This whole body donation case (USTUR Registrant) involved a single acute inhalation of an acidic Pu(NO3)4 solution in the form of an aerosol 'mist'. Chelation treatment with intravenously (i.v.) Ca-EDTA was initiated on the day of the intake, and continued intermittently over 6 months. After 2.5 y with no further treatment, a course of i.v. Ca-DTPA was administered. A total of 400 measurements of 239+240Pu excreted in urine were recorded; starting on the first day (both before and during the initial Ca-EDTA chelation) and continuing for 37 y. This sampling included all intervals of chelation. In addition, 91 measurements of 239+240Pu-in-feces were recorded over this whole period. The Registrant died about 38 y after the intake, at age 79 y, with extensive carcinomatosis secondary to adenocarcinoma of the prostate gland. At autopsy, all major soft tissue organs were harvested for radiochemical analyses of their 238Pu, 239+240Pu and 241Am content. Also, all types of bone (comprising about half the skeleton) were harvested for radiochemical analyses, as well as samples of skin, subcutaneous fat and muscle. This comprehensive data set has been applied to derive 'chelation-enhanced' transfer rates in the ICRP Publication 67 plutonium biokinetic model, representing the behaviour of blood-borne and tissue-incorporated plutonium during intervals of therapy. The resulting model of the separate effects of i.v. Ca-EDTA and Ca-DTPA chelation shows that the therapy administered in this case succeeded in reducing substantially the long-term burden of plutonium in all body organs, except for the lungs. The calculated reductions in organ content at the time of death are approximately 40% for the liver, 60% for other soft tissues (muscle, skin, glands, etc.), 50% for the kidneys and 50% for the skeleton. Essentially, all of the substantial reduction in skeletal burden occurred in trabecular bone. This modelling exercise demonstrated that 3-y-delayed Ca-DTPA therapy was as effective as promptly administered Ca-EDTA.

This whole body donation case (USTUR Registrant) involved two suspected PuO2 inhalation intakes, each indicated by a measurable Pu alpha activity in a single urine sample, followed about 1(1/2) y later by a puncture wound to the thumb while working in a Pu glovebox. The study is concerned with modelling simultaneously the biokinetics of deposition and retention in the respiratory tract and at the wound site; and the biokinetics of Pu subsequently transferred to other body organs, until the donor's death. Urine samples taken after the wound incident had readily measurable Pu alpha activity over the next 14 y, before dropping below the minimum detectable excretion rate (<0.4 mBq d(-1)). The Registrant died about 33 y after the wound intake, at the age of 71, from hepatocellular carcinoma with extensive metastases. At autopsy, all major soft tissue organs were harvested for analysis of their 238Pu, 239+240Pu and 241Am content. The amount of 239+240Pu retained at the wound site was 68 +/- 7 Bq (1 SD), measured by low-energy planar Ge spectrometry. A further 56.0 +/- 1.2 Bq was retained in an associated axillary lymph node, measured by radiochemistry. Simultaneous mathematical analysis (modelling) of all in vivo urinary excretion data, together with the measured lung, thoracic lymph node, wound, axillary lymph node and systemic tissue contents at death, yielded estimated intake amounts of 757 and 1504 Bq, respectively, for the first and second inhalation incidents, and 204 Bq for the total wound intake. The inhaled Pu material was highly insoluble, with an estimated long-term absorption rate from the lungs of 2 x 10(-5) d(-1). The Pu material deposited at the wound site was mixed: approximately 14% was rapidly absorbed, approximately 49% was absorbed at the rate of about 6 x 10(-5) d(-1), and the remainder ( approximately 37%) was absorbed extremely slowly (at the rate of about 5 x 10(-6) d(-1)). Thus, it was estimated that only approximately 40% of the Pu initially deposited in the wound had been absorbed systemically over the 33-y period until the donor's death. The biokinetic modelling also indicated that, in this individual case, some of the parameter values (rate constants) incorporated in the ICRP Publication 67 Pu model were up to a factor of 2 different from ICRP's recommended values (for reference man).

An extraction chromatographic method is described for the pre-concentration and separation of thorium, uranium, plutonium and americium in human soft tissues. Tissues such as lung and liver are oven dried at 120 ~ ashed at 450 ~ and the ashed sample is alternately wet (HNO3/H202) and dry ashed, and then dissolved in 8M HC1. Because of the complex matrix and large sample samples (up to 1500 g), the actinides were preconcentrated from the tissue solution using the TRU TM resin (EIChroM) prior to elemental separation by extraction chromatography and determination of americium, plutonium, uranium and thorium by alpha spectrometry. The actinides were eluted from the preconcentration column and each actinide was individually eluted on TEVA TM and TRU TM resin columns in a tandem configuration. Actinide activities were then determined by alpha spectrometry after electrodeposition from a sulfate medium. The method was validated by analyzing human tissue samples previously analyzed for americium, plutonium, uranium and thorium in the United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR). Two

A method for the preconcentration of Am and Pu from human tissue solutions (liver, lung, bone etc) using the Actinide-CU Resin (EIChroM Industries) has been developed for their alpha-spectrometric determination. With near 100% recoveries were obtained by preconcentration, subsequent decomposition methods for eluent were developed. Good agreement for Pu and Am determination with the USTUR anionexchange/solvent extraction method was demonstrated using previously analyzed human tissue solutions and NIST SRMs. The advantages of the preconcentration method applied to human tissue analysis are simplicity of operation, shorter analysis time compared to anion exchange/solvent extraction methods, and capacity to analyze large tissue samples (up to 15 g bone ash per analysis and 500 g soft tissue).

For more than 25 years, the United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR) and the Dosimetry Registry of the Mayak Industrial Association (DRMIA) of the Russian Federation have, each independently, collected tissues at autopsy from workers with potential or confirmed body burdens of actinide elements resulting from occupational exposures. Tissues, thus obtained, were radiochemically analyzed for actinides for the purpose of evaluating the biokinetics of these elements in the human body. Scientists of these two organizations have recently begun a collaborative research program to compare, combine and analyze the data to verify or refine biokinetic models needed for radiation dosimetry.