Use of faecal excretion function for quick estimation of initial and existing lung burden for occupational exposure control due to 239Pu for S-class of intake

Abstract

Two functions namely initial lung deposition and lung retention per unit faecal excretion rate are constructed primarily based on the excretion pattern of four subjects exposed to (239)Pu. In the absence of initial clear knowledge about the class of compound inhaled, faecal to urine excretion ratio was used to infer the type of inhaled class. Trends in the urine and faecal data had suggested that the intake was due to mixed class of plutonium compound for each case. With the assumption of 1:1 mixture of plutonium M&S class inhaled compound, faecal excretion rates for only S-class intake were worked out. Uptake inferred based on their urinary data had suggested it to be of similar level within 40% of uncertainty for 5 microm particle size distribution. Data, all the four cases, were pooled for analysis citing the similar level of intake, particle size distribution, nature and pattern of work. The function obtained was tested for S-class lung retention and faecal excretion rate value. These functions are handy tool for estimating initial lung burden and lung retention value for low level of S-class plutonium intake based on subject faecal analysis data.

Applying a low energy HPGe detector gamma ray spectrometric technique for the evaluation of Pu/Am ratio in biological samples

“…The residue was taken in 2 M HNO 3 , filtered and collected in a plastic bottle of 100 ml capacity (this geometry was selected which is congruous to the one used during efficiency calibration procedure) and counted under HPGe for 241 Am estimation. Depending on the activity level, appropriate aliquot of the sample from the total prepared sample volume was analyzed for americium and plutonium estimation by the standardized TRU column extraction chromatography and anion exchange radiochemical procedure respectively (Yadav et al, 2008;Ranjeet et al, 2010), followed by activity estimation by alpha spectrometry using a passivated ion implanted planar silicon (PIPS) semiconductor detector. The energy resolution and efficiency of detector for α-particle measurement were about 50 keV and 22% respectively.…”