A chronological description is given of the methods used in the plutonium bioassay program at Los Alamos. Methods of urine-sample collection, radiochemical separation, and counting are described briefly.I.
Since 1959, selected tissues from deceased humans have been examined for the presence of plutonium. The original purpose was to correlate plutonium body burden calculated from urine assay and actual burden determined by analysis of autopsy materials. The tissues have provided data on plutonium deposition in man resulting from general distribution of plutonium in the environment through global fallout and that resulting from plutonium fabrication or research and development operations.Lung, liver, kidney, lymph, and skeletal tissue are the principal materials examined. The analytical data, the significance of the findings, and the considerable uncertainties in the radiochemical analysis and calculations are discussed. The data will be completely evaluated in other Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory reports.The results are contained in the appendixes to this report. Median concentrations in the organs and tissues of a general population (not occupationally exposed) were (each number represents dis/min Pu per kg): liver,1.4; lung, 0.8; lymph nodes, 3.0; bone, 0.6; and kidney, 0.6. Plutonium concentration is generally higher in the tissues of those who have been occupationally exposed to plutonium; the concentration obviously depends upon the nature of the exposure and its severity am' lunation.
Thirty autopsy cases with documented histories of occupational exposure to plutonium are presented. The data included are health physics measurements indicating possible internal contamination, urinary excretion data during the periods of exposure, and analyses of lung, liver, lymph, kidney and bone tissue, postmortem. Twelve of the cases had a high potential for direct internal contamination (e.g. glove box plutonium research and development), representing chronic occupational exposure to plutonium; 18 cases had only indirect occupational exposure. Measured tissue activity is extrapolated to determine organ and systemic plutonium burdens, which, in turn, are compared to estimates from urinalysis data using the PUQFUA code. The PUQFUA body burden estimates are an average of 2-3 times larger than body burden estimates derived from the tissue assay data. The tissue samples show 3040% of the total burden to be in the liver and 40-50% in the skeleton. The relative plutonium concentration observed in the tissues, in decreasing order, is respiratory lymph nodes, liver, bone and kidney. Lymph nodes are about an order of magnitude higher than liver, and kidney an order of magnitude lower than bone.
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