H-Division Progress Report 20 March 1949 - 20 April 1949 (Redacted)

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1. The poriod coverud by thls roport he# boea an iaporctmt one ror B-Division, higblightod by some additloxu t o OUT rtaff. On March 22, Dr. Robert S, Grler arrload to taka over tho loadorship o f our Xndutrlal ModIcUa Oratrp. Thir Group ha8 boon without dlroct nrporririob siaee Dr, tlrrd7'r be- folt as shown by the increased nunbor' of patients a w n i n Q-Bulldlng during thls gdriod. This doer not indicate that more pooplo IT.receiving lnjurior; i t do08 indicate that ?atientr coma t o QIBuildlry more readily if thry &ow that they will bo sea by a phy8lclur. Thls fact alone highllghtr the importance Or obtaining u) ~ s l r t m tfor Dr, Grler so that he may not bocme as law to 'minor, routine chore8. Dr, Clara, Lushbaugh rrr1v.d in Lor Alamos OB Dr, Lwhbaugh is a pathologist rho will eeme OD staff manbar i n rocrnt yoars tosem in such adud capacity rird it la anticlpatod that he -11 aid oratortally in assiatiry in tho cooperative offort of both group@.

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the last week In March. Dr. YcLea was ~ l ~ din gup his affairs as official Mdld Advisor t o the YUI.g*r, SFO, but he ail1 undoubtedly coatlnuo in an Woff ic is l capacity. Ourlng his &it Dr. YCfRan was principally concerned with p l a n s for the Hospital and the Health Division. and Dr. Kenmth Scott 8re mentioned elserrhere in t M s report. 5. On Urch 25, Dr. Shipman had an Informal confarace in Danver with Dr. Frank Prlnci, Director of U du trial Medicin., Dr, Rode Jemon, Director of Graduate Education, and Dr. W a r d Dsrlty, Dean of the University of Colorado Dr, Princl's group and the University o f California for cero tain specific problem, and interest :s also expressed by the Yedical School group in the possibility of playing a nore actim part in the opportunities for ned l ml education a t A contract i s now Lr ?reparation between m r o in Datroit atturdfng the annual cocbined meeting of the Aneticm Association of Industrial Physicfans and Surgeons, the Amarfcm Araociation of Industrial ' dy gls nist s, and the 6 . During tho first week in April, m. Shipman,

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lsIoppt of w u Infarmation concerning the toxicity of bryllim. and Dr. Xornun Kaoalton, Jr., ottmded t h e lledicine and BlaIafonaatlon lh'etirg held atOak Rldge. It was pchapr a or tuna te that the mrjcritp o f the pspers ;resented at tUs mating were of no Ifmediate interest to t h o s e of our Division m h o attended. The' swrlon on Health Physics, however, was frer the nmjot Installatloas fog the purpose of discussing the pwtlcle problra. thir problem is very far fron BR ultimate solution. The discrtssloi! brought out clearly that a discus ion fn Borton with Drs, Shields Farren, Louis Henpelmaan, and Harriet Hardy on the subject of the future relationships between the Eospital and the Health Division. The tOAtative conclusions reached by thls group Fiere very much along tho a mal be s a8 the tentative plan which has recently bwn 8UbiQtOd Mr. Macy, It vas generally f e l t thkt much Of tho ~ cor rof my plan would depond on the in did dual to be chora as Cpief ofthe Horpltal Staff. IWlwr rad tho o a r s that hamonlous cooperotlon coulC best ObtAkmd by bra the manbars of the Eospltd Stoff OII mat bo wrhd out for a basic minfnun salary with incentivb

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It 1s the opk-don of tha Loubr of H-Dlvirloa that the future of tho Ho rpf M, while Itis not attho mmnt a nottar of adninlstrativr concern to tho Wversity of Califorala, is the nost kipartant ond serious s in glop rob l6 ncm subject .at the time o f the forthcoming visit of Dr. John Borer8 It ir h o w thdt much light can be shed 6n tht8 -c

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1. ?or the first tino In years, otnruposures haye occurrod at tho Paf a rl to Laboratory o f V-Division, 29sIs aommhat disturbing WU SO the OZpOSUrO rocOrd Of the rlto Laboratory has been wry good sirm Dr, Slot in recalved a a lethal exposure there. The highest of the recent exposures Is rk or ded oa the badgo a f the- of the Pajwito . during work on an axperimantal pile, The merinentP1 proco&werr have since been dlscussed between members of the PaJri r hoped that the situation will inprove again. It f r thought that $ U s exposure r& received arose ciuring the past mcnth in connection with the renovation w a s anticipated, high radiation intensltios wore encountered during t h e reaovrl of the actfve Eaterlal and neighboring COPpoLLIIlt8, and it wes necessary t o reckon the exposure of cero tdn fndlVldu8l8 on a rncnthly basts in order that they rA:ht ram *thin pamlsslble lbits. It is considered that *%e 0p.ratAon was well pluraei ana that the exposuror were rela1- 8h.n dua ellowanca is mado for the r t f d t y of the mtwfa tb.t hdto b. handled, It f a not expected that such

