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OFFICIAL USE ONLY Since the beginning of the nuclear energy program a number of plutonium workers have accumulated small but measurable amounts of plutonium within their bodies from puncture wounds and inhalation.Several authors have reported(but in little detail) on the health of workers exposed to plutonium in amounts in excess of the maximum permissible level and have provided es timates of radiation dose and time since exposure. A dozen or so of these cases which date back to the Manhattan Project represent exposures of 24 and 25 years duration and are of special interest.This group is kept under surveillance and is subjected to have participated in this joint effort since 1953. The subjects are examined by their personal physicians and the results are sent to Dr. Hempelmann. Excreta samples are sent to Los Alamos for radio - chemical analysis as a means of estimating the amount of contamination. Ina1969report entitled " Biological Considerations of Non nuclear cases with exposures of 2 3 and 24 years duration have been kept under surveillance and subjected to occasional careful and thorough medical examinations. They have experienced no changes in their physical conditions not attributable to the natural aging process ." Many of these subjects recently have been contacted by Drs. Hempelmann and Langham and will be studied again this summer. Hempelmann and Langham also plan to prepare a detailed report on this group of men during the summer. One of the former plutonium workers belonging to this group, employed a t LASL from February3to August 16,1944,has developed a lung abnormality.Chest X-ray film made i n 1966 showed a space - occupying lesion in the right lung.Previous chest X - rays made i n 1960 were change in size since 1966 was noted. X-ray examination in March 1971 revealed that the lesion had nearly doubled in size. The individual concerned is asymptomatic and appears to be i n good health. His history is complicated by the fact that he was not only a plutonium worker but h e also worked with beryllium. Follow-up i n 1969 confirmed the abnormality but no detectable It i s clear that this finding merits a detailed medical work-up in the interest of the patient.In addition,this particular case is unique in that it may afford a rare opportunity for an evaluation in a human subject of possible biological consequences of internal contamination OFFICIAL USE ow
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OFFICIAL USE ONLY I n accordance with these considerations and after consultation between attending physicians, the individual concerned, the DBM staff and OGC, provisions have been made by DBM staff and Dr. Bernpelmann t o have the patient admitted tothe Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on May 4, 1971, for further diagnostic studies. We will keep you informed of any new developments in this case. OFFICIAL USE ONLY