Agenda Eighty-Third Meeting - Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine - U.s. Atomic Energy Commission

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EIGHTY - THIRD MEETING ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE U.S, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION Atomic Energy Pro jech, University of Rochester

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Provost and Acting President University of Rochester 9:lO H. A. Blair History and Present Status of Project in the School of Medicine and Dentistry 9:30 Division of Radiology and Biophysics William F. Bale In troduc tion Michael I,. Watson Visualization of Nucleic Acids i n Electron Microscope Preparations Irving L. Spar Studies Directed Toward the Use of Radioactive Antibodies i n Leon L. Miller Protein Catabolism in the Isolated Livers of Normal & Irradiated Rats John B. Hursh I n t roduc ti on Lawrence W. Tuttle Effects of Long Term SrgO Body Burdens on Monkeys and Rats George W.Cas are tt Effects of Daily Radiation of Dogs in Doses up to3.0rper week on Length of Life,Fertility and Well Being Joe W. Howland & Staff Lunch - Tome House H, E. Pearse Combined Thermal and Ionizing Radiation

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1: 30 Division of Radiation Chemistry and Toxicology William F. Neuman I n troduc tion Aser Roths tein Program of Toxicological Studies on Mercury Philip So Chen Studies of the Physiological Mechanisms of Paul E. Morrow Studies Relating to the Clearance of Dust from the Respiratory Tract Donald A. Morken Studies of the Effects of Inhaled Radon 3:15 Tour of Project Saturday, November 12, 1960 - Project Library - Division of Biology & Medicine 2 . Report on Chariot Program 4. Activities of Federal Radiation Council, Review of Bio-Medical Programs by BOB Radioisotopes Research Support Program 1o:oo D. Grahn Activities of Aerospace Nuclear Safety Establishment of Radiation Effects Program i n Histochemistry and Cytochemistry e)Nominations of Candidates f o r E. 0. Lawrence 2 : o o Executive Ses sion

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EIGHTY - THIRD MEETING ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION Atomic Energy Project University of Rochester

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The 83rd'meeting of the Advisory Committee f o r Biology and Medicine, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, was held at the University of Rochester Atomic Energy Project, Rochester, N. Y., on November 11 and 12, 1960. Marine lli,CarlV. Moore and James H. Sterner. man and Vice Chairman took place at the 82nd meeting of ACBM. was attended by Dr. Charles L. Dunham, Director, Divlsion of Biology and Medicine, and several members of his staff. The election of the ChairThe next meeting of ACBM will be held at the Puerto Rico Nuclear Center, Rio Pie dras,Puerto Rico, on January 13, 14, and 15, 1961. The following meeting i n March i s scheduled to beheld at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The business of t h e 83rd meeting is summarized under the following 1. Program Review - AEC Project,University of Rochester 2. DBM - Program and Budget Planning 3 . Opinions Requested by Coxrunission and General Manager ACBM was welcomed by D r . Howard R. Anderson, Provost and Acting Atomic Energy Project, then opened the program review with a brief history of the project. sought the University ' s help in dealing with various he a it h and safety problems a t Oak Ridge. a t the University of Rochester, took charge of the Oak Ridge assignment and established a research program a t Rochester under the Department of Radiology. Subsequently, when Dr. Warren was called to the Chicago Metallurgical Laboraeories by the Manhattan District,Dr. Andrew Dowdy, Professor of Radiology, succeeded him as Director of the project at Its origins go back t o 1943, when General Groves Dr.Stafford Warren, then Professor of Radiology I n 1948 the project was reorganized under its present Director, Dr. Henry Blair, along lines suitable for its role in a peace-time economy. A Department of Radiation Biology was established as a regular department of the School of Medicine and Dentistry.Staff members of the project are members of this department, with appropriate University titles. Since they are paid out of AEC contract funds, they do not have true tenure, but this has not been a cause of difficulty.

