National low-level waste management program radionuclide report series, Volume 14: Americium-241

Conceptual Assessment of VTR Add-On Processing Capability

“…Relative uptake values for Am-241 are ten to twenty times greater than for plutonium. Winberg (1995) found that, because of the highly charged valence states, americium tends "to bind easily with dust particles that can become suspended in air," and a Rocky Flats study found that 38% of the respirable fraction (<5 microns in particle size) of contaminated soil was attributable to americium activity. For these reasons, fuel fabrication, with high levels of americium present, could pose a substantial risk, since the vaporized americium could relocate to diverse places, e.g., equipment, offgas piping, dross, etc.…”

National low-level waste management program radionuclide report series, Volume 15: Uranium-238

“…Average and maximum kinetic energies of electrons released during decay of several important radionuclides. (Information compiled from data presented in References 7,9,12,13,and 14. ) Released electron energy c. The electron energies for 242Cm and 238U represent the highest energy major emission electron group and may not represent either the average or maximum energy.…”