H Division Progress Report, H-242 (September 20 - October 20, 1956) (Redacted)

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z ti liz inga tritium target in the nucl ev multiplete camera vhile banbarding with 9 deuteron beam. The machine enerEj. was - 2 nev. The shortest toierance t2me found was one-half hour per week In ?21 Inaccessible place. tlme vas 12 hours per week with the exc:uslon are- averaged in. were the restrictive radiations of the cver-all picture. energy y11 cornriderad to be no more t b a n 5 wv. No tritlum leakrgc 0ccUIcrtd. The run continued for about 6 hour8 and then shut down for 2 weeks. The average tolerance Even then the avenge completed a t 12:03 noon on Ocmber i6, b a r , u i t h 5 mr/hr of &ama radiation gpd 59 n/cm ,‘see of fast neutrons et a parer The hot critical it y vas started at X : 3 O a.m. on October 15 aad E l ~ h t yl iters of uranyl phosphate nade up The highest radkzlor. lt vel s vere meas-ued by the south cell until an icclvare in actlvLty of the control room took place along vith critical it y 3: 30 2.m. .. t h e control room level robe t o 5 0 0 device for ttc steam line was eiso Fndicating a radiation increase. consldered tc be gas end all personnel were evaccated t o a ooint west of the line that WM outride the building. although it vas found let er to be radiation emitting f m SOUP within the control and those taken by drawing throcgh a actlvated charcoal trap. ‘ S a dorage t o This ‘adicated the start of a system failure. end t h e remote indicating It ves first It appeared as if the material had escaped from the stem For this reason the incming air was shut off, Ali of the air ssmples were negati-.*e. including those dranr f2cm the c e l l Uriae sampies and total body counts were

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mbrequently found to be surface contamination. A t 5:3O p.m. on tb. uta, a level of 1.6 r/br w u m e 30 ft frm tb end of the on the 17th, the reactor vu v e n d With oxygen end a pip of d 5 d W - d noto& at the -toring at at iar. of Ten Site. vucut into pitcer vi- the cave block of Lab Cat Ten Site by K-Divlrion. Extenrive cont..irutioa preventatives uere rrtabli8hrd by rprtding hait papa 0 tbe floor and vithin the cave block Icself. Actually, no coat8miaatlon v u rprrd beyond the confines of the slave lasnipulntor and the cutting machine; harrrvar, lo00 c!r was foarrd on the paper following removal of this equlmt. t o be dtcontrrlrutrd read 5000 c;m and 1 r,hr. for removal. ?io rsrplraton vere vom until the equAmt yu mmnmd. The material gwe ~KI indieatad neufzonr fmo porrible Meal irp rr it ler. Zbe dosage received VIU 40 m r , urine aanpler ore yet to be run, and d t ma@er vlthin the drybox located at TA-42. On October 3, the mice were tmn6fcrreb in ice cream ca&onr t o RRL Building f o r counting and sacrlflce. contamination of' the pathologist s lnrtnrmtntr snd absorbent paper that read 20,OOo cim. no conbnination was spre k. On th nim o f October 19 and 20, the irrdirtd Rt of &out 20 curlam I t vu enclosed in pl u tic bag8 5 . The feediw of mice vith t a ~ tald ~and Pu bar continued opr a odi cd ly 6. A great deal of tbe vu et0 TA-1 that are scheduled for ranovsl. intczmediate neutrons w i t h the polyethelane shleld thra first belleved, ve have been prompted to take many more mcuurementr of more or less s l t i c coohitions and ncord the =erponoe a8 ccapared with the Rudolph so that more W u a r can be obtained for E-6 to utilize i n raduclng our long form cuuputatlaa eheet. words, we may be recording the lntezmcdiate neutrons tvice .nd rrduciag t h e 1. A questionnaire concerning photodorimetry pct ice rod record0 wu received f ~ mConvair, A mat deal of camplhtion end search of recorb v u

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on October j bra at Lor Alraos. 300 expsurer at Bo KYP aad having a p h a n a plactd in fr*n of may be 1- by time&. The .xponue OD the -ton vu found to mnge by vu ying the KV fna 70 to 100. was found to be unsafe since the total integrated dorc, when corrected for photo timing, MI LOO mr/day. as well as increasing tne aluminum filtration to 2.j nm. 2. The sfrk Fublic H d t b x-ray mrchine VU maitorad rar rdlAtiOrr The machine y11 located in a '111 were p~ to arponvc a typical W*.Vby factor of 2 because the machine M. preset timed instead of photo The typist ares The effective energy vas also dekrmdned and The operatar*sexposures were 13 and 8 mr respectively. Fram this it was ret-ended thet more lead be Fnrtsllad 3. OT Site proc~rrda 1.5 curie ~m~~~ source. ma use of this source and ita hazudous potentialltier were investigated by 8-1 followed by n c ~ nd at loar. The mame warn securely Wed within a caprule tbrt IlDdicrtCd a a light alpha camt through a plastic bag. and to give 3. j c,irr of X rays a t the surface of the source without the shield. vas sugested that caution be exercised in detecting 2otential a l p h ~ltdrage. This alpha count wa8 conriderad to be rerporue of the 3me neutron emission was calculated to be 4 x 10 n;rcc b. Since the anticipated need f o r film badge record Ch.~ngeS,new personnel dab records nre being typed, including biflh dates obtaned frcra Medica!, Recomb. 5 . A Zilp aging experiment was startcd for obtaining auulrion changts when subdeeted to heat, humiditjr, aad cold, with the time varyiag f ~ r m5 t o 12 months. Number of Disabling Injuries 14 16 flumber of Days Lost * 6 p 337 3,056 (+Includes 6000 days vhich :s the ASA charge for a fat ili ty)