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Of the 74 presently listed instructors ir. the project, about 50 are full - time members or' :he department, the others being associated w l th other University departments, or with public health and industrial health organizations. Of the 50 full - time members, about 20 hold titles and participate in the teaching in other departments (e.g. , biochemistry, given to candidates for the M.D. degree, it is felt that participation in their instruction by the project staff provides a considerable degree of orientation. Although no formal course i n radiobiology i s The project occupies its own quarters, which were built for i t by call y integrated with the School of Medicine and Den tls try,but not physically. The latter would be difficult,ifnot impossible, since the project functions as an " integrated AEC contractor " and must follow accepted AEC accountlng practices,etc, No difficulties have been encountered under the present system. Administratively,it may be said that the pro jeet is academiThe project is organized in four divisions : (1) Administration and abstracts of each investigator ' s work was distributed to members of ACBM. In addition,a program of talks was ps css n ted l Division of Radiology and Biophysics M. L. Watson, Visualization of Nucleic Acids in Electron Microscope I. L. Spar, Studies Directed Toward the Use of Radioactive Antibodies i n Cancer Therapy L. L. Miller,Protein Catabolism in the Isolated Livers of Normal and Irradiated Rats L. W.Tuttle,Effects of Long Term SrgO Body Burdens on Monkeys G. W. Cas are tt - Effects of Daily RadPation of Dogs i n Doses up t o 3.9r per week on Length of Life,Fertility, and J. W. Howland and Marylou Ingram - The Loekport Incident H. E. Pearse, Combined Thermal and Ionizing Radiation

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Division of Radiation Chemistry and Toxicology P.S. Chen, Studies of the Physiological Mechanisms of P . E. Morrow, Sttldies Relating to the Clearance of Dust D. A. Morken, st c dies of the Effects of Inhaled Radon Program of Toxicological Studies on Mercury from the Respiratory Tracf The education program of the project €or postgraduate train lng i n Health Physics, Hospital Physics, hd us trial Medicine, Biophysics, and Radiation Biology, i s csnsfdered t o be one of its most important functions. Tts curricula were described by DH. J. Newell Stannard, Associate Director for Education, whrj also df s tribute da report (UR-600) i n which the various courses are ou>ilined. Dr. Scannard reported that there are now 70 graduate students degree i n Health Physics,u eu all p taken after the equivalent of an undergraduate major i n Pk-;r3ir_~and ?ne year of graduate study. Students who already hold trie M.G.. from the Public Health Service., the Anted ?'orces, industry, and various in s ti tut ions ab road. About half of them are candidates for the Master's T i 0. degree are largely drawn I n commenting on the phFIcsop,ay .;r.derlying the curricula, Dr. Stannard placed some stress on t9e following points. of view has been taken that a certain amount of instruction in the problems of chemical toxicology and industrial hygiene should accompany instruction in radiation toxtsology. With respect to the Ph.D. degree, it is felt that each student should regard radiation biology as a specialty only, and that he must kwq-%ound training in a basic In the discussion of the pro je cc at the Executive Session, ACBM was joined by Dr. Donald Anderson, Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry ; he stated that the School was very happy with the progress made by the project and with the present system of relationships betweer, the School and the project. It was the conclusion of ACBM that this project is most worthwhile, both from the viewpcfnt of research and of education. of particular interest and gratification to ACBM that the projec: has maintained a high level of scientific work which skillfully and honestly combines both the basic arid applied aspects of the biological problems that are of major interest L ~ It heuse and development of

