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Biology and Medicine Recent progress in biological and medical sciences as related ~ atomic energy were reported at the United NTations Second Ink national Conference on the Peaceful Uses of ~tomic Energy, aU abstracts of United States papers presented orally ar:. given ~ Appendix 13 of this report. The year’s ‘activities in areas of spw~ interest to industry are described in Chapter VI, Part One. ” BIZOOKHAVENMEDICAL RESEARCH REACTOR The Brookhaven Medical Center at Brookhaven N’ational Labom tory with its Medical Research Reactor 5 was ckdicated December 16 Commissioners Willard F. Libby and John F. Floberg addressw the guests at the ceremony. Shields Warren, Pathologist at New England Deaconess Hospital and Professor of Pathology, HarvaN University Medical School, who was the first Director of the Corn mission’s Division of Biology and 3fedicine, delivered the dedicatcq The newly completed Center, under construction for two j-ears studies in biochemistry, medical physics, microbiology, pathology and physiology., The reactor, the first to be designed for medics research purposes was 99 percent complete, and final work on th( reactor building was completed as of December 31. The reactor i scheduled to go critical early in 1959 and, later in the year, will b( ready for use with patients. SAFETY AT WEAPONS TESTS Operation Hardtack; Paci& Phase During the Pacific phase of Operation Hardtack at the Eniu-eto] Proving Ground, the health and safety precautions 6 taken wer( successful in limiting exposures to planned limits. Radiutwn exposures. The highest off-site whole bodj- radiation expo sure resulting from fallout caused by Operation Hardtack detonation: was at Rongelap Atoll but the total dose there from all Hardtud tests will be less than one-half roentgen (0.5 r). Except for a few cases where the need to collect data justified acceptance of somewha higher doses, exposures of Joint Task Force personnel were witbh
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the maximum permissible exposure of 5 r for the opernt ion. The highest indi~-idual exposure for specific personnel authorized additional During the tests, two Japanese International Geophysical Year ships reported contamination from fallout and sickness among the ships’ crews while cruising near the Island of Truk. A medical team dispatched by the Joint Tasli Force to examine personnel and ships confirmed earlier reports by Japanese scientists that the maximum exposure might have been about 100 milliroentgens, and probably was nearer 20 milliroentgens. ‘l’he medical team reported no evidence that any crew member suffered from radiation exposure. Radiobiologiml surreys of the Pacijfc. Results of surveys during the Pacific tests to monitor radioactivity in water and marine organisms included the follo~{ing activities and findings: A post-operation marine radiobiological sur%-ey was conducted before the danger area was disestablished. A similar marine survey -was conducted from Eniwetok Atoll to Guam and return during September. Sea water and plankton samples obtained during this survey indicated radioactivity Ievels of the same order of magnitude as that during a similar post-test survey in 1956. By the end of September numerous samples of tuna had been sent to the Laboratory of Radiation Biology, University of Washington, for counting and analysis. Catches were made in the J$restern Pacific in an area about equal to the size of the United States surrounding the Pacific Test Site restricted zone. Counting of the first half of these samples has been completed. The little radioactivity found can be accounted for almost entirely by the naturally occurring radioisotope Ronge[ap ecologtial studies. The first phase of a long-term ecological survey of Rongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands was carried out during February ~d March and again in the July-December period. Initial studies were made of various types of soil and the distribution of radioactive materials in soils, plants, and ground water. Reconnaissance surveys of Rongelap, Eniaetoli, aiid Kabelle Islands, were fo~owed by detailed examination of soil profiles, collection of samples of SOil, fish, Wrals, rats, birds, plankton, and some invertebrates. The Rong@aP ecology study includes monitoring of foodstuffs. At the latest in a series of medical examinations gi~en the people of Ro[lgelap Atoll (February–?vfai-ch 1958) during the 4 years after
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their accidental exposure to f fallout from a ~f~r~h 1, 1954, test? the .‘’ people were found to be generallj- in ~OOd health and their nutrition ~, skins of some people. of any radiation effects. There have been no symptoms or disc% ‘:.$ related to radiation effects. Incidencd of diseases was about t~” :.4 same as in unirradiated Marshallese people. The children are grow- ~:.-.