Progress Report to the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy - June Through November 1953 (Partial)

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Biology and Medicine The underlying objectives of the biology and medicine program are to protect man and his resources against the hazards of radioactive and toxic by-products of atomic energy and to exploit the beneficial aspects of atomic energy by controlling and applying radiation to the treatment of disease and to the improvement of the nation's sources of food. This issue of the Progress peport devotes special attention to weapon test activities and to selected recent accomplishments in research. It supplements the unclassified statement to be included in the forthcoming semiannual report to the Congress. (End of UNCLASSIFIED After the spring 1953 test series at Nevada, March 17-June 4, livestock owners reported that horses, cattle, and sheep which had grazed on ranges adjacent to the Proving Ground appeared to have been injured as a result of radioactive fall-out from the test WEAPONS TEST ACTIVITIES Investigation of Radiation Effects on Livestock !--

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BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE c. Herds of sheep wintered north of the Proving Ground experienced heavy losses (up to 30 per cent for lambs and 20 per cent for mature sheep) during April and May 1953 after the herds were removed to Cedar City, Utah, for summer grazing. Deaths during this period were estimated by the sheep owners to be as much as several thousand head. Radiological examinations were made, and while no evidence was found to account for the abnormal losses, present findings indicate the test activities did not contribute to the heavy losses. As a matter of scientific interest, however, the AEC is continuing its investigations to determine, if possible, the causes of the abnormal death rate. Also, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will give emphasis to existing research e production and study of beta burns in sheep. (End of section fowere designed to (1) develop data which could be used to improve the probability of survival and continuity of production in the event of an atomic attack; and (2) make further evaluations of the effects of neutrons and gamma rays on biological systems. The civil effects program was a cooperative research undertaking in which several government agencies such as the Federal Civil Defense Administration, Food and Drug Administration, Naval Medical Research Institute, and the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, actively participated. The studies comprised eight programs, 36 projects, and 114 project participations. Investigations in the areas of genetics and biological experiments will require a year or more for complete evaluation. Results obtained in certain projects are summainch will demolish a new typical frame-residence and less than two pounds per square inch will render it uninhabitable with a 50 per cent loss of the structure. Inexpensive wood basement-shelters provided reasonable protection against debris load from collapsing frame-residences. Reinforced concrete and masonry home-type shelters with about three feet of earth cover structurally resisted the overpressures of a 16.3 KT explosion as close a s 1250 feet. Group shelters that could accommodate 50 Dersons resisted the same effects structurally and gave protection against thermal and ionizing radiation. The shelters were constructed with reinforced concrete pipe or corrugated metal pipe of seven feet six inches inside diameter and had three feet of earth cover. The biological damage from blastgenerated overpressures inside the shelters has not yet been determined. Radiological defense training of about 20 state radiological officers, under f u l l security clearances, continued through two detonations. These groups are now conducting instruction in unclassified training to civil defense personnel at state and community levels. Biomedical and dosimetry experiments on the effects of ionizing radiation showed that, under the conditions of Shots 1 and 8, the neutron and gamma exposures inside the shelters were within permissible limits. Using fission detectors and other methods, significant measurements were obtained in the low and medium energy ranges of neutrons. This program also provided valuable data for comparing physical and biological dosimetry. Civilian Vehicles. Of the 60 civilian vehicles exposed to a number of detonations, the hazard of fire w a s insignificant from a tower shot but important from an air burst. Sheet metal parts were vulnerable to pressures as low as one pound per square inch. Mechanically, the vehicles were highly resistant to blast effects. For personnel inside the vehicles, thermal hazards would be markedly reduced, although ionizing radiation effects would not be altered by the vehicle. Blast and displacement would probably remain as the greatest The civil effects test studies undertaken during the spring 1953 continental test series Structure tests de-mon-strated that blast pressures of less than six pounds per square

