Health Division Organization, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory

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HEALTH DIVISION ORGANIZATION I n his opening remarks ard his introductions of the six Group Leaders i n *u the Health Division, Dr. Shipman presented the philosophy t h a t a t Los Alamos the Health Division exists for the primary purpose of safeguarding and protecting t h e health and safety of the individual uorkers of the Los Alamos Scientific undertaken a co-ordinated plan for attaining this objective. A t Los Alamos the various Groups of the Health Division have The I rd us trial Medical Group, with i t s intimate contacts with the individual, depends on the supporting functions of the Safety, Monitoring, and Industrial Hygiene Groups. These three, i n turn, require the support of the Biomedical Research and the Radiologic Physics Groups as they get i n t o new or unusual problems. A not inconsiderable amount of research and development, much of it along basic a d fundamental lines, is a very welcome by-product. The work of the six Groups i n the Health Division is aided by the relative absence of organizat ional barriers and the total output of the Division is a collaborative effort in the truest sense of the word.

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Group H-2 is the Industrial Medical Group and its function a t U s Alamos is somewhat simi k to that of a medical department ina college or university, and to that of a medical department in inThe Group i s composed of 19 people, w i t h 3 physicians, 5 nurses, :; 1 first aid man, 4 laboratory technicians, and 6 clerical and secrethroughout the technical areas and i n addition has a -bile unit an aid man which visits outlying sitea daily. The Group operates four dispensaries which are scattered The general functions of the Group may be divided i n t o four sub- . headings o r subdivisions as follows: (1) Examination Program; (2) Dispensary Work; (3) Laboratory Sed ces ; (4) and miscellaneous duties. many of the preplacement examinations of employees have been done by t h e i r own physicians who a r e unfamiliar with conditions a t IDS Alams. This has resulted i n some unf'ortunate episodes and as a result the Group tries t o do as many of the preplacement examinations as possible. year about 45% of all preplacement examinations were done by us as compared t o none three years ago. In addition, the Gmap does a l l the termination examinations, periodic examinations, examinations for overseas t e s t programs, and any others that may be required. a historp, physical, chest x-ray, complete blood count and urinalysis, and special laboratory work, o r x-rays that may be indicated. examinations were done last year, and our rejection rate of preplacement examinations has been consistently less tban LO,%. Because of the distance from the hfring points During the past Such an examination includes

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illnesses or injuries and many minor non-industrial injuries or illnesses. Much of this work i a health counseling o r diagnostic medicine, for it seema incumbent on the Group t o t& t o establish an exact diagnosis of a variety of complaints,for people have a great tendency to attribute any unusual illness or symptom complex to their working conditions regardless of how far-fetched it may appear tothe physician. diagnosis that the patient feels that the industrial physician is intereeted in him as an individual patient rather than i n protecting his company from visits from 7000 in 1949 t o nearly 20,000 i n 1923. It i s only through exact - Ihrring the past years there has been a growth of dispensary (3) The Group maintains laboratory services comparable t o a hospital laboratory and routinely perfoms blood counts, urinalyses, serologies, and blood chemistries. In addition x-ray and electrocardiographic services are available. The Laboratory i s used as an adjunct i n following group8 of individuals who may be exposed t o potentially toxic substances such as lead, benzol, or l i v e r and kidney poisons, as well as screening individuals i n the has been called upon t o perform a variety of divergent duties, Briefly, these have included providing medical services a t Nevada Teat Site during one series of teats, acting a s medical advisors t o the Task Group i n overseas operations, and for a brief period of time providing medical eervice t o the couuuunity a t In addition t o the duties outlined above the Group large during a period when the hospital was short of personnel. Despite this variety of duties and diversity of interests the Industrial Medical Gmnp would be largely ineffective without the help of other Group8 in the Didsfon. For example, it i s powerless t o properly evaluate u chemical o r radiological hazard without the help and assistance of the

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-- -Industrial Hygiene Group o r the Radiological Safety Group. By the same token t h i s dependence on other Groups is not a one-way atmet, for without the Industrial Medical Group to evaluate the health of laboratory personnel, they have no measure of the effectiveness of their attempt to control chemical, safety, or radiological hasarda.

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Group 11-3 has two mjor resconsibilities: 1. The prod ation of st a duds and > oli cie s for the prevention of The calculation of risk tho qh rep i red is unique for a scientific lahr z to rg since devices and processes used do not codcm +a well holm industrial knowledge but also t o av<ailhinseif of all info nation available from scientific groups and specialists inside and outside the laboratory. Thus the safety engineer is required n o t only t o extrapolate his .Afin, often-repeeted top nanagment safety ?olicy is rrell understood 2 t Nore Trequent < ha not pro ble - ls of risk require joint ii problex ?resent 50 my menber o f t5e Health Division rrill be referred to the co,dzant grsup o r two o r aore Heeith Division gcur;s.

