Thorium in occupationally exposed men.

Conference · Wed Feb 24 04:00:00 EST 1999

OSTI ID:12383

Stehney, A F

Higher than environmental levels of {sup 232}Th have been found in autopsy samples of lungs and other organs from four former employees of a thorium refinery. Working periods of the subjects ranged from 3 to 24 years, and times from end of work to death ranged from 6 to 31 years. Examination of the distribution of thorium among the organs revealed poor agreement with the distribution calculated from the dosimetric models in Publication 30 of the International Commission on Radioprotection (ICRP). Concentrations in the lungs relative to pulmonary lymph nodes, bone or liver were much higher than calculated from the model for class Y thorium and the exposure histories of the workers. Much better agreement was found with more recently proposed models in Publications 68 and 69 of the ICRP. Radiation doses estimated from the amounts of thorium in the autopsy samples were compatible with health studies that found no significant difference in mortality from that of the general population of men in the US.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 12383
• Report Number(s): ANL/ESH/CP-98224
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
AUTOPSY
LUNGS
LYMPH NODES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
RADIATION DOSES
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
THORIUM 232
TISSUE DISTRIBUTION