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hi& crrpoauru rates rSl2 be encountered during roasaablg, The vorst part of the job is prokbly i;i the put. eral spread of coatamination, have vorsened tlie situation a t the Bu o Ckeaistry Laboratory. have occurred, but unless the plaee can be cleaned up and Only e few slight creremorures the,%yo Cbenfstry &ea has been completed, and the new rule6 5.. 'The radioactive clcud from the Bay0 shot of April 20.pssre6 over and ccntaak~atec!t k e area of the Uln Gate t o Los hlrrmos. The Flre Departnent washed o f f the mort hOa,Vilp contsnkated section of L!-e road shortly thereeiter. of t h e lateness of t L e shot, the cut- smoke pot was not set ofr on ;;eEeta and there was therefore no rmnfng as .- 4.- t o the dlr rct lon In which the cloud rouid go -.I. i t got Up out of the Canyon, for uristance rrm a meteorologist t o giro prodietiom in rdw ~ . It i s understood that one of tke hatbur officers a t - hadField has now been cleared, and it is planrud to This incident again emphasiw8 the noad 6. At the request of t h e AppU.6 BiophfrrfCs BrWh Of the A8E Division of Biology and %dicizle, SODO rortrrid

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7. Stmpler of paper $ rot at ive clothing, ;rreplrred a manufacturer RS a possible cbap substitute for cloth, repa w e d by representatives of H-3 and EZ-1 Groups. It that the other Itoms would be of rather llrdted W u e . was at td ed by tbe Group Leader. 4 ) The film badge beta ant ganzna week17 to- a r m rrported QA mutitle 8.yo reportsr

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necessmf calculations on fila value8 ficator wrlvad from Rew York. It was found that OUT paoket chmbor calibrating sowce bas 46.5 content hrtrad of 51 ny. The corrwtion trctorr are zlm bring cb4d. 1) The film bad 08 formrrlg. fsrued, processed, Interpreted and rrported by the h-12Group are not; being done by tho 8-1 Manftorlng Section. S O V O r 8 l changes were nade I n the t:Te of badge issued. Group a t Smdia M a routine basis. ing fibs on rack, densitometer adj utm at,ad tho u I a"fo ua addin8 arehiru t o mrfom 6) Tkp National Bureau o f Standrrds certt - Filn badges are Lssued t c ?&'cart IIofin's d. Cares of overexposure t o personnel . . 10 f . Vehlcles checked for contatiristic3 e 23 4 deccntminated by this sectlon. 1 acconpenied by no::ltor to shop. go Pocket chambors tested and calibrated . . 124 (Those r h d d be deslgnatrd a8 in excess of C 13832% 1 plus 20 Ibs glasswar WP of timo spent in monitoring, IO$ ink and ling

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15 alactllaneous monitoring jobs. d ) 3 scrap loads surveyed. br,ars badgrr. for processing I n EastBrplained tolerances and monitoring procekres

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om G.P. tubes, thus caking posslkle variations in f ll liz gs to correspnd with :r.rtrucer,t requirements ad also 1orierir.g the 1) One sceler constructed for use w i t h ' c o u n t & ! troth algha and beta rteiatlon. This involved redetlgnlng the out;ntt circuit t o us+ a wrizard type resettable register, ConvertLig the lozer chassis for iastallation of a larger chanbar a16 replacing a nubar cf ccnponent ,=arts 2 order t o krep background toa mininun wkite coultinz beta a t the kighor voltage required.

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erance dose on up. A cardboard chmbar i s wed. 0ut;lut indication IS by a 0-1 Baa meter. Provisions a r e incorporatd tion, Four- scalar me proridotl, tho least sansftln rcrla containing 10.e o h m L7 the electrometer tuba grid, c'. 'The t echl cal problem aonnocted with the the Lmtrmcnts are ready for Installation. The problanrr of locations, housing and fencing, Imdgrtkng of costs, etb., . are now beiag cowldored by tha b a l t h Division Office, a e * A considerable amount of tine nas spent by $he Biophysics bection in riding the Honitoriry SeCtlon in Boiler as well as the activities at Sap Canyon. 2, Work in Prwesp: a, Work to control better the variables in film ' dosinetry continued. The developor was c h a n g ~ dfrom tho Dupont (3 minute) to hstman ( 5 m u t e ) so m to - 2 ~

