Modelling of long-term retention of high-fired plutonium oxide in the human respiratory tract: importance of scar-tissue compartments

The U.S. Transuranium and Uranium Registries whole-body tissue donor Case 0407 had an acute intake
of ‘high-fired’ plutonium oxide resulting from a glove-box fire in a fabrication plant at a nuclear
defence facility. The respiratory tract of this individual was dissected into five regions (larynx,
bronchi, bronchioles, alveolar-interstitial, and thoracic lymph nodes) and analysed for plutonium
content. The activities in certain compartments of the respiratory tract were found to be higher
than expected from the default models described in publications of the International Commission on
Radiological Protection. Because of the extremely slow rate of dissolution of the material inhaled,
the presence of bound fraction is incapable of explaining the higher-than-expected retention. A
plausible hypothesis —encapsulation of plutonium in scar tissues—is supported by the review of
literature. Therefore, scar-tissue compartments corresponding to the larynx, bronchi, bronchioles
and alveolar...

Source: Journal of Radiological Protection - November 18, 2021 Category: Physics Authors: Deepesh Poudel, Maia Avtandilashvili, John A Klumpp, Luiz Bertelli and Sergei Y Tolmachev Source Type: research