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U.S. Department of Energy
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ACUTE AND CHRONIC EFFECTS FOLLOWING EXPOSURE TO A MIXED MEDIAN LETHAL DOSE OF FAST NEUTRONS AND GAMMA RAYS

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4327199
Three hundred sixty female Sprague-Dawley rats, three months old, were exposed ln one hour to an acute dose of 520 rep of fast neutrons plus 110 r of gamma rays emanating from a uranium reactor. The exposure resulted in 57 percent fatalities within 30 days. Both the body and spleen weights of rats dying after the exposure were significantly less than those of the controls. However, only the spleen weight in animals dying on days 7 through 9 postexposure was significantly closer to normal range than the weight at its maximum low on day 5. Tumors began to appear in the irradiated group 69 days after the exposure in contrast to 146 days in the controls. By the 200th day postexposure, 23.6 percent of the irradiated group had tumors, compared with only 7.5 percent of the controls--a difference statistically significant to the 0.05 level. (auth)
Research Organization:
Texas. Univ., Austin. Radiobiological Lab.
NSA Number:
NSA-12-007651
OSTI ID:
4327199
Report Number(s):
AF-SAM-57-153
Country of Publication:
Country unknown/Code not available
Language:
English