Document text
Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
Page 29
easily obtained. by this EethoB. wine was evzporated t o Gryness 2nd then rec is so ~ vec -3s e as ii yin tar xg ted at this poi z t for a count on this acid solution. .,&cx.e level Lx 30 Einutes Croma urine saxple wkick coztaizs
Page 31
?:gczz shows a typical spectzux of, the liver area of the the pas ez ce 02 iiSss3ce of the radioactive mixture iri t'ne other t;z?e set Caily t o check the cou=ltsz for s3azjllity and s ez s it iv it y.
Page 45
SUMMARY OF ROCKY FLATS EXPERIENCES WITH M'PA AS AN AGENT FOR INCREASING PLUTONIUM EXCRETION VIA THE URINE by Health Physics The Dow Chemical Company Rocky Flats Division Since 1963 IYJ?PA has been used atthe Rocky Flats plant in 2 3 cases involving exposure t o plutonium. of success have been noted based on measurement of plutonium in the urine. t o depend on the following: The effectiveness of DTPA seems 1. The chemical form of t h e plutonium involved i n the 2. The length of the between exposure and treatment; and 3. The treatment schedule, dose, and method of I n many cases, however, the degree of success cannot be o r not a significant increase in plutonium excretion is In these cases, MlPA Is tried to see whether Generally, our exposure case6 have resulted from inhalation, puncture wounds, o r acid burns. exposures resulted from explosions where employees were exposed by both Inhalation and puncture wounds. I n three cases, however,
Page 46
Thirteen inhalation cases have been treated with MlPA and one with EDTA (RFP-128) Eight of these caa es resulted from a plutonium fire in October, 1965. Twenty-five persons received inhalation exposures with eight receiving DTPA treatments for a i n the urine increased slightly because of the treatments + but the total amount excreted represented such a small fraction of the material present that the treatments were discontinued. The plutonium was found t o be a very Insoluble "high fired " oxide of small average particle size(0.3 micron). This incident Is discussed I n RFP-710 where several typical urine excretion curves are shown for both the treated and the untreated persons, Five other inhalation cases were treated with M7PA after separate exposures. I n each case, the treatments were suspended after a few days because i t was judged that the amount of plutonium found in the urine represented only a small fraction of the material Involved. urine excretions for these cases were 1to 20 dpn per 24 hours during the course of treatment followed by a rapid decrease to nearly pre treatment levels, Three cases of contaminated puncture wounds have been treated with DTPA and two with EDTA (RFP-128). IITPA was reported in RFP-431. - 1urine excretion of one of the cases that was treated with Thia case might be called
Page 47
typical of all the wound cases. was a highly insoluble oxide. ch elated by DTPA and excreted i n the urine. The DTPA Is effective in removing the plutonium.from the blood but does not accelerate the so lub i liz ation process a t the 4 ’ site of the wound. I n all cases,urine excretions are The plutonium involved The material present at the wound site so lub ili zed only very slowly inthe body \ / p L = - I ;._ the blood system where i t would be nearly completely &-5?L - _ - 7higher following the treatment but treatment was suspended after a few days because only a ~ ~ . .- i n each case the (2 ,I,-- L small fraction of the material present in the wound had been excreted i n the urine. Four employees have been treated with mPA following Three of these cases involved nitric acid burns. Two of these have been described in WP-640 where their treatments a calculation shows that about 96 percent of the plutonium which entered the system was excreted in the urine. About I 13 times the maximum permissible body burden was excreted i n the urine during the course of treatments. The other case reported in WP-640 was probably equally successful but the smaller quantities of material involved did not. permit a similar calculation. A third employee received DTPA treatments for 5 days following a contaminated nitric acid burn. m a very 8marto the other two but it turned out that
Page 48
