The Plutonium Files (81 page)

1
someone from the post office: Historical committee, “Italy, Texas, 1879–1979,” n.d.

2
“to a physician”: Robert G. Sachs to James Liverman, “Plutonium Studies at the Center for Human Radiobiology,” enclosure, Nov. 13, 1973. This is one of the hundreds of documents that the DOE eventually provided to the
Albuquerque Tribune
in response to an August 28, 1992, FOIA request. Unless otherwise specified, all documents described as “FOIA” are a result of the 1992 request. Many of these documents can be found on the Internet or at the CIC.

3
plunged a hypodermic needle: AEC, “Report of Investigation,” Aug. 16, 1974 (File No. 44–2–326), FOIA, pp. 7–8.

4
“He told me they”: Welsome, “Plutonium Experiment,”
AT,
series reprint, Nov. 15–17, 1993, p. 7.

5
“I’m not angry”: Ibid., p. 6.

6
“I’m very upset”: Ibid.

7
“I was appalled and shocked”: DOE,
Openness Initiative,
Videocassette, Dec. 7, 1993.

8
“We’re trying every angle”: DOE,
Operation Tumbler Snapper,
Videocassette, 1952 (CIC 0800011).

9
“same old chestnuts”: Thomas Shipman to Shields Warren, Jan. [date illegible], 1952, ACHRE, p. 1.

10
“From past experience we know”: Shipman to Charles Dunham, Oct. 7, 1957, ACHRE, p. 2.

11
“People have got to learn”: AEC Meeting No. 1062, Feb. 23, 1955 (CIC 14021), p. 121.

1
crew developed a flow chart: LANL,
Radiation Protection,
p. 187.

2
“They were prepared to tear”: Louis Hempelmann dep., p. 31.

3
“not pleasant”: LANL,
Radiation Protection,
p. 186.

4
“I could taste the acid”: Description of accident and quotes in this chapter come from documents and author interviews with Don Mastick conducted on Oct. 26, 1993, May 16, 1995, Nov. 27, 1995, and Aug. 6, 1998.

5
“deluge shower baths”: LANL,
Radiation Protection,
p. 130.

6
“unusual hazards”: Hempelmann, “History of the Health Group (A-6), March 1943–November 1945” (LANL-HSPT-94–105), p. 1.

7
“Louie did his first sternal puncture”: Agnew OH, JNS, pp. 11–12.

8
he prepared two mixtures: Hempelmann to Stafford Warren, Aug. 2, 1944, ACHRE.

9
one-half microgram of plutonium: Ibid.

10
Sippy alkaline powders: Hempelmann, “Health Report for Month Ending Sept. 30, 1944” (LANL-HSPT 94–250), p. 4.

11
“I was sorry to bother”: Hempelmann to Stafford Warren, Aug. 2, 1944.

12
“There were all sorts of problems”: Hempelmann dep., p. 10.

1
selling kitchenware from farm to farm: Rhodes,
Making of the Atomic Bomb,
pp. 143–144.

2
bright red coupe: Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer,
p. 11.

3
“fly inside a cathedral”: Ibid., p. 17.

4
gray suit and round-toed black shoes: Chevalier,
Oppenheimer: The Story of a Friendship,
p. 20.

5
In 1935 John Lawrence: Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer,
p. 67.

6
“Lawrence, with his cyclotron”: Waldo Cohn OH, p. 10.

7
“He got me on the platform”: Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer,
pp. 67–68.

8
“We thought or hoped”: Ibid., p. 72.

9
“big grandstand act”: Scott OH, p. 26.

10
“She was the very first”: Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer,
p. 77.

11
injected two leukemia: Hamilton and Stone, “Administration of RadioSodium,”
Radiology,
pp. 178–188.

12
“stimulated me”: Stone, Transcript of tape-recorded memoir, 1964, p. 5.

13
Born in Canada: Brown, “Obituary—Robert Stone,”
Radiology,
pp. 807–808.

14
“Ernest Lawrence was a great stimulus”: Stone memoir, p. 2.

15
bombarded some 128 patients: Stone and Larkin, “Treatment of Cancer with Fast Neutrons,”
Radiology,
pp. 608–620.

16
“Dr. Stone’s wealthy patients”: Scott OH, p. 29.

17
likened to armor plates: Int. Robert Kallman, Jan. 11, 1997.

18
“He was just a young resident”: Scott OH, p. 35.

19
“He was the kind of guy”: Ibid., p. 55.

20
“He didn’t have any warm”: Int. Anne De Gruchy Low-Beer, May 29, 1995.

