CESIUM-137 BODY BURDENS IN NORWEGIAN BOYS
861
120
[] MARCH 1964
OCTOBER 1964
|
OCTOBER 1963
4
We, NC
100 H
90
80 +
70
60
5040
~ 30
20 +
10 -
oR MARCH 1963
1
110
a
10} 11/12)13114/15116117/ 18119! 20] 21122] AVERAGE
CASE NO.
Fig. 2—'!""Cs body burdens.
Table 3—!'Ccs BODY BURDENS*
Body burden, ne
Date
Average
Lowest
Highest
March 1963
October 1963
March 1964
23,2
44.9
47.2
16.0 (1)
27.9 (13)
24.8 (13)
43.5 (22)
64.5 (20)
67.5 (22)
October 1964
49.9
30.7 (1)
*Numbers in parentheses are
80.9 (8)
case numbers,
March 1963 to 44.9 ne in October 1963 and then to 47.2 nc in March
1964. In October 1964 the average body burden was 49.9 nc.
The ratio between '"Cs and potassium, where }*"Cs is given in
picocuries and potassium is given in grams, is often preferred to ex-
press the body burden of '*’Cs; however, the most recent method of
expressing body burdens of radioactive materials is to give the amount
of the radioactive material per kilogram of body weight.
In Fig. 3 the body burdens are expressed asthe ratio of pico-
curies of }*"Cs per gram of potassium. If this figure is compared with
Fig, 2, it can be seen that there is good agreement between them. The
37Cs/potassium ratio increased in all the cases from March to Octo-
ber 1963. During the period October 1963 to March 1964, the '"Ccs/
potassium ratio increased in the same boys inwhom the total Cs body
burden increased.
During the period March to October 1964, the situation remained
the same except for two cases, Nos. 15 and 20, which showed a de-
creased ‘'Cs body burden and a slightly increased }*’Cs/potassium
Sf