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.