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Declassified record · U.S. Department of Energy

Components of Radiation Exposure of Military Personnel Within the Hanford Reservation

Document type
Report
Length
10 pages
Open the original scanArchive record OSTI ID 16289217 · public domain

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Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.

Page 1

Prevlous llmlts car the spont by nll it ary pereonnel wlthln the reaervatlcn vme basad an two factam: 1) We atl amble statue of the active partiole problem, 2 ) The l ql cal nnnqamsat policy thnt it c.0uI.d bo rececnable t o have the total the sxpooure not treater thm that of plant psrscnnel. It haa bean pointed out that the appllcnble reo tr ict lr ns led to uneccnanioal ose1-t of mill t cry yr a an nel. whethor any real expooure hazard wald re aul t fran removal af tLms rest r lot iw. The raana;;unmt phnse [ (2) above] Is outside the scope dthis rsvluw. The cme h a been re-anmlned t o detsrmine 11. Location of In st men to le ft rt ultar s that the d lop it lm uf equipant worn ndequate t o ~ 1 - reas amble (2) tJ1 milltcuy percamel are excluded fran the separately fenced armas wlth - ln the reservatim. DevLitlon fran thi a could lead t o tims re a tr lot lons. may be illegible.

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111. C_anncnanta ai the Radiation Hard In wer fire pars of operntlm, there has been no disaster cm di tlc n l&d- t o r i s k . In prlnolple, the risk at psrrmnent occupancy is appraximateL I( tirnw that af namd occupnncp b j operating peraontlbl. nut bo oonsidersd ll mita to then rill t q operatiah Preaupably, such a risk wd b.. Internal anlttem by inhalatioa relevant lccoticne it urn w 3 x 19-l3,u&!? Raditxonm and othor noble sazn= hazard is a t maat equal t o , cnd narrmlly much- lees than, the external hazard frcrm the same elamant. This includso all the rl eai cn products except the pass,I and po as ibb sane ruthanium (which haa ahw permissible a m - ceritxutim aaui is M h ~ ff1ctm thazard per eo).

Page 3

taken ao 13-9 c/cc, which l e aanaervntive if the frnctica vhlch Actual ccncentrstlcna af theae Cls s lar grcducta in the laet 12 menths bye aver apl 1.5 :: l ! l - upc / c a In the hl$ rare. The a otl vit y dannltp af plutcaiun in the sir a t the subjsat locatlms l e hneaaurnble with available apparatue. By cal ukrtlm an& In alxumt c e r t a w lese than this by a iautar of 10. The 'dhlle the real hazard of a-10 tal at lw j ly inooluble active mi - of theem & filters m e has 1-3 x ltjr, tuxl there lo falr eri dmc e that all the particlee are Mterhazard in vorldng lnbcratorlee la 13 t o 23 times that a t the mcsaprants, and thla gruater hnzard is believed t o be acceptable. as ube tant is l area of the Po ci ilo Narthveat dl the der af 3.1 - 9.3 particle per cubic meter. particle par cubia meter. movever, these were eharter-1ived). coll bc tl vel ~be i(;nored, undor prose ntop or atl mad it lam. Inthrnal cuaittem tty Fxestion ferred from Pa(Jstat1cn ur soil to the skin and then t o the Gastrointestinal tract by mouth cmt act. Experlaice with similar level a of contanlnaticn in o pars tiw -M strwu oG eat e that thsee hat deere Inc ~ e que ntl al. be virtu14 impoesible to mite dum actuz~lnumbere far West ul The cnee viXLLd be d lf reran t Ifcrape vera mown In the affbat.d m-8. Intarnal az it tere by wrcutmeous trm emi eel tn oud truwmlscicm throwb the intact eldn ar thrqh open wads.

