RMI Nuclear Justice Documents

AOU Ld
BROOKHAVEN

NATIONAL

LABORATORY

MEMORANDUM

.

LOST COPY AVAILABLE
,

Question:

[s it

TO:

: an
ution
Distrib
|

FROM:

F. Cua

SUBJECT:

Determination of Pu Bone Burden
Through Teeth Analysis

ql

1978

AEp

celevant and weighty enough for a 189 from DBER?

Outline of PF.
I.

21,

November

DATE:

oP.

Objective 1:

Cuats Research Proposal:
‘fo develop an alternative technique to urine

calculation of

low

level

plutonium bone

burden--namely,

the

sampling for the
determination

of

plutonium activity concentration in-teeth samples.

Rationale L:

Current state-of-the-art technique for the analysis of Pu in

urine

is

samples

such

that

the minimum detectable

limit

is

in

the

region

of

the range of activity concentration of Pu in Marshall Islands urine samples.
In addition, bioassay sampling suffers from several deficiencies:

assumption has to be made on the model of Pu distribution and excretion;
counting statistics, chemical recovery and uncertainty of a 24 hour
urine sample results in errors that average 25%.

a)
b)

Objective 2;
Pu

‘lo develop a

ingested can

be

obtained

technique whereby the fraction of Pu inhaled versus
and

thereby

serve

as

a

cross~check

to

the

current

method of vegetation-diet study and air-sampling resuspension program--namely,
the autoradiography of teeth samples.
Rationale 2:

Dose assessment through environmental monitoring in the Marshall

Islands suffers from the following deficiencies:
a)

use of models

b)

animal data to reference man;
assumption of constant continuous uptake which certainly is not the

c)

difficulties

case;

for Pu distribution and retention extrapolated from

in continuous air sampling due to lack of power in the

islands.
Note:

LI.

‘The proposed study will make use of animal data and will need certain
unavoidable assumptions, but they are by far more controllable and less
uncertain,

Yeeth samples From animals under study at the following laboratories:

Materials:

Definite:

a)

Battelle Northwest Laboratory

beagle bogs - 238pu0),
,

9004554

and

(c/o J.

239pud,,

injection

F.

Park,

FITS 8-444-3375)

239Pu(NO3)4 inhalation studies

studies

(to be

verified)