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.

                                   TAB J
 

                     *******  STAFF  MEMORANDUM *********


To:    Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiment

FROM:  Advisory Staff

DATE:  7/19/94

Re:    List of intentional releases and experiments of opportunity


       The Subcommittee on Scope and Priorities has asked staff to
prepare a preliminary list of known events that fall into the
categories of intentional releases or experiments of opportunity
(attached).  Staff is working with this subcommittee to develop a
research plan for these categories of experiment.  In the course
of compiling this list and developing the work plan, staff has
begun to develop an understanding of these categories:

	Intentional releases involve the deliberate release of
radioactive substances into the environment.  The releases 
identified to date appear to be associated with research on
radiological warfare, fallout, nuclear intelligence, and 
environmental safety.  There appears to be a large number of 
additional radioecology studies, aimed at understanding the
environmental effects and distribution of radioactive materials.
Studies of these types may also have been conducted in 
conjunction with releases caused by accidents or routine 
operational practices.  It is not yet clear whether any of these
instances involves the study of human health effects from
environmental releases.

        Experiments of opportunity involve scientific studies of
human biological effects that makes use of opportunities created
by other events including releases of radiation into the
environment, atmospheric nuclear tests, or radiation accidents.
One critical question will be the degree of premediation.  Some
experiments may have been planned in advance of the "opportunity,"
while other studies arose only after people were exposed.  In
other cases, investigators may have been aware of radiological
health risks to their research subjects, but took no action to
mitigate those risks.

	The attached list comes from a number of sources, including:

	*  A report by the General Accounting Office, which
           describes the thirteen deliberate releases listed
           in the Advisory Committee's charter.

        *  Section IV (Chapters 11-15) on environmental 
	   radiation studies from Radiology and Health: 
 	   A History, by J. Newell Stannard, and transcripts
	   of interviews Stannard conducted.

	*  Results to date from the agency document searches.

	Staff will also make use of other sources of information,
including congressional hearings and research by public interest
groups.  A list and brief description of the intentional releases
and experiments of opportunity of which the staff are aware follows:

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List of Intentional Releases and Experiments of Opportunity

Intentional releases listed in the Committee's charter (from GAO 
Report):

1.The "Green Run" test at Hanford, Washington in December 1949.  This 
involved the release of roughly 27,000 Curies of radioactive gases -- 
mostly iodine and xenon -- possibly to study environmental dispersal 
and test nuclear intelligence equipment.  These gases are released in 
nuclear explosions and the production of plutonium, and could have 
provided a measure of Soviet nuclear activities.

2.Two radiation warfare field experiments conducted at Oak Ridge in 
1948, involving gamma radiation released from non-point bomb sources 
at or near ground level.  One involved a single piece of radioactive 
lanthanum metal, and the other involved a grid of lanthanum wires.  
Assuming that the sources were recovered, these tests did not involve 
the permanent environmental release of radioactive materials.

3.Six tests conducted during 1949-52 of radiation warfare ballistic 
dispersal devices containing radioactive agents at the U.S. Army's 
Dugway, Utah site.  The first two tests in 1949 involved measurements 
of the dispersal of lanthanum particles released by a cluster device 
dropped from an airplane.  Later tests also involved aircraft 
releases, but fewer details are available.

4.Four atmospheric radiation-tracking tests in 1950 at Los Alamos, 
New Mexico.  These tests involved the study of dispersal, fallout, and 
radioactive decay of materials from the explosion of simulated nuclear 
devices.  One cloud was tracked as far as the town of Watrous, New 
Mexico, 70 miles east of Los Alamos.

Other potential intentional releases:

1.Release of  sodium-24 solution in Rochester, NY in 1943 (Stannard, 
p. 323-324).  Sodium-24 produced in MIT's cyclotron was mixed with 
water and sprinkled in various places, including a driveway, a field, 
and a garage.  Stannard reports that this test was motivated by 
concerns over possible German radiological warfare.

2.Project Chariot (early 1960's) was meant to demonstrate the peaceful 
application of nuclear explosions (Project Plowshares) by using 
nuclear explosions to create an artificial  harbor in northern Alaska.  
Although this project was never carried to fruition, the U.S. 
Geological Survey (USGS) and the AEC apparently performed 
environmental surveys involving the injection of radioactive soil into 
the tundra.  The Public Health Service (PHS) also conducted extensive 
studies of the effects of fallout from nuclear tests on Alaskan 
natives in the 1950's and 1960's.  The PHS fallout studies and 
monitoring may also fall under the experiments of opportunity.

3.1963 release at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) of 
Iodine 131 on pasture land.  Human volunteers drank milk from cows 
that grazed there (documents  from Markey files).  This appears to be 
a study of the effects of fallout from nuclear war on agriculture.  
The contractor working on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC) dose reconstruction project at the INEL located documents 
reflecting an intentional release and volunteer human exposure, which 
may be this same event.

                                2

4.Releases of UF6 from the Paducah, Kentucky gaseous diffusion plant 
in 1955 and 1974.  These releases appear to have been designed to 
understand the dispersal of uranium by a possible accident (documents 
from Oak Ridge files).

The following entries (5-8) appear in the notes of a January, 1994 
meeting convened by the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) to discuss human 
experimentation:

5.  Possible "HE [high explosive] dispersion experiments" conducted by 
the Naval Radiobiological Defense Laboratory (NRDL) or DNA in 
cooperation with the University of California at Berkeley.

6.  Releases of radioactive material (possibly 2,000 curies) from Los 
Alamos in the 1940s.  Some of the experiments used explosions to 
disperse the material, which crossed over a populated area in one 
case.  These releases may be item 4 of the list of intentional 
releases listed in the Committee's charter (on the previous page).

7.  In reference to the Green Run, the DNA report states: "In 1949, 
Air Force aircraft were employed to release 28,000 curies of material 
over Hanford Washington."  If correct, this would be a substantial 
alteration of what is known publicly about the Green Run.
8.  Possible dispersion experiments on the Nellis Air Force Base 
grounds.

Potential experiments of opportunity:

1.  Personnel at Nevada and Pacific bomb tests.  A 1951 meeting of the 
Joint Panel on the Medical Aspects of Atomic Warfare, discussed the 
need for biomedical participation in future atomic weapons tests. 
The DNA report notes that the Nuclear Test Personnel Review (NTPR) 
database should include a) "ca. 500 personnel who volunteered to 
occupy close-to-detonation positions during bomb events," b) 
"individuals who swallowed dosimeters on strings to allow internal 
doses to be monitored," and c) possible psychological testing by the 
Human Resource Research Organization (HUMRRO).

2.  Air Force pilots flew through the clouds from U.S. nuclear weapons 
tests and CIA pilots sampled materials from Soviet tests (Markey 
files).

3.  Project 4.1 of "Operation Castle," a series of nuclear tests in the 
Pacific Proving Grounds, was a biomedical study of fallout effects.  A 
report on Project 4.1 indicates that it may have been conceived in the 
aftermath of the 1954 Bravo test, which  resulted in unexpected local 
fallout patterns.

4.  Downwinders.

5.  Uranium miners.

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