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Group 13-1 is re syn sib le for ueternining the degree of surface contamination i n the lahr a tories and for evaluating the exposure of University personnel t o vzrious radioactive materials used in the work here. measuring t h e amount of contanination and exposure, we advise the operating personnel on methods of decontmination and proceuure which W i l l prevent containination ana personnel exposure. Approximtely one half of our personnel is engaged in routine survey work o f the plutonium reseerch and production areas. daily surveys for surface contamination, daily tests for air-borne activity and supervision o f maintenance work, Our work here consists of 'The rezt of the grou. hand la the heelth physics problems which arise out ofthe work of associated activities. This section has a dosinetry group which Issues, processes and evaluates filx badges the University staff engaged i n nuclear research and and nuclear track plates.

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Group H-5 haa five major responsibilities: Investigation and recommendations forr control of non-radioactive Analysis of biological apecimsns on workers exposed to all toxic or radioactive materials, Hon routine sir sampling for certain radioactive materials -In co-operation vith Group H-1, 4. Studies on t h e health aspects of ventilation and air cleaning. 5 . Studies of health hazards out to 200 miles from ground zero at the Bevada Proving Grounds. The principal exposures encountered are: toluol, carbon tetrachloride, cadmiurn, boric acid Radioactive - uranium, thorium, plutonium, fission products, The methods used include air sampling in breathing zones and stacks, urine analyaes, air velocity measurements, temperature and haraiclity studies, hood design, use of personal protective equipment and review of plane. all work, there i s close co-operation with other groups of H-liivision and with other divisions of the Laboratory.

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Activities of Biological and Medical Research Group of Health Division Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory The research activities of the Biological a d EZedical Research Group (H-4) are directed along three general lines which are listed below i n the order of importance: . 1. Problems concerning the acute effects of radiation and the radiobb49 active materials which are of special interest t o the Los Alamos Scientific ‘ r Laboratory and of general interest to the AEC. 2. Problems which may be done a t IAS Alams i n preference t o other - places because of the availability of many special pieces of equipment which are Unique t o the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, such as critical assemblies and various types of particle accelerators. 3. Problems of the more basic nature which utilize radiation, radioisotopes and radiochemical techniques. The group consists of approximately 40 people of which18 are staff members and the rest technicians and clerical personnel. organization, personnel are divided into five separate sections. sections and their general functions are as follows: For purposes Of 1. Radiobiology - During the past few years the efforts of the Radiobiology Section have been directed toward: a. Studies of the relative biological effects of radiations of different types and different energies using mammalian systems. criteria of biological effectiveness which have been employed include lethal it y studi of uptake of Fef4’by red blood cells, effect of radiation on organ weight and the effects of radiation OA mitotic activity. perfo&ce of rats, mice and monkeys. 10,000 r/min have been employed and t o t a l radiation doses of the order of 200,000 r have been delivered. survival studies, incidence of cataract formation, rate b. Effects of massive doses of radiation on physiology and I n this study dose rates up to c . Studies of inhalation hazard of flying through an atomic cloud within a feu minutes after bomb detonation. 2. Radiopathology - Much of the effort of the Radiopathology Section has gone i n t o detailed studies of the pathology, biochemistry, enzymology, physiology and treatment of acute beta radiation injury. Other studies have included the pathology of massive rapid doses of gamma radiation on mammalian systems and the characteristics of acute beta radiation burns

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3. Orgdc Chemistry The Organic Chemistry Section has been concerned w i t h the synthesis of biologically and medically important compouads labeled with radioactive isotopes. isonyasid (the anti-tuberculosis drug) labeled uith Cu. The group has also synthesized mero us special compounds of specific interest to other groups and divisions of the LQS Alamos Scientific Laboratory. A specific example is the recent synthesis of 4. Biochemistry - The principal programs of the Biochemistry Section of Group H-4 have been essentially as follous: b. Metabolism of drugs, vitamins and other biologically important - materials using isotopically labeled compourds and radiochemical techniques. c. Toxicology and physiology of materials of special interest to The role of ethylenediaminetetra acetic acid (EDTA) and other The mode of action of isonicotinic acid hydrazid on bacteria. The effect of radiation on red c e l l cholinesterase. the Los Blamos Scientific Laboratory. 'chelating compouds in the therapy of heavy metal poisoning. g. The effect of radiation on the physical properties of heavy molecules such as nucleic acids and plasm proteins, 5 . Biophysics Section - During the past several months t h e Biophysics Section has been engaged i n the synthesis of organic scintilla tors and studies of liquid and solid scintillating materials, the development of scintillation counting of C u aad tritium, radiation dose measurements a t very high dose rates and the application of solution scintilla tors to large scale radiation detecting devices.

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Thomas IT. White Three ex aq les of work by the Radiological. Physics Group (H-6) are: '+ 1. Study o f emission of thoron gas from sheets o f thorium metal and the , ,4 s * effect 02 air circulation on the concentrztion of radioactive con2. Study of the Thoton s p e c t m from glutonium and the dose rate on the hands of those who t.rork with the bulk material in the plant.-. 3. Participation in atomic pro vh g ground work a t Eniwetok a12 Nevada, including expert advice on radiological safety planning, and certain specialized neteorological services such as fall-out forecasting.