Part Vi Biology and Medicine BROOKHAVEN MEDICAL RESEARCH CENTER Qe The Brookhaven National Laboratory Medical Research Reactor (MRR) went critical at 9:44 p.m., March 15, 1959, Critical loading is 2,249.3 grams of uranium 235, approximately 100 grams less than was calculated. The MRR will be run for several weeks to conduct low power measurements, Patient treatment is expected to begin later this year. The program at Brookhaven utilizing the medical reactor will involve (1) exploration of therapeutic effectiveness of neutron capture therapy in certain types of brain tumors, (2) exploration of diagnostic usefulness and therapeutic effectiveness of radioisotopes of very short half-life, which will be produced in the reactor, and (3) activation analysis applied specifically to biological specimens. With regard to short-lived radioisotopes, one of these, magnesium 56, has been applied at Brookhaven to liver metastases in malignant neoplasia. FALLOUT HEARINGS Preparation of material was under way for the new hearings on fallout to be held before the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, scheduled to begin on May §, 1959. Bibliographic material was being prepared by the Technical Information Service Extension, Oak Ridge. PROJECT CHARIOT A Planning Committee on Environmental Sciences has been established to recommend studies aimed at accomplishing a biological survey of the Cape Thompson area of Alaska. In these studies, information will be compiled on marine and land population densities, migratory habits, food chains, oceanography, and other pertinent subjects, as part of an investigation to enable the Commission to make the necessary evaluation as to the feasibility of Project CHARIOT, a proposed experimental nuclear detonation near Cape Thompson which would provide an excavation suitable for a harbor, Dr. John N. Wolfe, Chief of the Environmental Sciences Branch of the Division of Biology and Medicine, is Chairman of the Planning Committee. Other members include representatives of the Laboratory of Radiation Biology at the University of Washington, the Atomic Energy Project of the University of California at Los Angeles, and other appropriate organizations. Committee members will confer with such organizations as the Alaska Fish and Game Depart- 34 Be 2 =