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OFFICIAL USE ONLY MEET II G OF ADVISCRY COMMITTEE FOR BIOLOGY AND Ml3DICINE SAVANNAH RrVER OPERATIONS OFFICE OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY ADVISmY COMMITTEE FOR BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE River Oprns .O ffice Shields Warren, Acting Chairman Gioacchino Fail la Sheon T. Canizil - sermd as Consultant Elvin C. Stalanan, Chairman, was unable t o attend A very interesting agenda had been planned for the first day of the visit of the Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine t o the Savannah River Operations Offi c e . Nr. Nelson cordially greeted the group and after his opening remarks he reviewed the construction program of the facilities, OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY displayed a model of a reactor building and explained its construction. A planned tour of the facilities including a visit to the Medical Building was of peat interest to the Conrmittee. MINUTES OF THE MEETTMG HELD DECEITER 13 & 14, 1953 The Acting Chairman presented t o the Committee the draft minutes of the forty-second meeting, which was held i n Washington, D, C. on A minor change was suggested on Page 3, second paragraph, t o have the fourth line read: nHe had taken refuge under the Fifth Amendment, etc. ....n With this correction the minutes were approved unanimously upon a motion by D r a Burnett and aeconded by Dr. Failla. meeting as a consultant witha view t o becoming a member of the Committee. Dr. Bugher reported on a very important series of 1. The Sunshine Meeting, held on January 9 and 10, wherein a l l the data SO far brought together were reviewed including the sampling OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY 2. The Biomedical Program Directors met on January a and 15. This meeting i s held a t frequent intervals t o acquaint the entire &roup with the more recent developments in the area of weapons effects. Two days were devoted t o the review of the weapons position with respect to civil defense problems. 3. On January 20 a meting was called of the "JANGLE Test Feasibility Committee" to review the problem of radiological safety for on- and off-site and setup certain criteria which would serve as a guide i n planning those operations. 4. The Biomedical Test Planning and Screening Committee met on January 22 far the purpose of reviewbg the results of all the experiments carried on l a s t Spring which consisted of approximately twentythree different experiments, thirty-six projects, and one hundred and twenty-five project participations. Dr. Bugher oriented the Committee on the proposed Tripartite Conference. He spoke of Mr. Strauss' special interest in the meeting and of his obtaining through the National Security Council, Presidential approval of a new topic i n the general area of Health and Safety. Report on the Dr. Pearson told of a visit w i t h Dr. Andrew Dowdy, Chairman of the Biomedical Committee, f o r the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program, t o the dog project at the University of California in Davis. Dr. Pearson stated that the radiation has been completed on between two-thirds and threefourths of the t o t a l of 360 dogs in the projected program. According OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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to the present series the radiation w i l l be completed by July. Orie of the gratifying aspects of the project i s that many ancillary studies are being made which were not originally envisioned, Dr, Pearson stated further that the studies include nutrition of the dog, genetic studies in the beagle, moulting, dog psychology, and certain aspects of reproduction i n the female, Dr. Dowdy expressed his enthusiasm for the project and said he thought it would provide answers t o many of the questions raised by the Air Force in connection with the ANP program. Symposium which was held in Washington, D. C. on He s t a t e d that the symposium was sponsored jointlyJanuasg 26 and 27. by the Institute of Radio Engineers, the American Institute of Elect rid. Engineers and National Bureau of Standards and the Atomic Energy Cds sion, and It was very well attended. About 350 persons were present representing physicists, biologists, medical physicists, geologists, anck health physics people. Also, representatives of various instrument campanies and from some of the tube companies that a r e making photomultiplier tubes. new developments i n this field. (b) Neutron W. Butenhoff summarized the activities of the neutron conference which was held on January 28, persons attended from the various AEC laboratories and installations. The discussions emphasized the radiation protection aspects of neutron Slides were shown that depicted the
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instsumentation and were centered around three pointst (1) a review of the neutron measurement problems; (2) a discussion of the presently available instruments; and (3) a discussion of current developments and future trends, -NOTE: A complete summary of the principal items from the neutron instrumentation discussion is on file in the Radiation Instruments Branch of the Division of Biology and Mdicine. ( 5 ) Film Badge m. Butenhoff spoke briefly on the work which has Study and Present been done in cooperation with the Bureau of U. S. & Canada - Standards ami a l l AEC laboratories on film badges. He reported t h a t the various laboratories have sent I n samples of the type of film badges that they used at their particular laboratory or plant, radiation, known dose of radiation of known spectral characteristics The film badges were given known amounts of a t the Bureau of Standards and then the kadges were returned t o the areas as unknown t o them. It was their job t o determine what the dose was and try t o determine the quality o f the radiation. t o be analyzed in a statistical manner within a short period of time, These data are and it is believed that