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(h the tery apeculntlre assunptlcn that vli,arcrus cat act vleh veta - aould pet rate the akin, n cna would be in the buud -8 iihe so The t 0t31 beta -;;- eqxmure i s obtained by detaehable chanber n var qo oqoeure has been 6 mrep per veek in the vorst ama. This lncludee lnaulnticn 1-0 and natural icairaticn in tbe chanbers. The w ltu de of the sxpcwure physical dia trl but la, cn soil or zamd, uhlch determines the more ~ o u n dcantact than far the operat- ar oarstructlcn cloth- of paracnnsl - in cooler veathar, vhen the cmtamexclude beta radiaticrr. I n the vorat area, and arsrapd over the secu~cnn, it Is Improbable that thia expoaure vi11 exceod 4 mrep/wek. ere cantatplated t o cheok thia point. dove mer 3%ab the surface. dead outer layers af skFn. sorb muoh mom, and the beta e:qcuura ell be esa anti sll j to the faue aab hands. The rb(;ietratlcn of bets - rad tat i a is themfare The thin vindav has a mnes thlcknesa2 E solid -le. The chombars n r e turthet &el&ad by polpthcke than the desfred tion d the mer= af the Lncldsnt radlaticn. chcasn lw do to v ul lds closely repreeentstive & the General bdy srpoeura Q 4 7, for an 1nfTte cloud, b y an dcLcunt which 1s a funcHavemi, the aps cl tic elevation

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...... The total beta-ccumn rndlatian irau axternat sources is m the order af 19 mop per veek in the zme of M&et expmurea near the 2904 Area. In all other relevant loc at lam,the axpueure l a about b mrep per week. Ihe quoted mluea include natural bacfrU.ound and krstnuasnt lealuxp, vhlch v l l l ooerco 1 to 2 mrsp per veek. The permiaslble exposure le butween 3% and 500 mrep per veek, dependlnC cn the propartlana ai carma end beta - rad la tim present. It l e cmoldered t o be 3% mep por veek far otnvenlenoa. The ~ WC POS U ~ Oa t all locatlane dher thnn ai all Han fard War ke peremriel of 3.1 to 0.2 t. Tho estimated ccntributlcne of the eeveral internal-emitter canpments rb radlation hazard are cn the order af l / mth cr leea af the appropriate p a ~ des lb le with rw ps ct to Sw$i;3’?2~latlaur. In the preeent cam, it la sunni ad that the Divielm of B lol q y and Modicine will aubacribe tothe opinla~that the total effect 1s lees than the EIUXUaf the parte. The mnin ocmpmants are aald t o be Iul lr radi at lm in the thyroid Gland, active gas, vapors ar particles in the l\mc; itaeu, and prearlned wry emall depoeiticne of radloactiYe I mter ld8h the bono, Mdneg, liver, otc. The total hazdrd, aeeunln(l add it iv it y may be conoervatlveb takan an kle dell hae recently dsmnnatreted asyn ~ lam Zhe estimated external a x pure la quito canparable vith that af allE am ~ l oporatlxq perc ~ o ~ e l ,axoept a t the encampnorit near the =-E Area, where it 1s eat-ted t o be 19 mrop per week, canpnred with a pennlaeible IlJnIt d 3m m o p per waek. Xn thin prtioulnr area, tho exposure l e most a ene it l re to cbw ~ e s Such c-ee may tend t o lnoreaee the exp ~ ~ urs ,V the posure will be permitted to a c e d 30 mrep per week. Liaison Camnlttee that the oplnlana sxpreseed here be t e s t e d by the Health Inoedures m seleated mil1tax-y poreamel at the encampmnt near the =-E Arsa Inthe event that olrcumetmcea owe in such away that the Health Instnzmnt Dlviolaui mepact that the expaaureb m y not be unequlracally “ aden,8 retto restricted ~ cee etims vi11 be raccnrmandad, unless it l a deemed proper t o mao we the paraamel sr px uma by cmventlcnnl ma. rXth the further r mtr ict i cns that troov vi11 not reg. ~ larl yentar the plant arm6 proper, and thnt food End water are supp l led from eeaentiallY unccntamtnntod sc*II‘cee, it appeara prcpar, from d la tim hnzard ccmeideraticnn, t o approve OCCU ~ MCY al the miiiiurp = camp en to GI a baele or a “ r d y-s’

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-. .~,_.,-.. .,, In the matter af suitability uf instrumwt locatlcns far omsrqp af the camps, it l a rwqyliztd that a clsorss test ai the v rl tsr ' a aplnlm vauld be given by oatloa and the pw ol ble undealrable smurlt7 features, this omvsnianee is denied Appended are tablee a f maaaursmsnta a fe a ned the prlnolpal hazard aanpanaats by months eincb January, 1950.

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