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Reprinted by the

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND

LFARE
Public Health Service
From RADIOLOGICAL HEALTH DATA, Vol. 6, No. 12, December 1965

D1) Kaa AL onl,

CONFIRMED TO BE UNCLASSIFI
AUTHORITY: DOE/SA-20
akt. HALF-TIME OF CESIUM-137 IN MAN?
HrR;
BY

h.@ Cllsop

©. MeCrau*

/

*.

part of participation in the Federal © Available data

Kaha:..n Council Working Group and Ad Hoe

F.. ©, un Strontium and Cesium Radionuclides

4: -:~-«veloped Report No.7, the available matevial ond dat:. pn the half-time of cesium-137

:. att were reviewed. The purpose of this

.” :zt was to collect data on measured values
©. ve .am~187 half-time that could be employed,
_sfodac. witn other material, to support the
. « of an assumed value of biological half-life
:: whole body and bone marrow dose calculatigas.
This report represents (1) collected data on
aaeasured values of cesium-187 half-time in

Table 1 lists data from the literature. The
symbol T, will be used to represent the
biological half-time of cesium-187 in man.

Where possible, the range of observed values

for each group of individuals studied is
included.
Discussion of data

' Rather than present individual measurements of T, for each subject, many investigators have reported an average value
with an indication of the range of observed

man, (2) a suggested model for expressing “values, Considering the lower limits of the

ce’ ar -137 half-time as a function of age, and

‘; ust.aates of doses and body burdens for a
. * : salake of cesium-137 and for intake of
437 in milk, using an assumed pattern
-* -}% consumption by various ages..
~"..@
Anportant consideration in determining
11. body and bone marrow radiation dose
w an exposed population from internal cesium237 is the effective half-time of this radionu-

clide in man. Should there be a different bio-

logic .«] half-time for cesium—137 in various age
ucoups within a population and an effective
‘half-time* which varies as a function of age, it will be necessary to consider this factor in
determining doses to the population and in
,ie:ermining which age group in the population

will receive the highest exposure from a conwaninating event.

+ AG.upted from HASL-164:281-300, Clearinghouse
for Federal Sciextifie and Technical Information, 5285
Port Royal Rosd, Springfield, Virginia 22151 (October 1, 1965). Price $7.00.

-?Mr, McCraw is a Health Physicist with the Division
of Operational Safety, Atomic Energy Commission,
Germantown, Maryland.

* For cesium. 137 in man, the radiological half-time

is so tong (about-11,000 days) and the biological halfaime is a0 short ‘of the order of 100 days or less) that
for purposes of this report, the effective half-time ean

be considered equal to the biological half-time.

range of values for “adults” (unweighted for
numberof subjects) for all investigators where
‘ a range was given, the average value for the

-lower limits is about 78 days. The average

value for the upper limits is about 122 days,
and the overall average is about 98 days for
these data.

The unweighted mean of the “Body Radioactivity Measurements and Excretion or
Dietary Analysis” data from Rundo’s summary
is 110 days. The “Body Radioactivity Measurements” give an unweighted mean of 108 day:.
The “Excretion or Dietary Analysis” data give
an unweighted mean of 114 days. Thus, the two
techniques appear to give results which are in
close agreement.
The data collected on T, for groups of sut-

jects are presented graphically in figure 1. Aix:

plotted are individua] values for 6- and 8-year-.
old girls and for two infants (Rundo), and
values for three young women and twoinfants
(Bengtsson et al.). In order to display the data
for “adults”, it has been assumed that this age
- group consists of those about 20 to 26 years of
‘age and older, and the elderly are assumed to
be over 60 years of age.

Le maceen

December 7965

1 Pod

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