DISCLAIMER

The following is a staff memorandum or other working document 
prepared for the members of the Advisory Committee on Human
Radiation Experiments.  It should not be construed as representing
the final conclusions of fact or interpretation of the issues. 
All staff memoranda are subject to revision based on further 
information and analysis.  For conclusions and recommendations of
the Advisory Committee, readers are advised to consult the Final
Report to be published in 1995.


TO:	Members of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation
	Experiments

FROM:	Advisory Committee Staff

DATE:	June 29, 1994

RE:	Documentation of Intentional Releases


	We have previously provided documentation on the Green Run
experiment.  This tab contains further documentation of intentional
releases of radiation.

	It appears that the intentional release category is broader
than the experiments enumerated in the Committee charter.  If defined
strictly in terms of the intentional release of radioactivity into
the environment, the category is quite broad.  For example, Stannard 
devlotes a large section of his work to chapters entitled "Survey of 
Radioecology: Environmental Studies Around Production Sites,"  
"Biomedical Research Stimulated by the Problems of Fallout," and
"Special Environmental Test Projects."  What is not clear is (a) the
extent to which intentional releases were performed with an intent
to study effects on human beings, and (b) the extent to which, if
humans were not the express object of study, significant human
exposures may have nonetheless occurred.

	Attachment 1  The "Overview" sections from the three
Stannard chapters noted above.

	Attachment 2.  The Markey report notes, at 22, that from 
1963 to 1965 "radioactive iodine was released intentionally on seven
separate occasions."  Attachment 2 is Dr. Stannard's write-up of the
"Controlled Environmental Radioiodine Tests".

	Attachment 3.  the Stannard interviews provide a flavor for
intentional-release activity.  In his interview, Stafford Warren
refers to the contamination of an alfalfa field in Rochester, in
order to take measurements on radiosodium (See Tab E-2, Warren 
interview transcript at 3).  This episode appears to be described at
greater length in the attached transcript of the interview of 
Dr. H. C. Hodge.  We also attach an excerpt from the interview of 
David Bruner, an Atomic Energy Commission/Energy Research and 
Development Administration/Department of Energy official, which 
summarizes the development of "outdoor laboratories."

	Attachment 4.  Letter from Jimmy C. Massey to Jimmie C.
Hodges; Report on DOE's Oak Ridge search revealed evidence of
"deliberate experimental releases of UF6 to the atmosphere in 1955
and again in 1974."

	Attachment 5.  DOE's Oak Ridge search also provided some
documentation of the 1948 Radiological Warfare program, including
an intentional release(s).  This attachment contains:

	a.	June 29, 1948 memo to K.Z. Morgan from J.H.
Roberson regarding "Radiological Warfare Program."  The memo refers
to "two experiments...requested by Murphy."

	b.	A July 2, 1948 memo to J.C. Franklin from Walter J.
Williams regarding "Radiological Warfare Program."

	c.	A July 14, 1948 memo from J. Roberson to K.Z. Morgan
regarding "AHRUU Project," and a further memo from K.Z. Morgan and
C.N. Rucker on the results of an AHRUU program experiment.

	Attachment 6.  As in the case of other experiments, intentional
release/environmental experiments were often contemporaneously reported
in professional journals or other research reports.  We attach an
abstract referring to "massive gamma radiation which killed part of" 
the El Verde Rain Forest in Puerto Rico.

	Attachment 7.  Dr. Stannard's book contains a description of
the "subtle" approach employed to get environmental data from the
public without divulging the purpose of the data collection.  The
example does not appear to relate to an intentional release.