We can say that his effective exposure time, assuming that he had worked in the area of highest exposure for 20 hours per day from September [5th for 90 days, which would carry him into December of 1945, would be 1800 hrs. His total dose extrapolating back to September 15th, assuming 20 hours exposure per day at the highest activity available, would have been less than 5 r. The series of typhoons and heavy rains in the fall of 1945 reduced the levels still farther and CASE NO. 8 Type of Injury: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. BVA’s Decision: Denial Affirmed. when I again visited the area in the spring of 1947 it was barely above background. The bulk of the fallout was, washed into the reservoir and was largely absorbed in the sand at the bottom of the reservoir. The overlying water, of course, acted as an efficient shield. After December 1945, the accumulated dose would be negligible. No case of leukemia has been known to have developed with acute whole body dosesofless than 100r.... Date of Decision: 1962. Appellant's Allegation: That veteran’s leukemia was due to the effects of the atom bomb dropped at Nagasaki or to X-rays he received in the service or both. Facts: Veteran had active duty from December !920 to February 1951. Veteran was stationed in Nagasaki, Japan, from September 24, 1945to July 7, 1946, where he was in charge of storage supplies in dumps orstorage areas. In Nagasaki the supply dumps were located in the harbor area and some | to 1-1/2 miles southeast of Nishiyama reservoir. Also during his active service he received dental X-rays, routine chest X-rays and X-rays for injuries to his wrist and ankle and for intravenous pyelograms. His blood count was within normal limits when he completedhis service. Information introduced from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology reflected that the first measurements of radiation were made in Nagasaki on October 2, 1945, by fanning out in four directions from ground zero and that an average of 1-1/2 milliroentgens an hour were measured in the Nishiyama area wherefission products had been deposited. No otherareas of such deposit were found. A Government survey of June 30, 1946 reflected that the degree of activity in the area of detectable radiation activity at Nagasaki was insufficient to producecasualties. Medical Evidence: An independent ‘medical expert on radiation effects was asked for an opinion and wrote as follows: Since a survey party under my command had mapped out thefallout areas in Nagasaki, | am quite familiar with the entire region. Fission products from the explosion at Nagasaki were indeed carried over the hills and deposited to some extent in the area about the Nishiyama reservoir. This apparently was dueto an eddyin theair just over the top of the hills, as a short distance out from Nishiyama the radiation was detected only with difficulty. A rough fallout track could be followed for some 30 miles to the east but at barely measurable levels in September and October of 1945. By December of 1945 the level at Nishiyama had fallen to 1.4 microroentgens/hr. At different times readings on the edge of the harbor in Nagasaki were barely elevated above background.... 36 There is an increased rate of leukemia at Hiroshima and Nagasaki among Japanese who had been exposed to the gamma and neutron radiation received at the time of the bomb explosion. Thereis no excess of leukemia as compared with the rest of Japan among those living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki who did not receive direct radiation from the weapons explosions and who did receive extremely slight exposures from residual radioactivity comparable to those of [veteran]. Findings of the BVA and Basis for Decision: In finding that veteran’s leukemia was not related to radiation incurred while in service, the Board observed in pertinent part: As to the incurrence of leukemia as the result of diagnostic X-rays, although cases of leukemia have been reported in persons such as radiologists, nurses, and technicians a review of such cases has shown that at present there are no grounds for making a determination that low level radiation such as that received from diagnostic X-rays has any leukemogenic effect. * * & [The medical expert] who was himself at Nagasaki shortly after the bombing conducting studies relative to the radiation effects of the bomb, has shown that the amount of radiation which was found in the area was very slight, The service files have shown that the veteran wasin the area of the harbor and undoubtedly at some timein the area of the reservoir, How much time he may have spent in these areas is not known with any degree of accuracy. However, conceding as the medical expert did, that he worked in the area of highest exposure for 20 hours a day from September 15 to December 15, 1945, which is well in excess of any time indicated either by the veteran or the official records, his total dose of ionizing radiation would have been so small that no leukemogenic effect could be established. This, together with the 37