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BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE Structures Test Planning The Committee on Structures Test Planning and Screening* has examined the status of the test reports resulting from the civil effects test program mentioned above, has determined the status of test items proposed but not included in the last test series, and hiis evaluated civilian agency requirements for data to be secured in possible future tests. Estimating the probable effects of atomic aerial attack on water supply and piping, office buildings, hospitals, and residences is the primary future requirement. Important also are the incidence and spread of fire, possible contamination of plants through blast pressure on ventilating systems, and development of data on the adequacy of entrances to group shelters. However, there a r e at present no plans for another continental civil test series in the near future. (End of- section.) Project GABRIEL-3i reference to the effects on inhabitants of certain regions, of the fall-out of radioactive [ materials from the use of nuclear weapons in warfare. Depending upon the conditions t under which such weapons are used, the major interest may lie in the short-range con- ;tamination from the use of a single weapon, or in the long-range problem of estimating probable hazards to the populations of major areas from the use of large numbers of has directed its efforts toward two phases: (1) securing a critical review of the subject by ? a conference of qualified persons in related specialties, held in July 1953 (a classified reProject GABRIEL,?begun in 1949, Is the study of the probable behavior, with particular The Rand Corporation, selected in 1952 to make independent studies of these questions, on this review has been completed under the name “Project SUNSHINE”);and (2) preprobable fall-out from high air bursts of varying yields under varying meteorological conditions (a report on this phase is expected early in 1954). has begun exploratory sampling program of the occurrence of strontium 90 in humans, animals, milk, vegetation, and soils from selected areas in the United States and from several foreign countries. Samples are being obtained by the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and through hospital channels. Assays of sample materials are being made in laboratories of the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and the AEC New York Operations Office. a substantial contribution to Gabriel, additional information is needed to permit reliable estimates of changes in availability for human uptake as a function of time and of biological effects as a function of dose and of dose rate. Studies of radiotoxicity have continually constituted a n important phase of the research program of the AEC, but at present, aspects of particular interest to Gabriel are being augmented and emphasized. (End00 As a result of recommendations formulated at the conference in July, the Commission. Although a reliable estimate of the present distribution of strontium 90 will represent Research studies in biology, medicine, and biophysics are directed toward advancing knowledge of the effects of radiation on living systems and the application of this knowledge - *For membership see Progress Report, December 1951 through M a y 1952, dated June 16, 1952, tSee letter to the Joint Committee dated November 12, 1953.

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BIOLOQY AND MEDICINE investigations can be reported here. Effects of X Rays on Frog Retina small doses of X rays to determine adaptation and recovery. It w a s found that an response could be measured on the retina after an exposure of as little 88 0.6 roentgen&l$ that during exposure to X rays the sensitivity to light was reduced, and that the retina=$ recovered less rapidly after X ray stimulus than after light stimulus. The recovery"bf:! the retina to penetrating radiations indicates that the effect is to a large Biological Effects of Radiation Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory has been experimenting to determine the Mol - effects in mice of whole body X radiation. Pretreatment of mice with p-amino phenone (an agent producing a pronounced deficiency in oxygen) or glutathione marked.protective effect against whole body X radiation. But a negligible degree o tection was found when mice 80 pretreated were exposed to radiation from the thermal column of a reactor (thermal neutrons plus gamma contaminant). Thus, it +ppe agents which are protective against one type of ionizing radiation may not be of against all types. The effects of whole body irradiation of male rats on mortality among their offspring is being studied by an AEC-University of Tennessee research group. Male rata were exposed to 300 roentgens of gamma rays from a cobalt 60 source, or to X rays from a . 250 kilovolt machine. The irradiated males were mated to virgin females. The pregnant females were sacrificed, and it was found that the fetal death rate showed an increase in comparison with nonirradiated control rats. The fetal mortality rate for the various groups was: control group, 6.46 per cent; gamma-ray exposure, 19.37 per cent; and X rays (250 kv), 19.92 per cent. values obtained after sacrifice of the second group of pregnant females were 7.39 per Cent for gamma exposure and 8.19 per cent for X rays. The decrease in fetal mortality rate between the first test and the second test of the irradiated males indicates that there is a period of recovery, and that the initial high mortality rate may be due to dominant lethal mutations induced during exposure in the more mature testis cells. After 60 days the same male animals were used in repeating the breeding test. The Prevention of Tumors Following Irradiation tective organ in preventing radiation injury. Recent work at Argonne National LabordOrY has indicated that a considerable degree of protection is provided against subsequent development of lymphoid tumors when the spleens of mice a r e shielded during irradiation. For several years research has been proceeding on the role of the spleen as a Pro-

