-
-5-
e
they can remain for tong periods of time. and deliver a very
oon
-
intense radiation dose to the surrounding lung tissue.
Plutonium is one of the most potent cancer producing
agents known to man.
A machinist of plutonium metal carried
0.08 micrograms of plutonium-239 imbedded at the site of
the puncture wound in the palm of his hand.
Within the four
year period before it was excized, it produced a nodule which
displayed precancerous changes®.
There is little doubt from
experimental animal studies that inhaled plutonium is one of
the most poteht respiratory carcinogens known.
There is
experimental and observed evidence that plutonium concentra-
tions in the lungs of dogs as low as 0.2 microcuries
grams of plutonium-239) produce cancer’,
(3 micro-
Hence, the flow of
200 million kilograms of plutonium represents a flow of over
1017 cancer doses, a staggering number which, as wili be
demonstrated subsequently, may be an underestimate of the
cancer doses by several orders of magnitude.
~~
e
The persistance of this toxic material, once lost to
oc
the environment, is measured in terms of thousands of years.
Roughly two-thirds of the plutonium flowing in the nuclear
a
S/
Lushbauch, C.C.-and J. Langham,
"A Dermal Lesion from
Implanted Plutonium,” Archives of Dermatclocy, 86, October
1962, pp. 121-124...
i
wt
uw
Two-tenths of a microcurie of plutonium-238 wouls kh
mass of only 0.01 micrograms Since plutonium-2se n
much higher specific activity, 17.47 curies per gran.
0
There are 0.061 curies per gram of plutonium-22 9.
po)
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