A 32-year Medical Follow-up of Manhattan Project Plutonium Workers

Abstract

Twenty-six male subjects who worked with plutonium during World War I1 under extraordinarily crude conditions have been followed medically for a period of 32 yr. Inhalation was the primary mode of plutonium exposure. Current estimates of the systemic plutonium depositions in these individuals range from 7 to 230nCi. Eleven individuals have depositions greater than 40 nCi, the current maximum permissible body burden for workers. Two individuals in the group have died: one due to myocardial infarction and the other due to injuries sustained in an automobile-pedestrian accident. This mortality rate is about 50% of expected deaths based on United States white male rates. All 24 living subjects were re-examined in the period of 1975-78. No cases of cancer were diagnosed in the group except for two skin cancers that have no history or basis that relate them to plutonium exposure. The diseases and physical changes noted in the group are characteristic of a male population in their 50s and 60s. This study yields no evidence suggesting that adverse health effects have resulted from the 32 yr of exposure to the internally deposited plutonium.

Ecotoxicity literature review of selected Hanford Site contaminants

“…Models have been developed to estimate body burden of radiation workers from radioactivityin the urine. It should be noted, however, that body burdensof plutonium determined fromtissue analysis at autopsy have been lower than those generated from urinalysis data (Voelz et al 1979). No data are availableon the relationshipbetween exposure and the levels of radioactivity in the urine.…”

mFISH analysis of chromosome aberrations in workers occupationally exposed to mixed radiation

“…Early in vivo studies which performed a routine staining did not reveal an increased chromosome aberration yield in workers exposed to internal alpha-radiation (Dolphin 1971;Hempelmann et al 1973;Voelz et al 1985), while Brandom et al (1979Brandom et al ( , 1990 reported an increase in dicentrics, rings, inversions and translocations in Rocky Flats workers after plutonium-239 aerosol inhalation. The authors concluded that the increase in chromosome aberration yield was attributed to internal exposure to plutonium-239 rather than to external gamma-rays.…”

Comprehensive Epidemiologic Data Resource. Revision 1

“…This is because researchers sometimes retain individuals in their analytic files whose data are not used or discussed in their final analyses or published papers. Fernald (NLO) Cohort Study, 1983Hanford Cohort Study, 1989Hanford Cohort Study, 1993 Hanford Lung Cancer Study, 1990 Hanford Case-Control Study of Congenital Malformations, 1988 Hanford Community-Based Study of Congenital Malformations, 1988Hanford Cohort Study, 1993 Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) Female Cohort Study, 1987 LANL Study of Workers with High Exposures to Plutonium LANL Cohort Study, 1962& 1994LANL Female Suicide Study, 1988 Follow-up of Manhattan Project Plutonium Workers, 1973, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1989& 1991Linde Uranium Worker Cohort Study, 1987 Mallinckrodt Chemical Works Cohort Study…”

“…Mortality study of 15,727 male workers at LANL, 1943LANL, -1990 Case-control study of suicide among 136 female workers at LANL research facility, 1943-1978 Study of 26 white male Manhattan Project workers exposed to plutonium-239 during 1944-1945 at LANL Mortality study of 995 white male uranium workers, Mortality study of 2,542 white male workers in the Uranium Division, 1942Division, -1988 Mortality study of 4,182 workers at a research and production facility, Mortality study of 4,402 white male workers at a research and production facility, 1944-1972 Mortality study of 4,697 white male workers at Mound, 1942Mound, -1979 , 1985ORNL Cohort-Follow-up Study, 1991& 1993ORNL Cancer Case-Control Study, 1983 Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant Cohort Study, 1988 Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant Mercury Exposure Cohort Study, 1984 Oak Ridge TEC Cohort Study, 1981 Oak Ridge TEC Phosgene Exposure Cohort Study, 1980& 1985Pantex Weapons Facility Cohort Study, 1985Rocky Flats Cohort Study Rocky Flats Cohort Study, 1987Savannah River Site Cohort Study, 1988 Savannah River Site Cohort Study Brief Description?…”