21
“would have been very much at home”: Durbin OH, ACHRE, p. 170.

22
treating many well-known personalities: Int. Christine Alan, April 17, 1995.

23
son had sucked: Hamilton,
Introduction to Objective Psychopathology,
pp. 302–303.

24
Hamilton attended schools: Lawrence and Garrison, “J.G. Hamilton,”
Science,
p. 294.

25
owned a log cabin: Int. Christine Alan.

26
“We considered him”: Stafford Warren OH, p. 580.

27
“what he liked to do” Durbin OH, DOE/OHRE, p. 30.

28
“Then he would walk across the room”: Welsome, “Plutonium Experiment,” p. 27.

29
flying through radioactive clouds: Hamilton to [name deleted], March 27, 1951, Call No. 72/117C, Box 32, Folder 21, p. 1. (Hamilton’s papers can be found in the Ernest O. Lawrence papers, Joseph Hamilton correspondence, Call No. 72/ 117c, Bancroft Library, Berkeley, CA. Hereafter those papers will be noted as “JGH.”)

30
“I tried to talk to him”: Miller OH, DOE/OHRE, p. 5.

31
“had already had it”: Scott OH, p. 46.

32
“looked like a ghost”: Int. John Gofman, Jan. 24, 1996.

33
“I would be willing”: Int. Patricia Durbin, Sept. 3, 1992.

34
“I wrote to Dr. Stone”: Friedell OH, DOE/OHRE, p. 9.

35
treated a few of his patients: Ibid., p. 10.

36
The radiophosphorous seemed especially: Ibid., p. 13.

37
patients had almost died: Joseph Hamilton to Shields Warren, Nov. 28, 1950, Box 32, Folder 21, JGH, p. 2.

38
Hamilton was confused: Int. Hymer Friedell, Sept. 23, 1992.

39
“I was assigned a project”: Friedell OH, JNS, p. 27.

40
Washington University was his alma mater: Miller and Koszalka, “Obituary—Louis Hempelmann,”
Radiation Research,
pp. 435–438; Hempelmann dep., pp. 4–5.

41
After four months in Berkeley: Hempelmann dep., p. 5.

42
Nearly twenty ships and 292 aircraft: Rhodes,
Making of the Atomic Bomb,
p. 392.

1
scientists climbed the stairs: Compton,
Atomic Quest,
pp. 80–81.

2
she calculated the energy: Ibid., p. 18.

3
“extremely powerful bombs”: Libby,
Uranium People,
inside cover.

4
After McMillan moved east: Seaborg,
Plutonium Story,
p. 14.

5
“The new land”: Seaborg, “Plutonium Revisited,”
Radiobiology of Plutonium,
p. 6.

6
By Tuesday, February 25, 1941: Seaborg,
Plutonium Story,
p. 29.

7
the men donned goggles: Ibid., pp. 30–34.

8
“It really should have been called”: Welsome, “Plutonium Experiment,” p. 6.

9
“super bomb”: Smyth,
Atomic Energy for Military Purposes,
p. 65.

10
“You’ll never get the chain reaction”: Compton,
Atomic Quest,
pp. 80–81.

11
“The project for producing plutonium”: Ibid., p. 82.

12
arrived in Chicago: Seaborg,
Plutonium Story,
pp. 109–110.

13
“He could give us enough ideas”: Groueff,
Manhattan Project,
p. 25.

14
“I’m cutting off”: Compton,
Atomic Quest,
p. 126.

15
“special category of secrecy”: Seaborg,
Plutonium Story,
p. 117.

16
“At Berkeley, we have”: Ibid., p. 119.

17
The Chicago chemists: Cunningham, “The First Isolation of Plutonium,” in Coffinberry and Miner, eds.,
The Metal Plutonium,
p. 15.

18
From those eleven pounds: Ibid., pp. 16–17.

19
50 micrograms of plutonium: Ibid.

20
helping out on the cyclotron: Hempelmann dep., p. 5.

21
“irreversible toxic effects”: Hemplemann et al., “Hematologic Complications,”
Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine,
1944, p. 1041.

22
“It is the first time that element 94”: Seaborg,
Plutonium Story,
p. 177.

23
contents spilled on a Sunday edition: Ibid., p. 178.

24
“absolutely crazy”: Int. Ed Hammel, Aug. 5, 1998.

25
“Plutonium is so unusual”: Groueff,
Manhattan Project,
pp. 151–152.

26
“live rabbit”: Libby,
Uranium People,
p. 171.

