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Show Mew U-MIiie Rcselicstion Rules km Jemwi Afore Kedisvk For months the eyes and ears of the uranium industry indus-try have been tuned to a federal mine radiation investigation, in-vestigation, which could conceivably have been a threat to the continued existence ex-istence of that industry. Under investigation was the incidence of lung cancer can-cer among miners, assum-ecTly assum-ecTly caused from radiation radia-tion in the mines where they worked. Had unrealistic controls been adopted, the cost of expensive ventilation would have forced many small mines out of business, and had much bearing on future fu-ture development by major maj-or companies. The estimated estima-ted cost of producing uranium ur-anium to update dwindling dwindl-ing stockpiles hinged on the outcome of the inves tigation. Temporary Decision At least a temporary decision has been reached which seemingly satisfies those concerned. A working work-ing level of 1.0 has been set for the remainder of this year by the Federal Radiation Council, in lieu of the previous .3 level set in May by the Labor Department. De-partment. The new regulation regula-tion is subject to review again next year, affects all mines, and was published pub-lished in the August 1st ..Federal Register. The Labor Department regulation, set at .3 on May 9, was believed by an investigating subcommittee subcommit-tee to be unjustifiably tringpnt and technically impossible to apply, as well as potentially disastrous disas-trous for many producers. According to an article in "Nuclear Industry" magazine, ma-gazine, the ruling was based on a series of accumulated ac-cumulated facts. First, testimony had brought out Jinaecuracies and anomalies anomal-ies in the Public Health (Service epidemiological surveys of lung cancer incidence which had led them to soften their conclusion con-clusion that even very low level exposures are" hazardous, haz-ardous, since the effect of low-level exposures cannot can-not be determined by present pre-sent data. Operators Coperate It was noted, in the radiation ra-diation safety hearings that mine operators were cooperating already. In a monitoring survey of 117 mines, about 70 per cent oft he total uranium mines min-es of the nation, it was found that while the standard stan-dard could be met, many mines were alarmingly far from meeting it. Of the 117 mines surveyed, sur-veyed, 23 showed no reading read-ing above .3 working level lev-el ; 23 showed none above 1.0; and 71 had some higher high-er readings. 41 of thJ mines reflected conditions cxceetling 3.0, and one had no reading below 8.3. Moreover, some readings had exceeded 30.0 WL. Six mines with the worst conditions had been reinspectcd, and all showed show-ed substantial improvement. improve-ment. One mine, for ex-ampi, ex-ampi, had reduced the radiation level from 32.0 to .7. Bureau of Mines Tests, The tests were run by Bureau of Mines inspectors , who took grab samples of mine atmosphere at a number of locations in each mine. From those readings the Bureau attempted at-tempted to calculate exposure ex-posure average. Copies of the resulting report were given to the mine operator, opera-tor, labor union concerned, concern-ed, the mine radiation regulatory reg-ulatory agency of the state in question, and the Labor Department. Meetings were set . up with mine owners of over half the mines found to be exceeding the 1.0 WL standard, and represnta-tives represnta-tives from the AEC, PHS and. Labor Department, . in an attempt to work out solutions. Asked to Report Mine operators were contacted, told of their readings, and asked to report re-port in 14 days, plans to reduce concentrations to acceptable levels. By August Au-gust 8, 81 replies to tne violation notices had been received. All but a few included in-cluded pla'hs of action co improve conditions. One indicated it would be impossible im-possible to comply with the regulation, and two small mines were closed by their owners. The enforcement of the regulat'ion varies in states. Colorado will close down mines if concentrations above 3.0 WL are found, and allow reasonable time for operators to reduce the standards to 1.0. New Mexico has decided to enforce en-force a 1.0 standard now. Utah Action In 'Utah, a uranium mine will be closed immediately if the working level is 3.0 or above, according to a statement Wednesday to The Times - Independent from Carlyle Gronning, Chairman of the State Industrial In-dustrial Commission. Mr. Gronning stated that if the working level is between 1.0 and 3.0, the mine will be allowed to , continue, but only if certain cer-tain Commission recommendations recom-mendations are immediately immediat-ely complied with, to bring . the level to 1.0 or below. Mr. Gronning stated that checks of Utah mines are made about every three months, and that most, of them are running just a little below 1.0. "We have received excellent cooperation cooper-ation from Utah mine operators op-erators to bring about compliance with these new safety standards," he said. Important Industry Taken into consideration d'uring the investigation was the importance of the uranium industry to the nation. It is currently the basic fuel for the development develop-ment of nuclear energy, and all projections point to an increasing role of nuclear energy as a power source. Also, ur'anium mining min-ing is an important economic econ-omic asset to ore bearing states. The significant improvements im-provements in mines, and future possibilities of improvement im-provement were also taken tak-en into consideration. Other significant points brought out was a higher than expected incidence of lung cancer among miners involved in the occupation before" 1955 who worked in accumulative exposures exceeding 1,000 WL. "The degree of risk at lower levels le-vels cannot be determined from current data. It is prudent to assume some degree of risk is involved at any level," the FRC noted. no-ted. Will Watch Future At the research and radiation ra-diation subcommittee's final fi-nal 'hearing session, its chairman, Rep. Melvin Price (D-Ill.) listed some of the committee's unfinished unfin-ished business. He said it would issue a report summarizing sum-marizing results of the hearings, and carefully watch as the Federal Radiation Ra-diation Council prepares for next year's review ol the new standard. Checks will be made on the projects and studies launched or expanded, in-cINding in-cINding research by the Public Healtl Service and AEC. This will include efforts ef-forts to develop techniques techniq-ues to detect lung tissue changes before cancer de-velopes. de-velopes. Allocations for this fiscal fis-cal year have increased from $225,000 to nearly $600,000 for expanded epidemiological epi-demiological studies sponsored spon-sored by the Public Health Service. This, Rep. Price said, is typical of the impact im-pact the past few months' investigations have had. Efforts will be made to define and refine inspection inspec-tion techniques to develop personal exposure monitors, moni-tors, and to explore practical prac-tical possibilities of removing re-moving radon daughters from mine atmopsheres. Studies' for the future also will approach the problems pro-blems of assuring '- adequate ade-quate compensation for miners injured by radiation, radia-tion, he said. |