o 4 tt . hRoy tan reme.n for longa per.isds of . 4 . _ tir: and deliver a very intense radiation dose to the surrounding lung tissue. Plutonium is one cf the most potent agents known to man. cancer producing A machinist of plutonium metal carried '.08 micrograms of pvluteniunm-239 imbedded at the site of the puncture wound in the palm of his hand. Within the four year period before it was excized, it produced a nodule which Gisplayed precancerous changes". There is little doubt from expérimental animal studies that inhaled plutonium is one of the most potent respiratory carcinogens known. There is experimental and observed evidence that plutonium concentra- tions in the lungs of dogs as low as 0.2 microcuries trams of plutonium-23 ) < ? wroduce cancer’. Hence, 200 million kilograms of plutonium represents (3 micro- the flow of a flow of over 101? cancer doses, a staggering number which, as will be q the th Tomonstrated subsequently, may be an underestimate <2 cancer doses by several orders of magnitude. | | ; ; , The persistance of this toxic material, the environment, once lost to is measured in terms of thousands of years. Roughly two-thirds of the plutonium flowing in.the nuclear 6/ lLushbauch, C.C. and J. Langham, "A Dermal Lesion from Implanted Plutonium," Archives of Dermatology, 1962, pp. 7/ 121-124, 86, October There are 0.061 curies per gram of plutonium-239. Two-tenths of a microcurie of plutonium-238 would have a mass of only 0.01 micrograms since plutonium-238 has a much higher specific activity, 17.47 curies per gram. Lratnaitied!1 Ba * wae le See Moe hyTe, ree ™ poy tate a cee OR ys TOURS ae “erm 44 wea ‘ ty . ~ . ‘7 ET anlan Me le ct . r oF ff a tb al ee ee - / O