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2. DBM - Program and Budget Plans Dr. J. L. Liverman described two major steps recently taken t o facilitate categorizing the work done by DBM, both for scientific and administrative (budgetary) purposes. Ten major research budget categories have been set up t o which all work can be assigned. category has a number and also a brief title (e.g., radiation genetics, marine sciences). The list of numbers with their short and long titles was distributed to ACBM, together with approximate present annual expenditures. In addition to such categories, each individual plan of investigation is t o be described in a 200-word abstract which will be coded for machine sorting, and which is also being sent to the Bio-Sciences Information Exchange of the Smithsonian Institution. new system should prove t o be simpler, more fie xi ble, and more informative than previous ones. With respect to the DBM budget for FY 1962 (July 1961 through June 1962), Dr. Dunham reported that the amount ha9 waxed and waned ($67.0, now 59.9 million) as discussions have proceeded through the various administrative levels.At present an operating budget of 59.9 million is being submitted tothe Congress. million is being requested for construction projects. As part of a general plan for the AEC, at the request of the General Manager, DBM has produced a planning report for 1960-1965. Copies of this document, now being circulated for immediate comment, were given t o ACBM. The document w a s compiled by Dr. Walter Claus (DBM)., working with the help of Mr. Edwin Jordan of the Office of Plans $ 85 million in FY 1965. fie report propos,es that the budget reach 3. op in ions Requested by :he Commission and / orthe General Manager Radioisotope Research Support. Consideration was given tothe proposal t o discontinue the "Radioisotopes Research Support Program"- - wherein the cost of radioactive material is being supported tothe extenc of 809. of the AEC established prices when this material is used for certain types of biomedical and agricultural research. staff paper dealing with this subject had been circulated to members of DBM. In general,the DBM staff is i n agreement with the proposal. Dr. Moore felt that the statement of ACBM's position was not made strongly enough in the staff paper, that the subsidy is very good publicity for the AEC, that this is worth a great deal, and that some practical method of maintaining the subsidy should be continued. The matter will be discussed again. He and other ACBM members felt Columbia River Contamination. ACBM was asked t o comment on t h e duction, dated September 22, 1960. These pre pos als call for a study

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of methods t o prevent contamination of the Columbia River inthe course of using river water to cool the reactors at the Hanford Operations. In particular, the sources of P32, Zn65, and As76 will be sought and methods for their elimination or drastic reduction tested. for this inN 1961 and 1962 are anticipated.at $ 0.375 and 1.35 millions, The problem of Columbia Rivercame tothe following conclusions: water protection is not merely a matter of radioisotope control,but involves the inter - related factors of radio a dt iv it y, temperature, and pH, and the other ecologic factors which depend on these major physical variables.In addition,the control of water flow and the management of materials extracted from the river (e.g., their rate of return)are important factors.(2) The steps proposed by Mr. Qufnn should be taken but should be regarded as initial and exploratory ones. cannot judge the adequacy of the steps on the basis of the information now available. For example, as faras ACBM is aware, the temperature profile of the river has been assessed by calculation,but is not known in detail by actual measurement. vided,including that resulting from the execution of the initial studies proposed by Mr. Qufnn, a further evaluation of the hazard can E. 0. Lawrence Award. The Commission requested ACBM to select from the candidates already nominated i n the field of biology and medicine several persons for final consideration by the Commission. There will be five awards of $5,000 each. than 46 years of age at. the time of the award. t o the Commission by ACBM comprised the following: The recipient must be less The list of names sent Dr. Dunham reported on the following: Atthe Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission i n Japan, morale is very The work i s proceeding well in all fields except pathology, i ngood. which the number of autopsy studies is much too low. The U. N. Scientific Committee i s planning t o complete a new report on the effects of ionizing radiation in 1962. The Federal Radiation Council i s now working on a report dealing 90w it h the hazards of Il3I9uranium i n mines, and S r The Beryllium Hazards Committee has been reactivated.Dr.Sterner

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The Plowshare Advisory Committee has recommended that Project Chariot be carried out(creation of a harbor a t Cape Thompson by blast).This, of course, would require consent of the President and presumably would involve international observers. Dr. Douglas Grahn (DBM) reported on the activities of the AEC Aerospace Nuclear Safety Board. Scientific Secretary, ACBM

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THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER U. S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION NEW YORK OPERATIONS OFFICE THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER ATOMIC ENERGY PROJECT THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER HENRY A. BLAIR, DIRECTOR 0.0. ANDERSON, DEAN J.N. STANNARD, ASSOC. DIR.-EDUCATION CHARLES S. THOMPSON, BUSINESS MOR. ADELAIDE E. LIQHTNER, ADM. SECY. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE UNITS DATE OF CHART : JULY I, 1960 DAVID A. MCBRIDE. DIR. INSTRUM E NTAT ION RADIATION TOXI GO LOGY COLO. MINERS STUDY