Excretion of Plutonium Following Accidental Skin Contamination

Abstract

An extensive study has been made of the faecal and urinary plutonium excretion from two subjects who sustained high levels of contamination on the uncut skin of the hand from accidental contact with acid plutonium solutions. In one case, where the contaminant was mixed plutonium isotopes in aqua regia and nitric acid, the measurements reported have covered 150 days. In the other case, excretion after contamination with a solution of plutonium in dilute hydrochloric acid containing EDTA and a detergent has been followed for 110 days. The excretion patterns show marked differences from the human experimental data published by LANGHAM, particularly in the high and variable amount of plutonium excreted in faeces relative to urine.The excretion data are supplemented in one case by a series of measurements on the levels of skin contamination, by exploratory body radioactivity measurements and by a few inconclusive blood plutonium analyses.Attempts have been made to estimate the body burdens in various ways. The wide variation of these estimates indicates the uncertainties in predicting body burden from excretion data. The present study gives no indication as to the major site of deposition of the plutonium.

The Uptake of Plutonium in Bone Marrow: A Possible Leukaemic Risk

“…Ingestion by mouth is not a serious risk since it is not absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract in significant amounts. Plutonium does, however, reach the blood stream and hence the bone marrow following abrasion of the skin and wounds which may occur in industrial and laboratory work (Lister, Morgan and Sherwood, 1963). Mays, Taylor, Lloyd, Stover and Atherton (1966) have reported osteosarcoma but no leukaemia in beagles given a single intravcnous injection of plutonium.…”

Physiological Properties of Plutonium and Assessment of Body Burden in Man

“…This has resulted in a number of reports pointing out limitations of the systemic model as a basis for diagnosing body burden and showing urinary excretion patterns that fail to conform to the power functions represented in Eqs. 6-10 [29,30,[36][37][38].…”