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US DOE ARCHIVES ■OTU OM HIGH LOHG COUNTS OF ROFLB FROM PALQMAXES A» FROM THE JEN USING THE LUNG COUNTER EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURE PROVIDED BY EICIMOND. DEAN AND HOSS (LASL) As of July 14, Xrsoso ssld they bsd lung coontod 44 poopIs from faloaarss and 29 froa tbs JEN; flvs aorc paopla froa Paloaarss vara to havo boon oountsd last vook. Of thasa 46* about 80X had lung counts ranging froa ssro or trace to 3 to 4 tlass aaxlaua pbralsslbla lung burden. This Is upsetting in aany vays. If trua, vs have a problaa on our hands! Consider all the aen In the labs everywhere who have worked with the stuff! Consider the soae 300 CIS who worked In the field cleanup and have never been followed up (Odlund). If these are true, Iranso and the JEN have opened a bag of woras that will give the Raders and RDBC groups a new supply of annua It Ion against enriched fuel and the breeder. But first ve have to aake sure these data are reliable. As aatters stand new, I spotted two things of a technical, procedural nature which night account for the trouble. One Involves the counting equip* sent which is highly developed, sensitive, and usually operates near Ita Unit of parfornanca. The procedure la to ust a nultlchannal analyser and a apeclal sandwich crystal with discriminator to racord the 60 kv photons froa the decay of An-241, If prasent, and the aoft L-shell s-rays In tha range of 12 to 20 kv froa the decay of Fu-238, If present, and Pu-239. The crystal and equlpoent are calibrated by naans of plastic srtlflclsl lungs that have known amounts of Aa-241, Pu-239 or Fu-238 equally distributed la them; they ere counted Inside a phantom or skaleton rib cage for geometric reasons. A further correction-calibration to account for absorption of the aoft photons in tha chest wall la derived by an ultrasonic device. These and other factors, some assumed, go Into tha calculation of Pu-239 from tha net counts at tha 60 kv and 12 to 20 kv channels. Obviously, all tha standards should ba checked, particularly aa Phil Dean believes the radioactivity is not homogeneously distributed In . the lungs. The Spanish vers not provided with Pu-239 lungs, only Pu-238 and Aa-241 lungs, so they have no way of checking. All com binations of data are found. Some Pu-239 burdens are calculated froa tha Aa-241; some are from the Pu-238 datum. In some cases, both Aa-241 sad Pu-238 data appear and tha Pu-239 levels calculated stay or may not e CONFIRMED TO RE UNCLASSIFIED
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VOTES - PALQMAEES, ate. 2 August 13, 1975 The short counting tine—30 Blnutts—is about as long as tha avaraga parson can be still, but it is a short tints rclatlva to tha low oat counts and, hence, the standard arror is frequently as high or hlghar than the nuaber generated. Mever the less, a figure of 40 MCI looks iapreseive regardless of the + 25.7 MCi that is tacked on. It is not clear that they count the standard before and after each person. It is doubtful because it is a chore to set up. I asked questions about Kr-85 and other airborne contaminants but was assured that all such things were under control. I did not ask the hard questions including proof that they knew all there was to know about stability of the system, day-to-day variables, etc.-«lt would have been considered an insult. They do run background counts at frequent The second item relates to an O&TEC power supply that may be functioning improperly. The red MonM light blinks on and off like an improperly tuned FM hi-fi set. This is probably a faulty bulb, but it still is disturbing that it would not have been replaced. A more important problem may lie in the fact that they suet turn up 1170 volta from the mains to get 1000 volts on the output to one photomultiplier (I have reported this to ORTEC; they have not responded: ORTEC 456, 0-3kv @ 0-10 n amps, serial no. 1839). Dr. Los Santos had suspected problems with the photomultiplier tube, not the power supply, but ths tubs behaved normally when connected to the other power unit. Los Santos slso pointed to a skewedness toward the lower energy channela at the 60 kv peak when the background la subtracted. In short, something may be out of order in the counting system. What to do about ItT BEST AVAILABLE COPY 1. Replace the questionable plastic lungs. Have them calibrated on Dean'a equipment; tend, or better take, them to Madrid for check against the old ones; bring the old ones back for check on Dean's counters. Leave the new ones in Madrid. 2. Count aa many people as possible either going to Madrid or coming from tha Junta; e.g., X have been counted and 1 will be recounted anywhere I find a chest counter. Madrid says I have Aa-241--I doubt It. Xranso reads at ^-3 M?LBa—ve will count him when he comes over in November* DOE ARCHIVE * Hava members of the Junta that show lung burdens counted repeatedly to find the degree of variance. If any. Iranzo has agreed to this.
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hurdeas; so far all havs hssn ssro; at Isast aoaa should ha Phil Deaa (LLL) is prsparlag ths oev plastic lungs and looking into ths squlpaent aids Including ths coi^»utsr prograa for calculating the Chet Richaond is exaalniag ths prograas and talking vith QE1XC. I will try to keep ths Kahassy, Stats and EkDA collaborating with Xt is iaportant to get these lung counts straightened out quickly. Tha longer ve delay ths greater ths chances of data, which later proves false, becoming engraved in stone. Medical Science Advisor Division of Bloaedlcal and BEST AVAILABLE COPY,