Oak Ridge Reservation volume I. Y-12 mercury task force files: A guide to record series of the Department of Energy and its contractors

The purpose of this guide is to describe each of the series of records identified in the documents of the Y-12 Mercury Task Force Files that pertain to the use of mercury in the separation and enrichment of lithium isotopes at the Department of Energy`s (DOE) Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. History Associates Incorporated (HAI) prepared this guide as part of DOE`s Epidemiologic Records Inventory Project, which seeks to verify and conduct inventories of epidemiologic and health-related records at various DOE and DOE contractor sites. This introduction briefly describes the Epidemiologic Records Inventory Project and HAI`s role in the project. Specific attention will be given to the history of the DOE-Oak Ridge Reservation, the development of the Y-12 Plant, and the use of mercury in the production of nuclear weapons during the 1950s and early 1960s. This introduction provides background information on the Y-12 Mercury Task Force Files, an assembly of documents resulting from the 1983 investigation of the Mercury Task Force into the effects of mercury toxicity upon workplace hygiene and worker health, the unaccountable loss of mercury, and the impact of those losses upon the environment. This introduction also explains the methodology used in the selection and inventory of these record series. Other topics include the methodology used to produce this guide, the arrangement of the detailed record series descriptions, and information concerning access to the collection