oJ LMF-112 UC-48 I LL SEPTEMBER 1985 _1 HUMAN RADIATION EXPOSURES RELATED TO NUCLEAR WEAPONS INDUSTRIES RICHARD G. CUDDIHY and GEORGE J. NEWTON INHALATION TOXICOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE IIIIII IIII IIII II II II II III I II LOVELACE BIOMEDICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE P.O. Box 5890 Albuquerque, NM 87185 SUPPORT FOR THIS WORK WAS PROVIDED BY SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES UNDER ORDER NUMBER 37-2341 AND U,S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CONTRACT NUMBER DE-ACO4-76EVO I 0 I 3 ,.% This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the United States Government. Neither the United States nor the United States Department of Energy, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Printed in the United States of America Availablefrom NationalTechnical Information Service U. S. Departmentof Commerce 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield,VA 22161 HUMANRADIATION EXPOSURES RELATED TO NUCLEARWEAPONS INSUSTRIES Richard G. Cuddihy and George J. Newton InhalationToxicology Research Institute LovelaceBiomedical and Environmental Research Institute P. O. Box 5890 Albuquerque, NM 87185 For questions please contact: Richard G. CUddihy, Ph.D. Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute P. O. Box 5890 Albuquerque, NN 87185 Telephone Commercial: (505) 844~7544 FTS: 844-7544 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION PAGE I. INTRODUCTION .................................... II. RADIATION DOSIMETRY AND HEALTH EFFECTS ....................... 5 Radiation Interactions in Tissues ....................... 6 Monitoring External and Internal Radiation Exposures ............. 9 Acute Radiation Injuries ........................... I0 Cancer Risks From Radiation .......................... 12 Models of Radiation Cancer Risk ........................ 13 Attributable Risk Calculations ........................ 18 Genetic Effects of Ionizing Radiation ..................... 20 Ill. CURRENT RESEARCH ON HEALTH RISKS FROM LOW-LEVEL RADIATION EXPOSURES ........ 25 Radiation Epidemiology Studies ........................ 25 Laboratory Animal Studies ........................... 34 Prospects for Resolving Radiation Risk Controversies ............. 36 IV. CONTINENTAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS ......................... 43 Project Trinity ................................ 43 Radiation Exposure Records for Project Trinity ................ 4"/ The Nevada Nuclear Weapons Test Site ..................... 47 Authority to Test Nuclear Weapons ....................... 49 Nuclear Weapons Tests at the Nevada Test Site ................. 53 Radiation Safety ............................... 53 Radiation Exposures to On-Site Personnel ................... 59 Radiation Exposures to Off-Site Populations .................. 61 Epidemiologic Studies of Fallout-Exposed Populations ............. 70 Litigation Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing in Nevada ............ -/5 V. OCEANIC NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS ........................... 87 Nuclear Weapons Tests at the Pacific Proving Grounds ............. 92 Nuclear Weapons Tests at Other Oceanic Sites ................. 96 Early Authority to Test Nuclear Weapons .................... 9B Radiological Safety .............................. i00 Radiation Exposures to Weapons Test Participants ............... 105 Radiation Exposures to the Marshallese .................... 110 Cleanup of the Bikini and Enewetak Atolls ................... 112 Personal Injury Claims Resulting from Oceanic Nuclear Weapons Tests ...... I18 Marshall Islands Plebiscite .......................... If8 Summary Perspectives and Research Needs .................... 120 ROCKY FLATS NUCLEAR WEAPONS FACILITY ........................ 123 Releases of Radioactivity from the Rocky Flats Facility ............ 124 Measurements of Plutonium and Americium in Soil ................ 126 Plutonium Concentrations in Air ........................ 130 SECTION PAGE Vl. (continued) Plutonium in Tissues of Rocky Flats Area Residents .............. 132 RadiationDoses to Denver A~ea Residentsfrom InternallyDeposited Plutonium .................................. 133 Surveys of Cancer Distribution Patterns in the Denver Area .......... 133 Radiation-Related Litigation Involving the Rocky Flats Plant ......... 136 Lessons Learned from the Rocky Flats Land Owners’ Litigation ......... 139 VII. ACCIDENTS INVOLVING NUCLEAR WEAPONS ........................ 143 Previous Nuclear Weapons Accidents ...................... 144 Palomares, Spain ............................... 145 Thule, 6reenland ............................... 150 Summary of Palomares and Thule Incidents ................... 