-4 ing and developing at rates consistent +th off-island controls. :,3 NTO long-term effects of radiation have been observed. Bodv ~~ burdens of certain radioisotopes apparently are WCU below accept; ‘~ Three deaths have occurred in the irradiated, Froup, hut ~vcre not ~ associated with radiation effects. This death %atc appears to be ; nbout the same as in t}lc unexposed Xfmsllallese people. .. Operation Hardtmk: Nevada Phase Operation Hardtack Phmi II ~~-asconducted at the Nevnda Test Preliminary data on external gamma rndiat ion exposures in corn-, munities around the N’eva.da Test Site resulting from nuclear ~vcapons tests in the Hard.?ak-Phase II series do not substanti:illy change the figures reported in the PIu.mbbob series,8 since the est-hnated highest exposure was less than 0.1 roentgen. A complete summarization of all these data will be made when the evalun tions are completed. The highest concentration of airborne radioacit ivity measured offsite during Hard!mk-Ph.use II was nbout 8.4 x 10–2 microcuries per cubic meter averaged over a 24 hour period at Lathrop Wells, Nev. Relatively high concent ra tiol~s also were observed d uri]lg tile following tions in the air is tl~e potential ra.dintion doses to the lul]gs. The best estimates are that the total ra(liation dose to tile lungs from inhalation of radioactive debris at Lathrop Wells ~~-ould Ilot exceed that. stances in the air. Since several nuclear detonations occurrt’d iu this period of time, it is not possible to state the exact co]ltributions each detonation made to the obser~ed. concentrations in the air. The highest fission product radioactivity measured in a water supply was at Reed, ISev., amount ing to 8.9 x 10–i microcuries per rEatliest examinations wwe made at 6 months, 1 year, 2 gram, and 3 wars artm their erposwc and the
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millilit m. It is difficult to give iI precise evtiluutioll to these tluta sillcetile activity \\-asarestllt of fullout from more t}it~rlo[le{leto]latioll Prior to Ha.rtftach--Ptise 11 all the mewsurenlents of m.-tivit}- in water supplies {including Reed, Nev.) were’, less than 1 x 10–7 nlicrocurles per milliliter. The major portion of the highest activity measured resulted from fallout produced during the fall 1958 tests. Since this activity was the result of relatively fresh fission products tout aining short-lived isotopes, the water wws deemtxt safe for consumption for u lifetime. Ciril E~ect.s Test flperut ions During Operation Hardtack, Phasr 11, conducted tit the Xeva(ifi Test. Site, Civil Effects Test Operatiorls were divided il~to tv-o major The first program coutinued eugineerillg studies on the effects of blast on structures and measurements of radintioll attenuation. Existing structures were testecl and actual perfornm]lce dtitu were provided for design and construction of future structures. Under the second program, aerial monitoring was used for metisuring radioactive contamination around the site. Pre-series and postseries fallout dutn w~erecollected to provide a base line for measuring contnminution that might result should aliy other tests be held in the The third progmm conducted by OLLkRidge Xutionnl Labor~tory continued measurements of the angular distribution] of prompt gamma and neutron radiation and tested the shielding characteristics of light frame houses. Seven houses were col~structed and used in three shots. These data are expected to advance the combined Oali Ridge for determilling do<c to populations exposed to atomic detoll~ltions.g Civil Defense Administration and the Office of Defense lfobilizationhrue radiation detector for civil defense developed by the Commission’s HenIt}] and Safety Labomtory; (b) obtaining data on effect. tested during Operation Plurnbbob; (d) obtaining data on attenuation of radiation by ~evndamsoil; and (e) air blmt phenomena in tunnels.
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STUDIES OF FALLOUT Special Repoti on Torldwide Fidlou.t l .... A report entitled “Environmental Contamination $rom Weapom Laboratory was issued in October.*” This report assemblea ui Ona’ document data on deposition and uptake of fallout since systematic” monitoring and sample collection was begun. The report upda~ the information presented in May and June 1957 before the Sub committee on Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy .11 Gummed film data, human bone data, and surface air monitofig are summarized or referenced only. These data’ comprise many thousands of sample analyses and are available in detail upon request. Bwlogical Hazards From Carbon 14 Carbon 14, a radioactive isd~ope of the element existing natura~~ in the atmosphere as a result of cosmic ray bombardment of nitrogen in the air, also is generated by nuclear detonations. Carbon 14 emi~ low energy beta particles (O.O5 Mev average) and has a half life of about 5,600 years. It mixes with other naturally occurring isotopes of carbon in the atmosphere and is incorporated in organic and living Estimates of radiation doses to populations, both present and future, from carbon 14 produced by weapons tests have been made, taking into consideration both the characteristics of the weapons tested and the observed increase of carbon 14 in the atmosphere. The subject has been discussed in certain speeches 12by Commissioner Willard F. Libby and in a paper 13 prepared by Commission staff Results of physical research programs were reported at the United h’ations Second International Conference on the Peaceful .4pplications of Atomic Energy. Abstracts of United States papers presented * Available from the Office of Technical Sakes., Department of Commerce, WAlngton 25, D. C., Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, May-June 1957.