APPENDIX B URINE ASSAY METHOD AND ESTIMATION OF BODY BURDEN URINE SAMPLE COLLECTION TABLE I EFFECT OF METHOD OF COLLECTING SAMPLE Beginning in January 1944, spot urine samples ON COUNTS FOUND IN THE URINE were collected from plutonium workers in the hope that measurement of plutonium in the urine might yield results which could be related to exposure to and/or intake of plutonium. Subject By March 1944, a pto- Place of Collection of Sample (cp At Home? In Hospite 6 10.1 2.2 cedure had been adopted whereby urine samples were 3 41.6 4.3 collected on a 24-hour basis in so-called "clean" 4 16,1 3.4 areas, but the data derived from analysis of urine c 2.8 0.1 samples suggested occasional massive artifactual c 17.8 ~ contamination. 5 30.6 2.2 20.0 2.2 To minimize the possibility of such contamination, a Health Pass Ward was established Average in the Los Alamos Hospital in the spring of 1945. Each employee heavily exposed to plutonium was granted 2 days off with full pay” prior to reporting to the hospital, where he stayed for 24 hours. 4s amples collected at home were 2 overnight vo collected by the individual after thorough bat and washing of hands. During this time, an uncontaminated or minimally contaminated 24-hour urine sample was collected using all practical procedures to minimize contamination. Samples collected in hospital were 24-hour sa collected under the rigorous hospital plan aft 2-day leave from the “Hill.” Upon entering the Health Pass Ward, the men showered and changed into hospital pajamas, “Not in UPPU follow-up. which were worn throughout the collection period. White mortician's gloves were used while collecting in June 1945.7 the urine specimens .*” sample contamination during collection has beer Table I shows the rather striking differences Unfortunately, this problem of forgotten periodically (e.g., operational expo: recorded for urinary excretion of plutonium in and accidents such as Palomares and Thule), am 6 subjects who collected urine samples both at home has led to misinterpretation of data. and in the hospital. The data are shown as orig- inally presented by Wright Langham at a plutonium conference in May 1945 and documented in a report x Employees, particularly those in military service, were forever grateful to Langham for the 2-day leave away from the "Hill," as the mesa was called. ak Langham's favorite story had to do with the enor- mous quantities of urine passed by many of the plutonium workers while in the hospital ward. The subjects, usually G. I.'s, were able to obtain beer from the nearby PX by some means and drank this in substantial quantities. Fortunately, plutonium output is independent of quantity of urine. According to Langham, the champion was a man nicknamed Piss Porter (not his real name). 24 Also of interest is another table (Table / from the same report ,* which gives some informe on the then current average urine blanks of 0.5 count per minute (per 24 hours) and recove: values for the urine assay procedure. In the ¢ days, data were often presented as counts per r ute. The efficiency of the proportional counte used at the time is uncertain but probably approached 50 percent, In an effort to minimize costs, the procec was modified in 1947 to eliminate the 2-day hez pass period, but the employee still reported tc