Progrese Report
~3-
April 1, 1952. Plans for research programs to be carried out in this
hospital are well advanced and will include among items of major interest
to the Commission studies on individuals who received radium therapeutically
and studies on the protective effects of shielding various organs during
exposure to whole body radiation with particular emphasis on efforts to
obtain an active protective substance from normal tissues.
Research on Beryllium Poisoning:
The University of Rochester Atomic Energy Project has developed a method
for the production of a beryllium oxide fume by using a beryllium metal arc
burning in an oxygeneargon atmosphere. The fumes consist of extremely smali
particles approaching 0.01 microns. Preliminary animal exposure studies
showed that reasonable amounts of the material were deposited and retained in
the lung. The finding of small quantities of beryllium deposited in the femr
and none in the pulmonary lymph nodes appears to suggest that removal of the
deposited material from the lungs is by solubility rather than phagocytosis.
(See report UR-27h)
This is a real step forward in the Commission's efforts to solve the
problem of chronic beryllium poisoning.
Control of Beryllium Hazards:
The revised "Recommendations for Control of Beryllium Hazards", which
are essentially the same as those issued last year, were sent by memorandum
from the General Nanager to Managers of Operations Offices and Washington
Division Directors on August 10, 1951.
Production of Ultra-Violet Light by Ionizing Radiation:
In a report from the UCLA Atomic Energy Project (UCLA@127), Dr. Andrew
He Dowly has been ahle to demonstrate the production of ultra-violet light
in distilled water by ionizing radiation using the gamma rays of radium as
a source. The production of ultra-violet light by lonising radiation has
been suspected for some time but this is the first time that this process
has been demonstrated.
BLOPHYSICS BRANCH
OFFICTAL USE ONLY
Radioactive Fallout from Buster and Jangles
Plans are being made for natiomvide monitoring of radioactive fallout
and air contamination during the Fall series of testa in Nevada.
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