27
“I held in my hand”: Compton,
Atomic Quest,
p. 213.

28
easy as driving a car: Libby,
Uranium People,
p. 123.

1
“knew what had happened”: Compton,
Atomic Quest,
p. 177.

2
“Stone’s exceptional qualification”: Ibid.

3
“offer the possibility of infecting”: Hamilton to Robert Stone, “A Brief Review of the Possible Applications of Fission Products in Offensive Warfare,” May 26, 1943, Carton 8, Folder 25, JGH, p. 3.

4
“I think that we should not attempt”: J. Robert Oppenheimer to Enrico Fermi, May 25, 1943, Elmerine Allen Whitfield personal papers.

5
There were three major sections: Smyth,
Atomic Energy,
p. 150.

6
he directed his staff: Stone, “Health Protection Activities of the Plutonium Project,”
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,
p. 12.

7
“rem,” a term: Hacker,
Dragon’s Tail,
p. 42.

8
“It must be remembered”: Metallurgical Project, “Health Division Program,” May 10, 1943 (CIC 717325), p. 1.

9
“The hair at the temples”: No author, “Deleterious Effects of X Rays on the Human Body,”
Electrical Review,
Aug. 12, 1896 (CIC 702392).

10
Within a year: Hacker,
Dragon’s Tail,
p. 10.

11
hundred radiation pioneers: Stone, “Concept of a Maximum Permissible Exposure,”
Radiology,
May 1952, p. 641.

12
limited to 0.1 roentgen: Hacker,
Dragon’s Tail,
p. 18.

13
“that dose of radiation”: Stone, “Maximum Permissible Exposure,” p. 642.

14
“very sketchy”: Stone, “The Plutonium Project,”
Radiology,
p. 364.

15
“It is our hope”: Metallurgical Project, “Health Division Program,” pp. 1–2.

16
“Clinically, I couldn’t diagnose”: Lang,
From Hiroshima to the Moon,
p. 390.

17
“radium jaw”: Ibid.

18
some 4,000: Denise Grady, “A Glow in the Dark, and a Lesson in Scientific Peril,”
NYT,
Oct. 6, 1998, p. F-4.

19
800 of whom: Lang,
Hiroshima to the Moon,
p. 389.

20
caused tiny scintillations: Martland, “Occupational Poisoning,”
JAMA,
p. 466.

21
250 to 300 watch dials: Evans, “Radium Poisoning,”
American Journal of Public Health,
p. 1019.

22
“Depending on their skill”: Ibid.

23
One of the first dial painters: Martland et al., “Some Unrecognized Dangers,”
JAMA,
pp. 1769–1776.

24
“I would be only too happy”: Lang,
Hiroshima to the Moon,
p. 393.

25
settled out of court: Martland, “Occupational Poisoning,” p. 472.

26
“debutante fatigue”: Evans OH, AIP, p. 51.

27
1,000 to 1,500 bottles: Macklis, “The Great Radium Scandal,”
Scientific American,
p. 95.

28
“proved fatal”: Evans, “Radium Poisoning,” p. 1019.

29
threatened to draft: Evans OH, AIP, p. 83.

30
“Well, my feeling”: Evans OH, JNS, p. 7.

31
examined some 2,000 people: LANL,
Radiation Protection,
p. 232.

32
“The Health Division”: Low-Beer and Stone, “Hematological Studies on Patients,”
Industrial Medicine on the Plutonium Project,
p. 338.

33
“extremely worked up”: Stone, “Obituary—Bertram V. A. Low-Beer,”
Radiology,
pp. 284–285.

34
exposure did reduce: Low-Beer and Stone, “Hematological Studies,” p. 417.

35
“most difficult part of the project”: Craver, “Tolerance to Whole-Body Irradiation,”
Industrial Medicine,
p. 486.

36
“such doses of radiation”: Ibid., p. 498.

37
A third TBI experiment: Nickson, “Blood Changes in Human Beings,”
Industrial Medicine,
pp. 308–337.

38
“particular interest”: Ibid., p. 336.

39
“What are the first changes”: Stone, “The Plutonium Project,”
Radiology,
p. 364.

1
To Groves, Leo Szilard: Ermenc,
Atomic Bomb Scientists,
p. 248.

2
“I suspected that Compton”: Ibid., p. 247.

3
“It must have been”: Libby,
Uranium People,
p. 96.

4
“depressing effect”: Groves,
Now It Can Be Told,
pp. 65–66.

5
“The geographically enforced isolation”: Ibid., p. 67.