Evaluating Plutonium Intake and Radiation Dose Following Extensive Chelation Treatment

A voluntary partial-body donor (US Transuranium and Uranium Registries case 0785) was accidentally exposed to 239Pu via inhalation and wounds. This individual underwent medical treatment including wound excision and extensive chelation treatment with calcium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and calcium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid. Approximately 2.2 kBq of 239Pu was measured in the wound site 44 y after the accident. Major soft tissues and selected bones were collected at autopsy and radiochemically analyzed for 238Pu, 239Pu, and 241Am. Postmortem systemic retention of 238Pu, 239Pu, and 241Am was estimated to be 32.0 ± 1.4 Bq, 2,172 ± 70 Bq, and 394 ± 15 Bq, respectively. Approximately 3% of 239Pu whole-body activity was still retained in the lungs 51 y after the accident indicating exposure to insoluble plutonium material. To estimate the intake and calculate radiation dose, urine measurements not affected by chelation treatment, in vivo chest counts, and postmortem radiochemical analysis data were simultaneously fitted using Integrated Modules for Bioassay Analysis Professional Plus software. The currently recommended International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication 130 human respiratory tract model and National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Report 156 wound model were used with default parameters. The intake, adjusted for 239Pu removed by chelation treatment, was estimated at approximately 79.5 kBq with 68% resulting from inhalatio...
Source: Health Physics - Category: Radiology Tags: PAPERS Source Type: research