 'against b l a s t was requested by FCDA of the Corps of Engineers. ' ConfereEce of State Civil Defense Directors. A member of t h Branch attended the February 12 Conference of,State Civil Defense D Coordinator, was zlso. present. Loans of icstruments and radiation sources. During the mon mrangenents were made f o r l6an of radiation detection instruments to

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Technical Cmmana, for e & LG tion pursuant t o .the possibility 'of the Approximately '300 of the chemical' dosimeters and three readers vey neter has been completed, by the,Raytheon'Manuf'acturing Company. and for. radium gammas is, continuous between ..OO5 roentgens. and 500 roentgens. ' A window is included for the admission of alpha particles t o ' t h e ion . oped by the Chemical Division at QRmL. t o secure an in it id quantity of 10 instruments. AM: sites will be ,'. * ' . solicited t o determine quantities'needed priaik t o the initiation of a .. . survey meter developed by ,that eo up. ' -tract ' t o produce commercially a neutron dosage rate meter and an alpha forwarded t o the Branch by Oak Ridge Operations. me following i7 proposds kotaling .$205,55l'were approved for negotiat.ion or renewal during February, 1951. role of the intest.inal flora in radiation injury"

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Rosalind Morris - "The 'genetic effects of thermal neutron irradiation of "Histological and physiological effects of irradiation on tradescantia Riker and J, E. Kuntz - "The use oftradioactive isotopes t o ascertain the role of root grafting i n the translocation of. water, nutrients, and, Columbia University - College of physicians & Surgeons - $15,000 specific proteins, protein fractions and nucleic acids i n norma3 and malignant human testis and kidneys" - Dr. Paul K. Smith -'"Studies of the e f f e c t s of radiation on the biosynthesis and degradation of nucleoproteins and its modification by . &her developmenz and utilization of radioactive dyes i n the diagnosis and .