Soluble plutonium is oxidized to the Pi(VI) oxidation state by chlorine during water treatment. Under certain conditions Pi(VI) is readily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. It appears that due consideration has not been given to the effect that the presence of plutonium in this oxidation state may have on the maximum permissible concentration of plutonium in drinking water.

A method has been developed for the precise oxidimetric titration of uranium with iron(lll) in which the end points are detected amperometrically with a rotating platinum electrode.

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It is critical that breweries of all sizes routinely monitor the microbiome of their process to limit financial losses due to microbial contamination. Contamination by beer-spoiling microbes (BSMs) at any point during the brewing process may lead to significant losses for breweries if gone undetected and allowed to spread. Testing and detection of BSMs must be routine and rapid, and because even small breweries need the capability of BSM detection and identification, the method also needs to be affordable. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are responsible for most spoilage incidents, many of which have been shown to enter the viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state under conditions present in beer such as cold or oxidative stress. These bacteria are invisible to traditional methods of detection using selective media. This article describes several methods of BSM detection and identification that may be useful in the majority of craft breweries. While there are several genomic methods that meet some or many qualifications of being useful in craft breweries, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) currently best meets the desired method characteristics and holds the most utility in this industry, specifically SYBR Green qPCR. qPCR is a targeted method of detection and identification of microbes that is affordable, rapid, specific, sensitive, quantitative, and reliable, and when paired with valid DNA extraction techniques can be used to detect BSMs, including those in the VBNC state.

There are a number of factors which must be considered in establishing whether or not the inadvertent intrusion of a sizable amount of plutonium-bearing material into a natural water system may have a significant impact on the health of those individuals who use that system as a drinking water resource. These factors include the chemical form(s) and solubility of plutonium in natural waters, its behavior in relation to natural processes (geochemical and biological), its fate in water treatment systems, and its uptake by man from drinking water. From the results obtained in our investigations of the behavior in natural water systems, it appears that (1) the chemical forms of plutonium dissolved in natural waters are Pu(IV) and Pu(V), (2) the soluble plutonium in many waters is bound to the organic constituents which probably enhances plutonium solubility, (3) the natural process responsible for the removal of plutonium from water is adsorption onto sediments, and (4) in water treatment systems, soluble plutonium is oxidized to the VI state and this form is not removed. From our investigations of gastrointestinal absorption, it appears that the value for f1, the fraction transferred from the gut to blood, is surely greater than 1 X 10(-3) and may be as high as 2 X 10(-1). Consideration of these and other factors indicates that, in the event of an accident, the concentration of plutonium could, in certain small natural water systems, approach and perhaps even exceed, the MPC for plutonium. However, the impact on the health of the affected population would not be inordinately high.

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