this information uill be invaluable to various laboratories i n cross calibration of their film badge intercalibration. Dr. Pearson brought the Committee up t o date and gave them an encouraging account of his visit t o Cedar C i t y , Utah, when he met with several sheep men t o discuss the sheep losses adjacent t o the Nevada Proving Grounds. OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY Previous t o t h i s visi+,a copy of the full report on the problem had been distributed by the Commission. A copy had been sent t o Congressman Stringfenow, of Utah. A representative of the Congressman attended the meeting in Cedar City, and he stated that the Congressman was quite pleased with the report and that the studies had been of humoral factor This is the factor believed lqr Dr. Leon Jacobson, Head of the Argonne Dr. Dunham reported briefly on the present status of efforts to isolate the hypothetical humoral factor in therapy of whole body radiation injury. Cancer Hospital, t o protect small animals after moderately severe doses of radiation when treated with embryo spleen brei, bone marrow Sever& investigators are now making efforts to isolate the The Committee was very interested in this presentation and encouraged Dr. Dunham t o request Dr* Jacobson t o call a small meeting of persons now actually working in this field to explore the possibil i ties of further investigation on the problem. on Atomic Energy Dr. Bugher spoke of meeting with the Subcommittee on Research and Development of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and of reviewing the program of the Division. A great deal of genyine interest was shown on the part of OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY the members of this Subcommittee. In this connection it was decided that a series of public hearings should be held so that unclassified matters pertaining t o weapons, agriculture, radiation protection, genetics, etc., c d d be made available in the form of printed reports. The decision w& that the first of these hearings should be i n agriculture, which is scheduled t o be held sometime the latter p a r t of March with outstanding scientists contributing papers. Dr. Pearson has been making plans f o r these hearings in conjunction. ' _ with the Department of Agriculture. The proposed.agenda far this haring was discussed. Dr. Bugher made mention of the fact that t h e subcommittee were unreserved t h e i r approval of the program for Japan. They thought very strongly t h a t the program was sound and should be carried on without cessation Dr. Bugher called the Committee's attention to their action taken a t the December meeting wherein they suggested I%hat a firm of experts be employed t o make a survey of the cost of radiological protection with respect t,o permissible levels in atomic Dr. Bugher brougnt o u t that it might be can be done within the AEC. Dr. l+xrren technical competence in this field lies advisable first t o see what stated that the major share of within the Commission and the contractors of the Commission and that it would be a little easier t o line up what should be done if a preliminary staff study was made. OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY F a i l l a pointed out that the problem should be taken care of inthe very near future either by persons within the AEC or a firm t o be employed t o handle the problem. The Committee agreed t o accept this clarification of the matter. Sea Disposal of the National Committee on Radiation Protection as t o sea disposal of Dr. Claus discussed the question t h a t has been under consideration by the Waste Disposal Subcommittee of Wastes. He stated t h a t the discussions have been summarized very effectively by Dr. Richard Fleming who i s an oceanographer of note and a t present Professor of Oceanography a t the University of Washington. I n much of the report Dr. Fleming discusses possible sea disposal in terms of the two possible procedures; that is concentrate and contain; in the other, d ilk te and disperse. Dr. Claus read the following excerpts from the report: "It may be stated immediately t h a t from the public health point of view, there is no short-term advantage t o be gained from the designation of specific dumping areas f o r either packaged or bulk radioactive wastes. Long-term consequences, that will result from the gradual accumulation of isotopes i n the water, will not be materially affected exact localities of disposal. than military vessels, and this agency i s charged with the enforcemen3 of many regulations governing safety of personnel, pollution and activities of vessels. I n problems arising in the disposal Of OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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explosives and industrial wastes, it is customary t o designate specific dumping areas, Sehction of such sites is a pmblem of mutual concern t o the U. S. piiavg, the U, S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Sep vice. The Interstate Commerce Commission also has an interest in the .transportation of wastes t o the seaboard. Even though dumping of radioactive wastes will be ' virtually always~ on the high seas beyond the Wee-mile limit,'it is believed t h a t e r or not specificthese agencies will wish t o be dumping areas areto be designa localities that are authorized. Dr. Claus pointed aut that the study is completion and will, with minor changes, probably ap on waste disposal a t sea. The Committee suggested that they be kept advised of the progress of this study and urged further exploration dong the suggested lines. The Acting Chairman thanked Nr. Derry and the staff a t ' the Savannah River Operations Office for their hospital i ties and courtesies extended t o the Committee during their visit. . The next meeting of the Committee is 'scheduled t o be held on Monday and Tuesday, April 5 and 6 , 1954 a t the University of Utah, The Committee held an executive session after 'the .luncheon recess fora period of thirw minutes.