The Official Newsletter of the Cascade Chapter of the Health Physics Society

Avalanche The official newsletter of the Cascade Chapter of the Health Physics Society. Marge Slauson Radiation Safety Oregon State University 127 Oak Creek Building Corvallis, OR 97331-7404

March 3, 2004 2004 E. Dale Trout Meeting Dr. Ray Guilmette, President Elect – Health Physics Society The Annual E. Dale Trout Meeting will be held Tuesday, April 6, 2004 at McMenamin’s The speaker for the March 14, 2003 meeting of the Edgefield in Troutdale, OR. Troutdale is Cascade Chapter will be Ray Guilmette, Ph.D., approximately 20 minutes east of Portland on I-84. President-Elect of the HPS. Dr. Guilmette This facility has a colorful history and is an received his B.S. in nuclear engineering from incredible place to visit. Please try to take some Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY in extra time to have a look around and sample the 1968, and M.S. in environmental health sciences beer, wine and spirits, hand crafted by the and Ph.D. in radiological health at New York McMenamin brothers. A block of rooms is University. After a 3-year postdoc at Argonne reserved for those with a more adventurous spirit. National Laboratory, Ray took a position at the For more information on Edgefield go to Lovelace Inhalation Toxicology Research http://www.mcmenamins.com/Edge Institute, which later morphed into the Lovelace To reserve a room contact Marge Slauson Respiratory Research Institute, where he studied [email protected] Cost to attend the the inhalation toxicology of Pu and other meeting is $20.00 for members and $25.00 for actinides, and specialized in internal dosimetry non-members. The agenda, directions and research for inhaled radionuclides and the important information are on the next page. mechanisms by which inhaled particles are deposited and transported in the different regions Presidents Corner of the respiratory tract. Currently, he is Team We are extremely pleased to announce the 30th Leader, Radiological Dose Assessments at Los anniversary of the Cascade Chapter Health Alamos National Laboratory. He also continues to Physics Society. It was in 1974 that we received do research with Russian scientists in the Southern our official charter for the chapter. We are also Urals studying the dosimetry of Pu in Pu workers pleased to welcome the founding president, Art from Mayak, and the dose and risk from inhaled Johnson, at this meeting to give us a history on the depleted uranium in wartime situations. Cascade Chapter, and how it came to be. Over the last 15 years, Ray has participated in Also, please join us in Troutdale to help welcome scientific committees of ICRP, NCRP, National the Health Physics Society President-Elect, Ray Academy of Sciences, DOE, EPA, EULEP and Guilmette, to the great Pacific Northwest. EURADOS. He has published over 160 peer- reviewed papers and over 200 technical reports.

Ray has been a plenary member of the Health Physics Society since 1970, has participated in many committees, has chaired many sessions, was One of the fundamental issues facing radiation guest lecturer for the AAHP and has given several safety is how organisms respond to very PEP sessions. He was a Board member from small doses of ionizing radiation. 1991-1997, including a 3-year term as Secretary. Currently, all radiation protection regulations and guidelines are based on In 1997 he was made a Fellow of the Society and the Linear No-Threshold Dose in 2002 received the Distinguished Scientific Response Model (LNT). There is Achievement Award. unfortunately little if any epidemiological or experimental Looking at LNT from the “Other Side” evidence that justifies the use of LNT, but for reasons of conservatism, the model continues to be used. One approach that may ultimately elucidate low dose and low dose rate responses is the use of cell and molecular biological studies. Because recent studies have highlighted the importance of heat shock proteins (HSPs) as an effector of the apoptotic response in cells exposed to low doses of radiation, as well as being a model of the so-called stress response, we investigated the expression of HSPs in normal human bronchial epithelial and fibroblast cells exposed to a “normal” radiation environment (~2 mG/y), or a “reduced” radiation environment (0.4 mG/y). Analyses of total protein from FBs and BECs revealed cell-specific alterations in Hsp expression in cells grown in reduced background radiation environment. We next investigated whether alterations in Hsp levels modulated apoptotic responses of FBs and BECs to subsequent ionizing radiation (IR) exposure. Compared to normal radiation environment, IR (10cGy) -induced apoptosis induction was significantly inhibited in Hsp- overexpressing FBs and BECs grown in reduced radiation environment. These studies suggest that normal human cells respond to changes in background by inducing specific HSPs that may modulate the level of damage caused by subsequent radiation exposure.

CCHPS Dues for 2004

Dues for 2004 will be accepted at the next meeting. The cost is still only $10. Benefits of membership include lowered cost of meetings, professional contacts, the Avalanche newsletter, and association with really great people.

2004 E. Dale Trout Meeting Cost to attend the meeting is $20.00 for members and $25.00 non-members. Students price is $10.00 Registration must be received no later than March 26, 2004.

Agenda 9:30 Registration 9:30 Executive meeting 10:00 Chapter Business Meeting 10:45 Presentation: Art Johnson, 30 Years – A History of the Cascade Chapter. 11:15 Induction of CCHPS President/new officers 11:30 Dr. Dennis W. Wester, Staff Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA: Medical Radioisotope Production at Hanford: Past and Future Directions 12:30 Lunch 1:00 Todd Jokerst: Canberra 1:30 Dr. Ray Guilmette, President-Elect Health Physics Society: Looking at LNT from the “Other Side” 2:15 Break 2:30 Student Paper, Katie Gray and Sarah Kleeb, Nuclear Engineering: Footprints of Radiation: Spreading the Word 3:00 Adjourn/Edgefield Tour and Tasting

Directions To McMenamins Edgefield : Edgefield is located at 2621 NE Halsey, 20 minutes east of Portland off Interstate 84.

From I-5 North and South: take I-84 east to Exit 16; follow 238th Drive south to the first traffic light; turn left at Halsey Street; and go east for one-quarter mile to McMenamins Edgefield.

Food (buffet style) Continental Breakfast Deli Buffet Lunch Afternoon snack Pop, Coffee and Tea available all day Beer, wine, spirits – no host, yet absolutely should be sampled after the meeting. E. Dale Trout Meeting April 6 Meeting Registration (If paying for meeting with registration please enclose $20.00 for members, $25.00 non-members)

Name/Group:______

Number Attending:______

Need to update your address? ______

______

You may pay your 2004 dues with your registration. If dues are included please check ______

(Annual CCHPS dues for 2004 are still only $10.00)

McMenamins Edgefield Room Reservation

Please contact Jen Johnson or Marge Slauson as soon as possible if you would like to reserve a room for either Monday or Tuesday night.

Room Rates*:

$68.00/night Queen $72.00/night King

* special rates for CCHPS if reserved through one of the contacts below. Rooms must be reserved by March 16 to get the discounted rate. Please note: The hotel is European style lodging with shared restroom facilities.

Contact Information:

Jen Johnson Phone: 206-685-2993 e-mail: [email protected]

Marge Slauson Phone: 541-737-7081 Email: [email protected]