the treatments were not necessary because very little plutonium entered the body. The fourth burn case was the result of a solvent burning 1 I - & , - . the treatments were halted after a few days because very little plutonium was found in the urine. In this case as well, \ Two separate explosions have occurred i n which three employees have been exposed t o plutonium. The first occurred i n 1957 when two employees were exposed via Inhalation,ingestion, and absorption through wounds caused by flying debris. they were exposed was a mixture of oxides, hydroxides, time of the accident. can be seen i n WP-128. I EPA treatments7years after this incident. The plutonium t o which These two employees received EDTA a t the The effectiveness of these treatments These two employees also received The result s- II of these treatments have been summarized i n RFP-577. 1IN w 4r eport shows that while urine excretion levels increased lG fold, only about 1.5 and 1.9 percent of their calculated body burdens were removed during the course of treatments. The second explosion occurred In 1963 and resulted in the exposure of an employee via inhalation,ingestion, and absorption from a massive wound of the left hand. plutonium was a mixture of metal, oxides and chlorides. The DTPA treatments In this case were found
Page 49
i it obe very effective. About 8micro curies or 200 times the maximum permissible body burden was eliminated via the urine during the course of' treatments. dramatized the need for IXPA therapy in some accident cases but it also demonstrated the feasibility of orally administered IYTPA in certain circumstances. This not only In general,our experience with EPPA has been very good. I n some cases the effectiveness in removing plutonium was easily measurable. used t o demonstrate that little or no plutonium had gotten into the system. material benefit was derived,there was a good psychological In other cases the treatments were Even i n the cases where little
Page 50
THE i)Oril CBEXICAL COMPANY GOLDSN, COLO WO EVALUATION OF LUNG BURDEN FOLLOWING ACUTE I h - iTION EXPOSTRE TO HIGHLY INSOLUBLE bo,
Page 51
c On October 15, 1965, a fire in a plutonium fabrication plm t resulted in a large - scale spread of plutonium oxide. The Roc'ky Flats body counter was used t o measure the glut on im in the lungs of all eiaployees .working in the area. Of appr oki zat ely 400 eagloyees counted, 25 were found t o have enough plutonium in the i7 lungs to deliver a dose of 15 rem per year or greater. Data from eacn enployee were obtained with two scintillation detectors in contact with the subject ls chest. photon peak of Ama4 = was used inthe measurements. The An241 content of the plutonium released in the fire was determined and the plutonium quantity was then de te mined from calibrations done on a chest phantom with similar size measurements of air saiaples collected after the fire indicated a 0.32-micron mass median diameter witha georretrlc deviation (u ) of 1.83 . Lung data so far show very slow and the small particle size. On the average, 30 percent of material initially deposited was cleared U2to3 months.
Page 52
The rena in ing material is clearing very slowly with little or no measurable absorption into the bloodstream. Sime June, 1964, plutonium inhalation cases nave been under that estimates of lunz burdens of plutonium can b e made using the body counter if the amount of Am341 present in the exposure nate rial is known. On October 15, 1965, during a maintenance operation in which an attempt was made t o unplug an oil coolant line on a lathe, plutonium metal chips caught fire. The fire occurred outside of a glovebox in a 70,000-sq.rb.? L plutonium production area. About 400 employees were working i n the room. Even t'nough the fire was extinguished ina few minutes, airborne contamination spread quickly throughout the area.Air sampler filters indicated an activity range of greater than 1 pc/P down t o pc/M3 a t the most remote locations. Because the contamination spread s o rapidly, many employees were in high airborne cont an hati on areas without respiratory protection. Those showing high' levels of contamlnatlon
Page 53
about the nose and mouth were scheduled for body counting CI first, followed by those witn lower con.tanination levels. A s soon as a man was decontaminated externally, he went t o the body counter. person was counted. fil-st day and evening of the Tire. significant amounts of plutonium i n the chest. additional exposures were found. inthe following weeks. mPA treatments were given by the medical depart nen t to eight of the first positive cases. enhance plutonium excretion in the urine, Within 2hr.after the fire the first Tourteen people were counted on t n e Seven of these snowed The treat n ents did not so they were Subsequent positive cases did not receive M'PA INITIAL SCREENING PROCEDURE The Rocky..Flats body counter has been described elsewhere. used for chest counting, one on each side of t ne patient ' s on 128-channe1 subgroups of the pulse-height analyzer. Using a calibration of 1 kev per channel, the 6Gkev Ania41 photopeak covers from channels 40 t o 80. Pulse-height spectra from each detector are displayed