152 VIII. SUMMARY ...................................... 155 GLOSSARY ...................................... 159 ii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE NUMBER PAGE I-I Historicalsequence of governmentorganizations responsible for development of the United States nuclear weapons program .................. II-I Typical interactions of radiation with atoms and molecules of tissues ....... II-2 Illustrationof models used to calculateradiation doses to tissues from inhaled or ingested radioactivity ........................ lO II.-3 Mathematicalrelationships used to analyze radiationdose-effect information and predict risks for populationsexposed to all levels of radiation dose .... 16 II-4 Sample calculationof lung cancer risk projectedfor a typical U.S. white male who is exposed to lO0 rad at 35 years of age ................ 19 III-I Minimum number of individualsrequired to detect a statisticallysignificant increasein a health effect in a populationwith a spontaneousincidence, and a total probability of observing the health effect ............. 35 IV-1 Locationof the Alamogordobombing range in New Mexico showing the location of the Trinity Site ............................... 44 IV-2 Location of Trinity Site and its major supporting installations .......... 45 IV-3 Illustration showing the lines of authority for Project TRINITY .......... 46 IV-4 Locationof the Nevada Test Site in relationto Las Vegas, St. George, Cedar City, and other nearby communities .................... 48 IV-5 Map of the Nevada Test Site showing administrativeheadquarters at Camp Mercury,the militaryoperations base at Camp Desert Rock, and locations of a few well-publicized nuclear weapons tests ................. 49 IV.-6 Diagram showing current lines of authorityfor approvingnuclear weapons test operations and individual weapon tests ................... 50 IV-7 Diagram of the 3oint Test Organizationduring OperationUpshot-Knothole in 1953.. 51 IW8 Organizationsof the Test Manager,the Test Director,and the Support Director during Operation Upshot-Knothole in 1953 ................ 52 IV-9 Gamma and neutron radiationdoses to people related to nuclear weapon yields and distances from air-burst detonations .................... 55 IV-lO Fission product yields related to mass number and neutron energy for fission of 23Bu, 235U, 239pu, and 240pu ......................... 56 IV-ll External gamma exposure rate calculated for Shot Smoky by Dunning ......... 57 IV-12 Map showing residualsurface radiationintensities in mr/hr at 12 hr after detonation of Shot Smoky at 5:30 AM on August 31, 1957 ............. 59 IV-13 Outline of computerdata bases being developedby the United States EnvironmentalProtection Agency and maintainedat Las Vegas, Nevada available for public use ........................... 60 IV-14 Histogramshowing externalradiation exposures for participantsin nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site during 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, and 1957 .................................... 61 IV~l 5 Histogramshowing externalradiation exposures including all military personnelwho participatedin nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada and Pacific Test Sites ............................... 62 iii FIGURE NUMBER PAGE IV-16 Diagram of tasks being performedin the Off-SiteRadiation Exposure Review Project to estimateradiation doses to people who lived downwindfrom the Nevada Test Site during atmospheric nuclear weapons testing ........... 63 IV-17 Map showing residualsurface radiationintensities in mr/hr at 12 hr after detonation of Shot Harry on May 19, 1953 .................... 65 IV-I8 Schematicdiagram showing the ingestionpathway model used by the Off-Site RadiationExposure Review Project to calculateradiation doses to people living downwindfrom the Nevada Test Site during atmosphericnuclear weapons testing ................................. 68 IV-19 Illustrationof hlgh and low exposurecohorts of childrenunder 15 years of age who lived in Utah during atmosphericnuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site to evaluateleukemia risks from exposuresto radioactive fallout ..................................... 74 IV-20 Illustrationof techniqueused by Gofman to estimatecancer risks for litigants in Allen et al. vs. the United States of America ........... 79 V-l Map of the Central Pacific showing locationof the MarshallIslands and other importantgeographic sites including aohnston Island and Christmas Island .... 88 V-2 Map of Bikini Atoll includingthe island’sEnglish code names and Marshallese names ................................ 89 V-3 Map of EnewetakAtoll includingthe island’sEnglish code names and Marshallese names ................................ 91 V-4 Diagram