estimated ratio at NTS is only about 100.
The designation of lungs and
bone as critical organs was based on radiation dose calculations which
showed these two organs receiving the highest dose, after 70 years, of
all organs for which radiation dose criteria have been established by
the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).
The
calculated dose to lymph nodes was higher but ICRP has not established
dose criteria for lymph nodes.
The results of these dose calculations
are shown in Figure 2 (Martin and Bloom, 1977).

Table 1.

Fractions of 739Pu in Bone, Liver, or Kidney
Due to Chronic Ingegtjon and Inhalation for a

Period of 50 Years

Fraction Due

Fraction Due

1

0.0005

0.9995

10

0.0053

0.9947

100°?

0.0506

0.9494

200

0.0964

0.9036

400

0.1758

0.8242

1000

0.3478

0.6522

Ingestion/Inhalation

(a)
(b)

to Ingestion

to Inhalation

Estimated burdens based on ICRP Publications 2 and 19.
Estimated ratio at the Nevada Test Site.

The previous calculations are subject to considerable uncertainty due to
variations in source term and parameters in the models.
These variations
result from uncertainties in sampling, measuring, and interpreting
plutonium levels in laboratory experiments and in the environment.
A

detailed analysis of the effects of all these variations would be a

prohibitively large task.
Fortunately, this is not necessary since it
has been shown that the most significant effects of these variations are
directed toward the inhalation pathway and the radiation dose to lungs
and bone.
This report examines these parts of the model by developing
simplified equations that are valid for periods of exposure greater than
about 19 years and exploring the effects of these variations on this
simpler model.

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