Biomedical & Environmental Sciences Divisions
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
a
410009
August 16, 1984
R
Dr. Roy Thompson
PNL
P.0. Box 999
Richland, WA
99352
Dear Roy:
I decided to send a copy of some of my scratchings concerning possible Pu body
burdens (liver and bone) based on Pu concentrations we have measured in foods
and soil at Bikini Island (Attachment 1).
These body burdens are compared
with the urine concentrations observed in the Bikinians and also compared with
other observations recently reported in human subjects.
The net result is that with Pu concentrations we have measured at Bikini Atol]
in soil and vegetation, with current models and a range of values for
parameters jin the models and with recent empirical observations of the
relationships between Pu in urine and that in liver, it is difficult to develop
a reasonable scenario which could account for the high (60fCi/1 per day) urine
Pu concentration observed.
To do so requires consumption of large quantities
of soil or very high gut transfer coefficients or very different fractional
depositions of Pu transferred across the gut or very different turnover times
for Pu from the sites of deposition or all of the above.
It appears that even with the range of fractional deposition values recently
reported by Thomas, Healy, and McInroy | (i.e. bone and liver both ranging
from 20-90% but together accounting for 100% of the deposition) and with the
range of values usually mentioned for turnover times in liver and bone, that
neither of these factors could be combined in a way to remotely account for
the results.
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