Page 54
The normal time for routine counting is 40 minutes; however, 20-minute counts are adequate for initial screening purposes. This allows enough.counts t o accumulate inthe 60-kev photopeak region to visually d is tsn guls h between a background spectrum and an photopeak on t h e readout Two criteria for initials cr zen ing purposes were used t o decide if a person had a sign ii ' icant lung de2osit : (1) The presence o f an 60-kev gama ray pnotopeak, o r (2) A gross count rate of 46 c / nor greater when integrated over the 40- t o 80-kev range. The second criterion wa3 based on BOSS ' study of the distribution of chest count data for 180 employees. studies showed an average chest background o f 32 c/m inthe 60-kev photopeak witha 30 value of 46 c/m. (4) It was therefore ' reasoned that a count over this value would be suspect. However, unti i the Amar1 content of the exposure material could be determined, the degree of exposure t o plutonium was n o t known. Fourteen people were counted on r?rlday, the day of the fire. These were the employees that had been worklng on the equipment
Page 55
or that were inthe irrimeaiate vicinity when the fire started. ' : e Seven of these had counts greater than 70 c/m and showed 46 c/in and none exhibited a 60-kev photopeak. .After, body counting, the plant physic2z.n a dx in iste red1gran of DTPA The other seven h accounts less than intravenously to the ex3osed en?logees. On Saturday, Sunday, and illonday morning, t h e exposed employees received further CTPA treatments,1 g~aneach day, and were given 40-nlnute counts In the body counter. All u in e and feces from the ex?osed employees were collected for laboratory analysis. all other employees checked inthe body counter. Sanples were also requested from c On Monday afternoon, 20-minute screenings were resumed for those employees thatwere at greater distances from the fire, but still having possibly Inhaled plutonium from the fire. It was thought that all of the positive exposure cases had been counted on E'riday; however, two more positive cases were found on Nonday afternoon, one on Wednesday, and one O n following the fire. The screenings continued through the second week it was then realized that it would be necessary to count all personnel that were i n the building a t the tine of the fire regardless or their proximity to.the
Page 56
fire. It would also be desirable to accelerate the screening c prog rm in order to handle the nuz5er o f people involved. It was suggested. that two employees ata time might be counted using one detector for each. Exgeriments' were conducted and it was found thata ' ' hoLf fcI man could be counted witha without increasing the cold nan ' s chest count by Si acing the two nen in seated posLtions in opposite corners ofthe TOOX. One detector was piaced over the left side of th z chest or' each ofthe two su5:ects. Asa background inonitor, a third detector was placed in the center of the room over a few bags o f sugar. Noveraber 2, the third week after the fire. Three hundred eighty - eight employees inall were checked. case was found o n December 23. This 2rocedure was begun on The last positive The body counter had been calibrated for plutonium chest measurements before the fire. containing 0.3 pc of pluto niu n with 700-ppm with the compound and poured into the lung cavities in the This was done using a REMAB Long island City, New York
Page 57
pre2ared giving the factors fo'r converting counts per minute inthe 60-kev photopeak to micro curies of plutonium for a range of Ani A series of nca sur cn ents were then made using the d A calibration chart was Since the measurement oi' pl&:oniui in the chest is done by t o have an analysis of the which the person i s exposed. deteriiiined, periodic corrections for americium growth are content of the material to Once the initial mount is Late inthe day of the fire a value or' 1830 ppm of An?41 was determined for the plutonium involved in the fire. on the previous calibration,with a detector positioned on either side ofthe sternum, this gave a value of 45 c/m -n e t for one maximum permissible lung burden (MPLB) o f 0.016 uc (see Appendix), or an average value of 22.5 c/m net for each
The text continues in the original scan (74 pages).