tained as a check on film-badge exposures. In several cases personne! exposures were revalued from information gathered from these preentry forms. Several instances were noted in which individual film badges had high readings of exposure, but investigation revealed that the film badges had been left in highly contaminated areas and did not represent actual exposure. TN ee et A beer rete ae ewe pe Bt —- 27 Kr we oe ke The Hmitation of exposures to the test Maximum Permisaible Exposure (MPE) of 3.9 r encountered many difficulties due to certain set policies of “burning up” personnel and then not using them in contaminated areas. The practice of using men continuously in contaminated areas until the records reached the MPE led to a high numberof individuals with exposures between 3.9 and 5.0 r. The practice of returning personnel to home stations before the completion of the operations necessitated a number of waiver requests for exposure of 3.9 r. A small number of TG 7.1 or 7.5 personnel exceeded a two-calendar-quarter MPE of 7.8 r. 4.6.5 Laboratory Element The laboratory element acted to provide technical service to all agencies of the Task Force and consisted of the following: 1. Radiochemical Section. The center of operations for this section was a Signal Corps radiochemical laboratory trailer located on the hangar deck of the USS Bairoko. A smaller installation was operated at the Rad-Safe building on Parry for analysis of samples obtained at Eniwetok Atoll. This section received, prepared, and assayed solid and liquid samples submitted by other elements of the Joint Task Force as well as those samples arising from the activities of this Task Unit. Results were furnished in accordance with the request of persons submitting the sample and included such information as decay rates, specific activities, beta energies, gamma energies, and particle-size determinations of air~borne and water-borne activities. 2. Photodosimetry and Records Section. Two film-badge processing points were estabUshed and ran concurrently during the entire operation. The photodosimetry section afloat operated in a laboratory type trailer adjacent to the radiochemical trailer on the USS Bairoko. The photodosimetry section ashore operated in the Rad-Safe building, Parry. Film badges were calibrated against Co™, and only gamma dosages were recorded. Du Pont packet 559 was used; controls and standards were developed with each batch of film processed. At the completion of the operation a master list of exposures was prepared. A report of exposure for each civilian participating was sent to his home station, whereas in the case of military personnel this report was made to the appropriate military organization. The final repository for the records of exposure will be the AEC Division of Biology and Medicine. 3. Electronics Section. This section supported the activities of the above sections by the repair and maintenance of densitometers, voltage regulators, scalers, count-rate meters, and scintillation counters. Individual survey type instruments were repaired as soon as practicable after breakdown. In addition, instruments issued and utilized by this Task Unit were calibrated and serviced at regular intervals throughout the operation, 4.6.6 Decontamination Element The Taak Unit operated personnel decontamination stations at Parry and aboard the Bairoko, Ainsworth, and Curtiss. No significant skin contamination was noted in personnel processed through these stations. . Equipment decontamination became a major activity at Parry fovorineERecon cleaning, water washing, and steam cleaning were accomplished in a newly constructed decontamination area. Decontamination of various items from survey instruments to laboratory trailers was practically accomplished, Equipment was released to using agencies when de- contaminated to 15 mr/hr. It was noted during these decontamination procedures that the current instruments were only measuring about one-half of the total radiation present. It was also noted that the protective clothing was absorbing approximately one-half of the total incident radiation. The extremely low energy of the residual radiation made sealing practices very acceptable. 66