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

Concentrations of alpha-emitting isotopes of U and Th in uranium miners' and millers' tissues

Journal Article · · Health Phys.; (United States)
; ; ;

The concentrations of alpha-emitting isotopes of U (/sup 234/U, /sup 235/U, and /sup 238/U) and Th (/sup 228/Th, /sup 230/Th, and /sup 232/Th) were determined in soft tissues and bones of three deceased U miners and two deceased U millers. The soft tissues generally included lung, liver, kidney, spleen, gonad and heart. The concentrations of U isotopes in the miners' lungs varied up to a factor of 18, suggesting that the accumulations of U in lungs at the time of death varied drastically. The concentrations of /sup 230/Th in the miners' lungs were similar to the concentrations of /sup 234/U and /sup 238/U. The concentrations of U isotopes and /sup 230/Th in millers' lungs also differed by a factor of almost 10. The most noticeable difference between the concentrations of U isotopes (/sup 238/U and /sup 234/U) and /sup 230/Th was in the skeleton of U miners and millers. The /sup 230/Th//sup 234/U concentration ratios were as high as 94 in bones of miners and as high as 23 in millers. These results suggest that the fraction of Th transferred from blood to bones is much higher than the fraction of U transferred, and that the residence time of Th in skeleton is much higher than the residence time of U as suggested in ICRP Publication 30.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City
OSTI ID:
6063290
Journal Information:
Health Phys.; (United States), Journal Name: Health Phys.; (United States) Vol. 53:3; ISSN HLTPA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Concentrations of uranium and thorium isotopes in uranium millers' and miners' tissues
Technical Report · Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1985 · OSTI ID:5090285
Thorium in human tissues. Formal report 1 Sep 76-31 Mar 80
Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1981 · OSTI ID:5387950
The geochemistry of uranium and thorium isotopes in the Western Desert of Egypt
Journal Article · Mon Oct 31 23:00:00 EST 1994 · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · OSTI ID:28579

Related Subjects

560161* -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ALPHA PARTICLES
BODY
CHARGED PARTICLES
DISTRIBUTION
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LUNGS
METALLURGY
MINING
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEI
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
ORGANS
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
SKELETON
THORIUM 228
THORIUM 230
THORIUM 232
THORIUM ISOTOPES
TISSUE DISTRIBUTION
URANIUM 234
URANIUM 235
URANIUM 238
URANIUM ISOTOPES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES