H Division Progress Report (April 21 - May 20, 1962) (Redacted)

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During a routine radiation survey of the Physics Building an interestinq aource or radiation uaa tound. 'I'hia waa not a health hazard, but miqht be at interest to personnel constructing low background counters, and has been brouqht to the attention oi while surveying J work bench, the monitor found radiation levels; of 1 mr/hr: the source uas traced to t w o transistor.. Another survey of the Supply and Property stock rcom turned up and tmlFevos the material is krypton-85. An H-1 health physicist ha8 sen3 information about testinq transietcxs at the factory, and reporta that they are tested tor container leakage by uainy krypton-85 under high presaure. Evidently the live transistors found were not rejected durinq in apc tion at the factory. - 0 members of H-1 attended thc American Industrial Hyqiene presented a paper, "Study 0 1 Diffusion and nix in qo t 'Tritium Gsa in Air" at the meetinq. Three members o f the health phyaica group at Hocky Flats visited Los Alamos to diecura mutual health problema. Uurinq the visit we were able to compare calibration ot neutron survey Instrumentm and neutron sources.

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Ur. Mu u y ma of Japan visited the Laboratory on Ic.y 15th. fer red from the cont-inated laundry building, which has been ro turn rd to Supply and Pro mr ty. has provod t o be very eat is factory for thi8 work. During tho month w processed 209 respirators. The new area in CUR Buildinq Th. 8Urfaca doso rat. from high 240 contont pluto niu n Yam measured in tho extra pal ation chamber. 1.9 rad/hr through 3.3 mil polyvinyl chl or rde and 6 mg/cm2 Of paper. Standard low 240 content plutonium yivev 1.2 rad/hr under tha manu condition.. The surface dose wa8 During tho doc on tmi nation of equrpncnt a t Ten Site, RaLa cont mi nation was rproad around the call area and two man had contaminated clothing. The dosaqe as recorded by pocket dosimeters was not high (240 mr). We do not believe that the men involved were overexposed: urine specimens have kon collect od and Will be assayed. No evidence of beta burn. ha8 been noted XI. GROUP H-1. SCSCTY (ROY Raider. 1 Number of Disabling Injuries5 16 Number of Days Lost 144 18.233

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abling injury vhcn he caught hi. finger between a chuck wrf-nch and tool holder on a la the. Thio roo ul ted in the loo. of tho dio tal phalange of the index finger of the rr qh t hand. Thero wore no Laboratory fir or during th io report period. Accident Coat per 100,000 Miles 9120.00 $74.00 There wa8 one Government vehicle a ccl dont involving a Laboratory driver during April. l hio occurred when a vehicle o truck8 concreto olab uhilo detouring around 8onw co not ruc tion. oubmitted a report of thrir visit to b 8 Alunoo and the Rovor Project at the Nevada hot Site. ?'tu roport made recommendations cc n cern ing safety of our liquid hydrogen operation at both loca- '.ion.. I t has ken circulated and io receiving careful otudy by into rooted pro on no l. The A. D. Little Company hold ra safoty con rul tant contract with the b o Alamoa Scientific Laboratory for liquid hydrogen operations. 2 . weapons taotinq and the Rover operation have h o n re8cai ving safety rur veil lance. There h m been a rafe t yen qi no er prooont a t tho Nevada Test Site covorinq the Rover operation in 400 kea and the veaponu tooting in the Yucca Area allnost con-

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tinuoumly aince the firat of tho year. onqineer in residence in the Pacific since the build up of the Werpona Tooting Oprration in early March. There ha8 been a safety voyed our inmtallationr hore and at the Nevada Test S i t e . 4. To reduco tho pos8ibility of fire dunaqe to mwmaivo and hard~to-repl.co equipncnt, the h partment of Supply and Proporty har k e n asked to mtock only fire-retardant troated tarbaulinm. Tarpa arc frequontly used to provide wca%hcr protection to equipment which may be temporarily orad of r to red 5. Fka1t.h and Safety Newsletter No. 62-3, an "Noiro" 6. The Collovinq films wore .shown during thia report e) "fbv to Avoid Murcle Str:rin" bas ahavn three times. Chromatography i~ a particulariy valuablb tachniqua in invsrtiqations now in progrerr of t b organic ctmrnratry g k nuelectidea.

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Paper chromatography is being uoed extensively, and research is being conducted on application of the relatively nev technique of thin - layer chromatography (TLCl to this field. of the position of the spots (which are in via i ble in Ordinary light) on tha chromatograms can be made by viewing with either transmitted or reflected short wavelength ultraviolet liq ht(USU - in this region, and their presence cause8 quenchinq of the natural Eluoremcence of tha paper or thin - layer ChrOm8tOgrlun. :'emanent record8 of paper chromatoqrams can be made by photographic Contact printing in ultraviolet light. However, thin - layer chromatoqrma pl st a a) cannot be matisfactorily recorded in this manner ovlng to the fragility of the layer and tha opaquenesa of glass toul tfa - Nucleotides and their derivatives absorb strongly A previously undescribad method wse, therefore, developed which provide. eaaily obtainable permanent record. of excellent light, is photographed with8view cunera employinq at i lter (which allows passage of the vi rib le flu or er cent ll gn t but does not pass the reflected ultraviolet) and & Polar cid4x5 Land this novel procedure includm its rapidity, oimpliciLp, care of filing the reduced size photoqrapho, possibility of cnlarqed copier when desired, better renolction (i.e., very weak spotr may be vi8ible on the photograph which arc not discernible v fau ally), and decreased exposure o f personnel to ultra vio Iet radiation. The chromatogram, under illumination of ultraviolet

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A. Evaluation and Contrcll Uork Three air samples were collected in Group S P - 3 during the operation of a ditto machine in a small room atSH - 30.All three valent to the maximum pcrmi as i ble concentration tor thin mdtcraal. A more detailed study of this will be continued during t h e nOXt Air aamplinq was carried out Lor a wide yaricty or materialo during thia period. These included: beryllium at s i x locatLon.. carbon tatrachloride in J-11, TN'I' a t various parts of S Site, diphenyl at TA-46, mercury in CMH Building and enriched uranium A l l of these aamplea showea air concenzrationa below Three noise surveys were made during t h i s ptriod. The survey made in the new graphite shop ehowed that the noire has been reduced below the hazardous level. In Buildinq 200 at S S i t e , the noise level at the ozilid machine was found to be below the hazardous level. In the Maintenance Section in the basement 01 the new Sigma Building the over-all noiae level ranqcd troin 87 to 90 decibels, and higher Liqures were obtained durinq w ldin y and butfing operations. Pcndinq improvement@ i n this area, recornmendationn were made tor audiometric teats on the op crat or s and the use of pcrarlnal protective devices.

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in q the month. There hae been nc in crea a e in tte gr0S.r beta count on fallout, which continues very lw,and we have been unable t o detect the presence of any iodine i n the mklk samples. The t.8t bench for Scott Air Pak maintenance work has been comphted and has been approved by Croup H - 3 for hi qh pressure work. A number of rc qu la tors have already been tested and revor king very well. ?*relve men we rb fitted with maske and rae pir d tore Jur ln q , Checks of hoods have been made i n areas o f CMR Building, 'tA-22 and at S Site. Recommendations for necessary or improved vanti - la tion have been made in several areas of the Laboratory. 8 . Research and Oevelownent. 1. A multiple air sampling system har been deaigned and Lab rica tcd €or uee by Group H-7 on their research project in Delta Building.This has been completed and i o ready tor instal - 2. Tents arc continuing in an attempt t o develop an e € € i - c imt perchloric acid hood for U OB in the Laboratory Section and a180 for an efficient ecrubber t o be operated in conjunction with the hood. During the month, teat. rlavc been run u th perchloric acid at various f!.ow rates and almo with hyorochloric and m ulf uric 3. A second re rice ot tests for the cvaluatior! of silver nitrate impregnated filter papers wan completed and confirm d the previoue ren u lts sf extremely low et fic ien cy.

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4. A continuing merit8 of inprovementm on the plutonium urine rroay procedure are under study. parallel mamples usinq the ion exchange technique, in place o f the TTA extraction method. have h e n carried out. Such teats will k continued using mttabolized plumnium. acid to aid in the di88olution of tha lan than m fluoride preclmino whether moderate quentitiee o f sul€ate interfere with vaciou8 stop. in the procedure.. method to timmue amplem will be qreatly facilitated. The use of boric Further vork i m beinq done to deter - I f they do not. the application of the 5. Analytical Ce8UltS on 7 5 net. ot autopmy s m p l t m hrvo been compiled and tabulated. Calculation8 on the body bUKChn8 ot expo8td individualm hdve ken tabulated, usinq the data and method fnveatigationm have been made o t the U ~ Coi diborane in Group CHB-3, e p o ~resina in the Sherwood areas, and niobium pantachloride in Group CMB-3. Industrial hygiene rurvey. have been mado in Croup N - 3 and in the ncu Buildiny 129 at Pajarito Site. Racomendationr have been made where appropriate. Investigation. and surveillancer continuod in areal o f limited egrtua. Three mafatty talk8 were given during the month on hoods at at WB-7. A paper on, "Current Problem8 and New Developments in Reepiratory Protection" wan pre8entcd before t h e annual meeting Oi the American Industrial Hygiene Association i n Washington, D . C.

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a. E. Boai8 prasanted a talk on the Yhermx machina from it at a T-Divimion Stmrg~sbord eeninar. a. Futthor checks on the Victoreen R8doeon have b e n A simple pulrfnq circuit was devi8.d which 8imulatsr themade, pUlle8 which part of t h e Radocon circuit would receivo in radiation from the Phonnex machine. "hc inteqratinq circuit worked properly with pul8.8 having time constants ranqinq trom 0.1 BCC to 1.0 aec. I t is felt that the etfective timo constant o f the chambe:- and electrometer tuba portion o f tho instrument will l i e in t!ii. time range. at Phernux. Further check. of lonq term atability have k e n mbde. The Phermax machine ha8 not been available thi8 past month to finiah the investigation of the Radocon. If so, the Radocon will probably k u @ & b H - 6 Weather Section, in drawing up a group of predicted fallout pattern. at the request of the Civil Dtfenre Study Pancl of the Prerident's Sciontitic M via or y Committee. e. )I.amurcmmnts in the previour pariod o f the NaI(T1) crystal reaponoe to fluoreeccnt x-rayr and qamna-rays from iso top a over an energy r a g a of 6.4 to 1200 K.v had shown inconsistencies. The points appearod to km on two di8tinct curves separated by about 3 to 5 percent. A h a d collimator, 1 inch thick, containing M 0.2 inch diameter hole, had been placmd over tho cryatal when maaBur~rnent8 were made with the fluore8cent x-raya and two of the

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imotop. sources, becauu of their rel a tiw ly high intensity. No collimator vas used with the remaining iso top wurcem since their intensity was relatively low. colli mat or lay on the upper reaponre curve, md those obtained without tho coLlfrator lay on the lowr curve. "he points obtained with the When the hole i n the collimator wam loc a tod ova$ different portion8 of the e ryota l, the romponse of th. cry r tal changad by a s much 88 14 percent. The intensity of the x-ray 00aCe8 wan reduced DO that masUremant8 could k made without colltmation. Tho points from both the flu ot or cent x-rays and the imotopo quma ray8 now appaar to fall on tha m a 8 cum.. luaaured th enorqy apoctrum emitted by four different disc8 of Pu. Thuy havo attempted to calculate th rel ht j ve intensity of oaeh of the line.in tm rms of roantqens. The fotlowinq rmsultm uere obtainad with meof tho discs. 8.C8U.e of the law intensity of tho Pu d i 8 c s , only mutface doso past to e8tia8to the dole rate and calibrate film. An attbmpt w i l l k made to sLnu1ato the Pu wurc. uming fluoremcent x-rays ful, thm simulated 80utce cur k umed to calibrate film8md other swvoy in r trm ents used t o monitor Pu radiation.

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a . Th. group of decoder cuds which order the punching ot th. 2ntnkr 3n the IBU punch through ro lays, were found to turnmd to the mm u fact ur or for repair. f . The new 91.88 wedges for tha dens it on rte rare recoived and installed in tha machine. The trans pcr t mechurL8m for the wadqaa functions quite vel1 and in one res pct i8 superior t o the spur gear mochani8m urd to rot at a the Lastman Kodak c icc u lar umdqe. Thc latter had considerable oscillation at the nu118 beCawe of tho inorti. of the w d g 8 and the ea8e ot faadback thro!iqh cannot feed back the inertia fot cea. Th wdge8 were calibrated by &ana of the snall filters made of the SUM neutral tint glass which had been used pceviou8ly, t o determine tha density per m. of thicknerm of this melt at 91ass. It was found that the wedgoa had thespa ci € icd slope within a few tenth. of one percent in the denme re qi on a,that i. when the combined density of the two wedge8 was between 6 and 3. However. inthe t;rin region. wbJn the rombinad dena it y was btwon3 and 1 the .lop, was Little higher than specified. This deviation is bcioq investigated quantitatively more thoroughly, after which its effect will be evaluated in terms cf introduced errors. Should these provo The pte sent linear wedges are driven by screw8 and a. work continues on the local ciimatoloqical study. b. Work continues on CanputLng Callout statistics on various comuni tics around the state.

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a. A tamp.rature and moisture analysis tor the S k i aroa for the 1961-62 winter raaaon …