Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Diurnal urinary volume and uranium output in uranium workers and unexposed controls

Journal Article · · Health Physics
 [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  2. CHEMCHEK Instruments, Inc., Richland, WA (United States)

Volume and uranium content were determined in individual urine voids over a 76-h (3.25-d) period from six unexposed normal male subjects and three male uranium workers. Uranium analyses were accomplished by a newly developed high-precision kinetic phosphorescence analysis technique with a lower level of detection of 0.007 ng mL{sup {minus}1}. Urinary uranium concentrations in individual voids varied by a factor of 2 or less for any one unexposed subject, although there was an order of magnitude variation among the group of unexposed men. The fractional urinary volume excreted in the {open_quotes}standard{close_quotes} so-called simulated 24-h sample was the same for both the unexposed and exposed groups and averaged 0.42 {+-} 0.13 of the total daily urine volume. The fraction of uranium in the simulated 24-h samples was 0.43 {+-} 0.15 in the unexposed group but only 0.31 {+-} 0.13 in the uranium worker group, suggesting that the use of the simulated 24-h urine sample would underestimate the total daily urinary uranium output by approximately a factor of 2 in the uranium workers. Daily urinary excretion relative to intake from drinking water (essentially equal to the gastrointestinal uptake fraction) among the unexposed group ranged from 0.002-0.028, averaging 0.011 {+-} 0.008, with an indication that the gastrointestinal uptake factor was inversely proportional to total intake via drinking water. 11 refs., 1 fig., 6 tabs.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
OSTI ID:
39408
Journal Information:
Health Physics, Journal Name: Health Physics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 67; ISSN HLTPAO; ISSN 0017-9078
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Uptake of uranium from drinking water
Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · OSTI ID:5879858

Fractional absorption of ingested uranium in humans
Journal Article · Fri Mar 31 23:00:00 EST 1995 · Health Physics · OSTI ID:254358

Ingestion of chromium(VI) in drinking water by human volunteers: Absorption, distribution, and excretion of single and repeated doses
Journal Article · Tue Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1996 · Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health · OSTI ID:456709