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5. J. Nlakaon, Section Chief J. E. Hose, Asaooiate Seo tion Chief la, Chi. Teoh. File 17,. Clin Can. File this do cum at ,readiwb elow befored ate
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Subject: Monthly Summary for Section H - I 1 1 b Routine Urine Susvey 249-Py1~-3501(Jackson-SellersUrine Specimens Received Of 'the Chicago specimens analyssd, less than 23 showed a body (3 above 0,1 ugo No speoimen was above 0,4 ugo Special Urines (R. Leako) a Spec hens analysede 29 -The table of excretion results from MUC-)r;RR-l8S is 00 ed I n this .
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Daily Plutonium Urinary Ikcretion Beoausa of' the very amall volurnes of ui neo ol lect ed on some ~ dags, those values have been onitted from the tableo "I -
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sputas peche ns have been obtained fram Individuals worklng Ln are eorLtclnlngatraospheric 1plut;onfua as high aa 25 times Che maximum pe aa;omts of. plutonium, One individual showed In one oase 1,6 A o/m and j.0 another case Z064 c/m resp eat iv ely in approximately 1 00 of4 25 times the naxinm permissible level for plutonium for one hour and asswing lO@'p retention, the lung should oontain 0,OS ug, &timation of t h e amount contained i n the lung8 from the 2.6 & c/m sample show a lung content of 0,14 ug or Id t h e s that whioh 1s allowed for an as an additional rmcautionary measure, reguhr S p u t U analysis should It should b e pointed out that, aocordang t o the Inhalation data reported by R. Abrans, only 0,OOSp Of the plutonfula in the l u g 8 I s abrf sorbed and therefore above-tolerance amounts r n ~b e present, i n this . organ and not be de tea ted in the urineo The other individual showed U,4 & o/m i n the sputum spaolA rough a al cul ation indicated that working in an area o on tah i distribution of 0-4 ug ina 70 kilo individual, It appears that tonium are being studied, BAL injected into Dog 121 (oontaining.Pu and Pb) showad no in or ease in exoretion of either Pu or Pb, The 8-e , animal has been in jeo ted with 40 me of zi roo a iu and 12 days later wlth 80 m g of zirconiumQ No excretion data have been obtained, A few swplss o f Pabbit urine (rabbit; i raj ect sd with lead an8 later with thorium by Dr. Sshwartz) have been analysed for l e a d before a d after tho irijeetioa of thorium, The l o a d analysis revealed thak Q ; mar!ced rise In the lead concent of the urine was coincident with the Injection ole the t Q or iu, This result tends bo lend w e ? igbt to t net;al bherapy pri nei ple, A method for the date mi nation of zirconium in urine Is being dev do pd. .._ ing the 10th of Apl r ll, Chesc represented possible over-exposum of t PoBsible over-exposme of the body, I n tiha 1 W h ? o ~and shlel Endings greater than 0,4 r ffia IUL ng read j. II e wind m readings only, It may be stated here . 1823 films wore developed during Sixteen over-exposures were note g exposwe tox or a radiation
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1366 pocket meters were reah during the past month, This represents Oe3percent of the total number of readings, tentialexposUre t o alpha a ot f ve subst ah csa has deteriorated markealy in the New Chemistry area. large quantity of alpha active substanoes currently being worked in. for large amoUtS, relatively speaklng, of americium and CuriUm, This has resulted in a higher number o f ' above tolerance alr samples inthe filtered air section Of New Chemistry In the past few weeks than have been obtained 10 all the prior history of this laboratory, A conslderabl2 niunber of individuals have at least been potentially exposed t o air presumably containing mounts of alpha activity In excess of the In addition approximately six individuals have come t o the attention of the Health Division who have had wounds or outs on the hands i n whioh the question of radioactive contamination arose, These indiviA total of ten . greater than 100 mr for any one wearing were represented, During the Past month the situation with regard to poThla, for the most part,is due tothe A seoondary fao tor has been the urgency of requests ? "duals were also fram the New Chemistry area. The gravity of this . :dl,problernwaa naturally increased by the presence of large quantities 2 of radioaotlve substances, , $ Finally, on April 16, 1946 In room 3a, New Zhernistry a spill ooourred I, ?. involving apprOXiat36dp 1-2 grams of plutonium, The aooidant apparlv'entlv occurred beuause tkis quantity of plutonium was left, over night ' .,, * Ah & alkaline silver sol uti & , This 8oi uti on exploded probably o&e 1%was picked up by one of the staff of t h e Cheniistry Divlsion, This r,esulted i n g r o s s contarnination of one OP the hoods of this room Unfortunately the material escaped frorn the hood with the result that other parts of the room became cont u dna ted, The room, of course, wa immediately sealed off, no one being-perruitted to enter it unless not be given at this tiane, The 37 air counts done inthe four daya fOllOW i Rg the acoident show clearly that Che mount of material In a1 is primarily a fu notion of the amount of work being done I n the roan, The highest air count obtained if fifty times the maximum perolissible*", . of the maximum permissible level, The decontamination of t h e room has, of course, presented the most serious Probleu which has yet confronted the dec on tau i a at ~ o naqued, * No kgovm over-exposure of personnel has as yet occurred beoause of $he protective devices used, burn of the harid whil ged in thPs work, All individuals pelslrjibly exposed in this room during the course of the night and agafn the following rnorninggwhen The lowest count obtained on an overnights a ple is 4,4 peroent. At least one individual. has suffered an a o i L '* ;,,
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Work on the P.P.R. continues, d&eotfOn of.' Plutoniu;n 10 the worker m a y be somewhat diminished beoause of nacesSit;Y of separating the methods used i o isolating pluto a iw.%, from the results Of such studies. It is hope8 but not anticipated Operation Crossroads: Mr. Rose has devoted olost of his free tlme to . the development, in COOper & iOn with members of the Biology and lizatru- . merit Sections, of new techniques for the determination of the neutron: The inuoediate value of the papers on that the Wit iW Will subaequently be completed this month, . t