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caurl ~to fall d injure his back. Lo8t time was 13 Rate (Accidenta per 100,ooO Miles) 1.21 1.66 There were two motor vehicle accidents involving Laboratory personnel druine b e WM a backing accidtnt a d the other occuflyd when the driver ~ .LL off t&e mad snd overturned whiie attempting to pass another vehicle at an inkne&lOT~. 2. "he Lsborr;tory cooperated with other local contractors and orsniutioor in observing " F i r e Prevention Week" vhich w a s October 7 through October 13. Safety Office scheduled fire extingilsher demonstrations for Laboratory pcrr-l vhlch were Clan if ica tic n ehmgod t o _/?-<-.'by the Fire 'ep-entry aucbority o f u. 5. E. i. 3. The ssfety Office arranged to-f Tan Site i or kay Security and Fire Protection personnel. 5 . Safety consultants, James I.Banash and Herbert F. Reinhsrd, are scheduled to speed three days at the Laborstory at the end of October. i s oeing amanged for these indiv-duals to review Laboratory operations and pl-6 concerning capn8 - d and canbustible gases. ArrangaMntr w e being made to retain the re nicer of an explosive8 expert as a consultant, Mr. John T. Moore, forwrly Maasgcr of Safety, Explo8imS Division. FIercules Powder Colopany. for consultation on a -st basis. Through the Assistant Itrector for Scientific Porromul, ulangemcnts have been made for Dr. Charles F.Mzitl, Profersor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Cailfornia. Serkeley, to d s i t the Laboratory early in 1957 to

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give a colloquirn d prokbly a raminm on electrical mfety. Professor Diltirl ir a recowlzed autbrltJi on thc effects of electrical shock on .UI. that vy planned for the LAGL booth at the new Madco State Fal r ln attention w u prih to the procedures rrd kcbrriquer uaed in 7. The pluming vork of Qpup 19-4 in nuclear rocket control mech.ni- vu reviewed fnr tba mafety upcctr of the high pressure tyrtems t o be -ad. 8. An mwt to be conducted by J-U. i n the Chew water boiler VM reviewed since it included the use of high tQlPerat-8 with a caolbustible gar; the plsnncd equipPcnt and technique were approved. Plutonium at the Second Annual Bio-Adsay and Analytical Chemistry meeting 00 Ernest C. Anderran attended the Andover Confarapce on Rdiocarbon Dating "Mo~orphologicMethod# of Determining Cellular Doubling Times", by Submritted for pubiication i n the Journal of Histochemlstry and "The Deveropent and Applications of Low Level Counting", by and Medical Phyrics . Submitted f o r publication in Advances in Biologlcnl Second Annual Bio-Asuy and Arzalytical ChCnristry Meeting, 0ctO)ar 12, aad puolfahed in the Proceedings by the Industrid Hygiene bbom & toqJ ~aallldmrim,of tht Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Second ?.raual Bio-Assay and Analytical Chemistry Meeting, October 12. and ?ubllshed

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Quarterly, Vol. 1'7, HO. 3, pp 305-38, Sep wer 1956. C. Mnjor A ~ Mof Progress in Sections frap two group8 of mta, one sacrificed a t 24 hour, and m e at 48 hours after irradiation with 2400 r of X irradiation, we= incubated for h hours vith C14 - acr htc. The Incorporation of 8cetrtC lnto cholesterol -6 E! t h e 8 u m t in the irradiatmd -6 sacrificed at 24 hGvr aa in control ml.rlr, ud 70 tirvr gruter in tb. irradiated anFmalr sacrificed at 48 hours than in control an(wls. M e r investigation of this -ked increase i n cholerkrol is being carried out. LY ~ u c ! r o r ~ t YOf tu vas alkylated by the E8chvciler-Clarke procedure using the fonaaldehyde-C1 4, followed by ordinsry fomaldehyde t o cauplete the el ky h tion in order t o avoid having t o separate the rtarting mine frm the product. The product VM isolated by extraction hvrm the baaicified reaction mixture into bt nea v *- the benzene 25% HC1 with water) into chloroform. The chloroform solutim d d -rated to a slpall volume and the product MS pre c ip ih ted with anhydrous ether. The radlochcmical yield of 32$ was smaller than anticipated fxm yields obtained in numerous preliminary which MI reduced vith alumlnunr lithium *de in tetminto concentrated hydrochloric acid, and froar the hydrocUori*4&hted to

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cold NLU. Thir mtrriil vu rent to Wth, Kline aad French Icrbontorier, Biochemistry Section, for metabolic investigation of the drug. & s i @ e to datemine the effect of partial body rhlelding on lifo rpur and incidence follarlng X lrrrdiatlon. plaaned by the R.dioblology Section. distributed into the foUowFng groups: It is pert of the loag-km c m i c ucpcrioapt. X i k e n hundred cF1 fcarale mice, 10-12 veeks os' age, vere rsnderly Upper half of body shielded t o the xyphoid process Lanr*hlt of body .hiddad b u l w th. Jorphoid proceu Prior to exp08ure8, each sninvl wus ear-marked a8 to w p and dore for further ldentlficatian. The shielded animals were sxpoaed in hollow cylindrical 1,'4 inch The cages were coded and the data fmn each aalmal will be hcorded on indivrdual Pathological section8 vi11 be taken when warranted. The animals VLll be observed over t h e i r entire life span. Upon ccmpletion of the experiment it I s anticipated that the 0~1e8tlOnof to what extent psrctial body shielding influences life span and tumor fozmation will be enswered. Following irradiation, the animals were re-raadcmized i n t o cages. ThC time of death and -8s autopsy findings w i l l be recorded. Results at the end of the firrt 30 d a y s , post&&ation, indicate that the greatest percexitage or' acute bath so ccw in the n&dl&d group of animals receiving only 400 r of whole body radiation. the mice which received 800 r to the lower half of the body hzd the highest mortalit;r. A svnaaary of the results i s as foUuws: Of the shielded mimale,

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These acute results zre slightly obscured bccauae of the deaths in the control group, which appeared ;a oe due to a mild Salmnella infectLon in the animal colony vhich manifested itself ?ost-irradiation. Ptpomura. at v a a m &ea (Boom, Strarrg, Rogers, Sprldinp, stonr). This will be a chronic experiment in which large ntnnbers of mice v i l l be radiated at varioum rgr arid then kept their entire life span. (age at death) and, whenever possible, sCLyopsies will be done in an attempt to determine cawe of death. b. Effect of Whole Body Irzmdhtion o Life Span Corrahted with The animals Will be obrerved for lethality at the foliowing ages: 1-7 w e t K s : 13-1- veeks; 6 months: and i year. .Ua-8 and will be distributed to the gouy as r'ollws: Group Awill be mdlated a t 8-10 weeks of age. Group B will be radlzted e t 6 months 0: age. I'i't;. animeis w i l l be included In this study, to take care or' spontaneous deaths so that 1.53 vi31 be availeble for radiation at 6 months or' age. t o t a l of L j O animals, 150 per dobe, at doses of 100, 200 and bo0 r. Group C vi11 be radlzted at 1 year of age. Seven hundred animals w i l l be allotted to this g o u p , so that at least 450 will be availabic for orig - 1 randcmized groups. On the basis of 6 to 8anus pet litter (1 2 &el, l'f femeles), epproximctely 900 ;o 1300 animals will be exposed in t h e i r breeding Croup Dwill be the soup that is exposed their first The jreeding mothers (-900)v l I 3 CQY from the

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btcaure of discnpaacler in the tvo methods used, the p r o b l a hu been re-anlrrr;td. Attmipts to count tbt veak garra activity of ionium, using the icdine crystal wellcounter, were abuldoplrh in favor of the more accurate alpha coantin(r ualag & mmum Amumir: The roluticm 0- m uilll.wtmdt I o / liter.Ame of the solution vas reduced to the thoritm and lonirrpl aocibr of the Th2% present, r a t 8 uere injected via the ,jugular r h u s route vith three doses of Th2”, 4.5, 5.6 and 6.7 mg/kllo, respectively. No d4.U occuclcd at ur;r of the doses injected. Chemical Toxicity of Thor:um232: In order t o eliminate the toxicity A c u t . rS5O Studier: The hllinckrodt solution vu prepared for 6 MMa3. Sodium c it rk vu addad to the concentration of 100 mg/ml. dose have been injected at the fol lw i It uas then diluted to give 2.03 mg Io/ml. Route of Ialection Twenty-four-hour urine and fecal collectloas were 0b-d oa a l l week on survivors. and single collections wtre obtained tach ntcceedbq

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vere ucririced op the 8th day pxt-jugulu …