KZ speaks & correction

[FRAMEP@ORAU.GOV]

Some comments from KZ and a correction to my watch HTO dose
calculation.

I just spoke to Karl Z. Morgan regarding the origin of the term
health physics. He said it was in use prior to his arrival in Chicago
(Sept. 1943). When he arrived,  Compton assigned him to the "health
physics" section. KZ replied that he didn't even know what health
physics meant. Compton told him that it was a recently coined term.
There were real health concerns wrt the radiation being generated at
the reactors and the solutions primarily involved physics - hence
health physics. 

KZ is currently writing a book and this is one of the stories he
relates in it. Last week he had a couple of strokes. His vision is
impaired and although he is still writing, it is going slowly. If
someone has a question for him, send them to me directly 
(framep@orau.gov) and when I get the chance, I'll ask him (short
answer type questions). He might even be willing to post directly on
radsafe if he drops by.

Jerry Barber at ORNL pointed out a sloppy mistake in my calculation
of the dose to a wearer of a tritium containing watch. My apologies
to anyone who was confused by the numbers.

Correct (I hope) answer: tritium assumed to leak from watch at 83
nCi/d into a 30 cubic meter room with a ventilation rate of one air
change per hour. As Jerry pointed out to me, the equilibrium activity
is something like 115 pCi/cubic meter (not the 240 I calculated). Boy
that kind of mistake is a hanging offense. A breathing rate of 0.78
cubic meters per hour times 7000 hrs per year in the room gives a
yearly intake of 0.63 uCi, (not my original 1.3 uCi). With a CEDE of
0.064 mrem per uCi , the resultant CEDE (doubled to account for skin
absorption) is 0.08 mrem (not the 0.16 mrem calculated before).
Thanks to Jerry, we have a number right on top of the "official"
values from the NCRP and ANS. 

Paul Frame