FUTURE PLANS While caprine studies are definitely a logical step toward understanding the transport of curium to milk, definitive studies must ultimately be conducted The second curium study in using the major milk producing animal, the cow. One animal will receive an this series will use two lactating dairy cows. acute oral dose, and the second cow will be given a single curium dose via Initial selection of an appropriate oral dose usually intravenous injection. Dosing considerations represents an estimate based on several considerations. in this case include the observed percentage transfer of intravenously administered curium-243 to goat's milk, a best estimate gut reduction factor, the approximate detection limits for curium-243 analyses on milk, and the probable Collection procedures will be similar to those just bovine milk production. Milk, urine, feces, and blood samples described in the caprine experiment. Both animals will will be collected for approximately 144 hours after dosing. then be sacrificed and tissue samples analyzed for curium content. Metabolism studies will also be conducted this fiscal year to determine the biological transport of neptunium in dairy animals. These experiments are still in the planning stage, but will’ be basically similar to those described for curium. Dairy goats will be used in the first project where individual animals will receive either oral or intravenous neptunium doses. Subsequent neptunium experiments will then be conducted in the fall of 1976 using dairy cows. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to express their appreciation to Stephen Lloyd, Edward Compton, Robert Mosley, Neil Mathews, and Cletus Feldt for their contribution to the collection and/or analysis phases of this study. 177