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BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE With the dose used (225 roentgens repeated weekly for 4 weeks), the tumor incidence was 70 per cent in the unprotected group, but only about 3 per cent in the group with spleen shielding. The course of changes in the circulating lymphocytes in the unprotected mice indicated that the prolonged depression of the activity of bone marrow and lymphatic tissue was a probable factor in bringing about the lymphoid tumors. Clinical Studies of Radioactive Materials Investigations at Argonne National Laboratory and a t Argonne Cancer Research Hospital have shown that total body radiation results in a large outpouring of amino acids in the urine. Continuing study of this radiation effect in humans and experimental animals w i l l be directed toward explanation of the mechanism and its relation to protein synthesis In cooperation with Stateville Penitentiary, near Argonne National Laboratory, a study is being made of the rate at which radium is deposited in the body from natural drinking water and food which contain small amounts of radium. Drinking water at Stateville and in many towns around Chicago, comes from deep wells and contains more of this rare element than occurs where the city water supply comes from Lake Michigan or shallow wells. The amount is only a small fraction of that considered unsafe for lifetime consumption, but is enough to make significant measurements possible. W u m gives off radon as one of its daughter products. Hence, when the breath of volunteer prisoners at Stateville is sampled and measured for radon, one can determine the amount of radium present in the skeletons of the volunteers. The individuals are also being measured for gamma radiation by scintillation counting devices. New-type Scanners for Detection of Diseased Tissues New types of scintillation counter scanners have been developed at the University of California Radiation Laboratory (Berkeley) for locating and following the path of gammaemitting tracers administered to patients and laboratory animals. One type used for diagnostic work in humans is a pinhole gamma-ray camera which detects and locates accurately microcurie amounts of gamma emitters. The practicality of using such small amounts in tracer studies is helpful in that the hazards to healthy tissues are reduced. The pinhole camera scanner consists of a scintillation detector, image amplifier similar to that used in television, and a fluorescent viewing screen or photographic film. T& equipment is also adaptable to any field where accurate location of one or many betagamma emitters is desired, for example, making a gamma-ray photograph of radioactivity resulting from an accident in a laboratory, or in an area where radioactive fall-out may have occurred. A second type of scanner recently developed can be used in both tracer research and clinical diagnosis. It includes ten adjacent directional scintillation counters which move simultaneously in parallel lines, and thus the scanning procedure is completed in onetenth of the time previously necessary. The scanner has proved useful in locatin& residual thyroid tissue (with iodine 131 a s a tracer), and to show the size and shape of the liver and spleen (using gold 198). With this instrument slight abnormalities barely visible on an X-ray plate can be identified with relative certainty as metastatic thyroid lesions. In Figure VI-A, an example is shown of a gamma-ray image of a thyroid carcinoma patient with six metastases. Radioiodine w a s used as a tracer. By the scanning procedure, an image of the patient is formed a s a pattern of dots, each of which represents a degree of radioactivity. Thyroid cancer growths can thus be detected, and where it is advisable surgery may be performed. (End of UNCLASSIFIED section.)

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from oll parts o f the Iodine beqlns to tissues of pa - pletely in thyrold diverse parts of exact locotlon of r f x Fig. VI-A-Concentrations of radioiodine in thyroid cancer growths in patient at intervals after administration of tracer.