As reported in an earlier Treasures from the Archives article, ORNL's Health Physics Research Reactor (HPRR) was used in Operation Bare Reactor Experiment in Nevada (BREN) AEC test site. Its use at the time was to study the scattering effects of radiation in assessing the actual radiation dosages received by survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. This study has now been completed and the HPRR returned to ORNL for use in studies concerned primarily with radiation dosimetry in connection with instrument development and dose determination.
Construction of the Radioisotope Development Laboratory has begun and will be located down the street from the Graphite Reactor. The overall Oak Ridge Development Center will consist of five laboratories for accomplishment of radioactive tracer work. The heart of the Center is the “cell block” that will consist of four heavily shielded cells, each of which can accommodate up to 15,000 curies of cobalt 60 without exceeding radiation tolerance levels. Access to the interior of the cells will be provided through vault-like doors constructed of two feet thick armament steel. Safety devices will prevent the opening of the doors during cell operation. The facilities will be used for investigating properties of radioactive materials, source fabrication and testing, chemical engineering processes and separation techniques on complex radio-chemical mixtures.
ORNL celebrated its 16th year as the world's leading producer of radioisotopes. Operating since 1946, the program has expanded to the point where some 1000 shipments of radioisotopes are made each month. This supports customers in all states and 57 foreign countries. The largest single radioisotope shipment was 225,000 curies of strontium-90 to the Martin Company for use as power source in the Navy's floating weather station.
William and Liane Russell, husband and wife geneticists team, were invited to Leiden, the Netherlands, for an international Symposium on Repair from Genetic Radiation Damage and Differential Radio-sensitivity in Germ Cells. There, they each presented papers on the radiation effects on embryos, skeletal analyses both for genetic and direct effects, and radiation effects on fertility. Following the symposium and prior to returning to ORNL, they visited an institute in Munich, Germany to discuss their newly established mammalian genetics program.