20. RADIOBIOLOGICAL REQUIREMENTS 



Dr . I. Eugene Walien 



Atomic Energy Commission 

 Washington, D. C. 



The Atomic Energy Commission is not an operating agency; 

 our research and surveys are done on contract. We do not have to 

 decide between in-house and out-of-house research. 



However, those who request research support of the Comnnis- 

 sion, must choose between four AEC divisions which might be in- 

 volved in any instrumentation program. These Divisions are 

 Reactor Developnnent, Isotope Development, Research, and Biology 

 and Medicine. 



Our oceanographic research effort is directed at any kind of a 

 program that might give us information about the ultimate dis- 

 tribution and potential hazard of radioactivity in the ocean. We 

 support research in instrument development but we are primarily 

 concerned with the use of the instruments in research. We pre- 

 fer that requests to develop instruments come to us via one of 

 our marine science contractors or potential contractors who 

 wish to do research using the instrument; proposals need to be 

 approved by the independent investigators who will use thenn. 



Our primary interests in radioactivity involve three general 

 problems. One of these, of course, is the total problem of 

 biological effects. We would like to know the direct effect of 

 radioactivity on all kinds of organisms. We would like to know 

 the concentration factors, the specific activity, and the length of 

 residence time of various radioisotopes in marine organisms. 

 We would like to know what the effect might be on neutron act- 

 ivation of various materials within the ocean as these neutron 

 products might be concentrated or might have some effect on 

 organisms. We are interested, of course, in long-term effects 

 of direct radiation. 



In addition to this major item of biological effects, we are 

 interested in processes that may remove radioactivity from or 

 distribute it in the ocean. That means that we are interested 



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