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b, Tho evaluation of the responre of the photoIrvthtr work with the portable neutron swvry inrtnrmnnts (fission chambor and Yodel 711) is continuing 9 rctivoly, Theso hatrtaaents a r e being calibrated for a ride variety of neutron s?ectra, and the Model 711 is being Inyeatigatsd rith varying quantities c f noderating material and rith cadmirrp shields. d.A survey was made of the grlmasy 2nd scattered shoos a t Hall's Shoe Store. 0 or E 3 , md has spent considerable time visiting the vgrieus Sltes, urd meetlnc with members o f the H-Division and Xospftal Staff t o familiarize him elf with personnel snd t o 2scertrln the exlsting health problms. a1 rct ir it los of 8-2 Oroup haw been resumed. reom tu been Provided Ir: q-Euilding for the use of a l l Groups 2- with the completion o f the rm da ling of q-Building, 3. The fOlhw?ng trips were nado durine this zeriodt L.rrraco of tho Strte Doputmont of hb llc bath, to Rorrell, New Nexico.

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lrreb 261 D?. Ulll UI attendad the Amerfcan Chomiarl societp meting in San -enYuch 301 Yra &&at8 Yre F. Smith, end Miss ' ~.torr.n athod the Industrial the Prgonru National Laboratory, Chi-

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of Biology and Modlcine, v lal ted the project t o obtain data on tb waste dl spor d problem h0r.e A conference was held a t h Ir, Jobn F a Newall, of the Banitation Departrnmt, and this wm followed by a trip to the waste disposal laboratory rhore rwoarch Is being carried out on thlr problem, e. A trip was made t o Rosrcll, Ntm Mexico, to participate In a meeting of the Nc+ YIXICO Public Eiealth Associatibn. A talk was nado before the P~soclationon tho 6. Atrip wm made t o Detroit t o purticlprte & a cohformce on induetkkl health. On the my toDa tr olt, I visit was mado t o the Isgome kborrtorlor t o obrrrve the opekotion of the in dust rid 11ygirn0 program them.. a. As or les of elr sanples wore collected in the vlc f pity of a silver soldering operation in T-Building. There a l r sanples were sent t o tho Uaiverslty of Colorado for uwly8ls for cadmltxa and fluorides. b e Work waa begun on the rvrluatlon of the uraaim h.rr,ds in Sigma Building. U.r samples will br collectod at W fO Us tlmr in the vicinity of the differ ant oporationa amlv*d in procarsing urmalum. Tbis rtudy nil1 be made

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A pisit was made to S Site with Group Leader h. Grim a t which tests were mado t o determino the effoctlrmesr of th'e remar hand cleaning for the removal of TNT iron the skln. Alro operations in the laboratory involving the use of benzol were observed. Lator air tests were mabe at t k l s operation and a series of urine sampler collected froF- the oporators for the detemnlnation of u r l n e sulfates, Re'Ylar analyses of m k n e sanples mom S Site were continued, d. kn operation involving a potential exposure t o &WIIBat Sandia was observed. .to bo Woll controllod a t the prosmt time, -re colloctod for mercury analysis; and on& for u r a n h ' .amlysis. The formor two samples wore sont to the Unlvorsity of Colorado and the latter one to the University of Ro&O8t@r for enalysls pending caplet Ion of the necesrary equipment for this work here, This hazard was found e. Several months ago an apparatus was set up for producicg hewn concentrations of solvent vapors inalp for U.e celfbration of certain instruments. This equipment was rocuntly M f ined considerably, anb soveral improvements adOed which 8hould mrke i t nore useful for this purpose. Year t o data Jumvy 1 to AprU 18 0.07 (days lost per thowand m a n hc-3)

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Mail and Recorda , on March 22 1949 w a s welking across freshly waxed floor of A-Building and sprained her right f o o t 8.a she l o s t her balance'and fell, Her dlrability was tvo h i # back while ll ft f nga gmerrtor on or about Yarch 14, 1549. On m h 22 hfr b8ck pa@ caued Urn to go t o the Bospital lowed by phyrlotherapy treatment and a disability resulted of throe days loat time, 1, A review of industrial safety shoe sales shoved that, to dr te, 75 pairs have been purchased by ekployees of tha Laboratory. A special drmonstratlon of shoe models heu bomdirplaytd in the CW Groups and ENC-3 Shops. 2. A listing of personal protective -equipnent was prrprred for the needs o f the Los kngelrs Shop of Group EnG-3. 3 , The survey of all groups In P-Division vias conplrted during the report porlod by the comnittee which includmd a rrprermtative o f this office, 4. 8 d e t y ri#ns warning of the presence of radioWth4t Yue now be- used with the colors erntian violet

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on 1-t bluo, This color scheme i s 4150 used ln other 5. An inaoctrination progrim for orienting s ecu it y md m e protection personnel in potentia Laboratory merhve been head, t o date, one, general, an& a second, the Krtock o f the Dopartment of Supply and Property, T h i s new procedure elhinates the …