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Distribution of plutonium-239 and americium-241 in the human skeleton by james f. Mcinroy, lanl and margery j. Swint, us transuranium registry. The concentration of 239pu and 241am in each bone of two nuclear workers having 25 years exposure was determined. The defleshed bones of the right half of each skeleton were ashed and dissolved in acid. The distribution of plutonium and americium in these 2 skeletons was similar. From this data, distribution coefficients can be obtained and used for the extrapolation of measurements from the smaller bone specimens obtained from routine autopsies to the whole skeleton.
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Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California lor the United States Department of Energy under Contract W-7405-ENG-36 I N THE HUMAN SKELETON *United States Transuranium Registry By acceptance 0 1 this article the publisher recognizes that the U S Government retains a nonexclusive royalty-lree license to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution or lo allow others to d o so. lor U S Government purposes The Los Alamos National Laboratory requests that the publisher idenlily this article as work performed under the auspices of the U S Departmenl Of Energy Los Alamos National Laboratory
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DISTRIBUTION OF PLUTONIUM-239 AND AMERICIUM-241 I N THE HUMAN SKELETON Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos. New Mexico 87545 United States Transuranium Registry Richland, Washington 99352, USA The concentration of =**Pu and =.=Am i n each bone o f two nuclear workers having 25 years exposure was determined. The defleshed bones o f the right half of each skeleton were ashed and dissolved In acid. Each radioisotope was Isolated.electro deposited onto plan chet s. and counted by alpha-pulse-height spectrometry. The long bones ofthe arms and legs were separated Into the shaft and the proximal and distal ends. Gross dl s trl but lons in the cancellous and mineral bones were measured. Percent Distribution in Major Bone Sites Spine and Pelvis 17.8 28.7 Shoulder and Rib Cage 9.0 8.3 Arms and Hands 13.1 11.2 Legs and Feet 46.0 37.5 Excluding the respiratory system, 48% of the plutonium was inthe liver and 44% in the skeleton : americium was distributed 6% in the liver and 84% In the skeleton. The distribution of plutonium and amerlclum I n these two skeletons was similar. The teeth were found t o have a relatively low, but consistent, c once ntr atl on of americium and plutonium. The c once ntr atl on of these nuclides in the bones was best expressed i n terms of act lv it y per gram ash. From these data, distribution coefficients can be obtalned and used for the extrapolation of measurements from the smaller bone specimens obtained from rout l ne autopsies to the whole skeleton.