GeV tet
a PONT
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eC:
Dr.
E. 1. DU PoNnT pE Nemours & COMPANY
Walter Wcynen - BOS
Germantown,
MD
INCORFORATLD
ATOMIC ENERGY DIVISION
wad
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA 29801
2
CTWR
810-771-2670, TEL
Bod B24 O331, WU
April
5
253
AUGUSTA, GAL?
ars
197o
401516
Edwin T. Still, LtCol, USAF, VC
Research Program Coordinator
Defense Nuclear Agency
Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute
Bethesda, MD
20014
Dear Colonel Still:
Your letter concerning activities at Enewetak Atoll was discussed with
our Health Physics personnel to try to get you 2 total picture of the
problem as we understand it.
ervain assumptions need be made,
The material is protepiy nignly
fused, thus most likely relatively insoluble.
The material. is quite
well mixcd with soil of one sort or other which dilutes it.
ve would thus suggest to your radiation officer a program thet will
not duplicate the Camp Desert Rock incidents in which T tool part,
namely much ado after the
fact with insufficient date.
Thus we propasc
that cach person to be exposed have a whole body count and a urine
bioassay for plutonium before going.
Then, each week, about 10% or
more of the folks can submit a bioassay sample which your plane can
take out so the entire work force is monitored during their stay, then
upon completion, get another whole body count and bioassay. While
there, full face respirators are suggested which filter particulates
and have a filter factor of at least 50.
The reason I have gone so far into prevention is because I can offer
so little toward cure. Nasal smears merely state something went by;
there is no rhyme or reason to the count as a low nasal count, but
a long exposure gives more internal deposition than a single breath
and high nasal count, for example.
Then too on insolubles, the only
real therapy is to enhance coughing or sneezing as no drug is of any’
real value.
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