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STUDIES OF PLUTONIUM IN HUMAN TRACHEOBRONCHIAL LYMPH NODES ( PLUTONIUM INJECTION EXPERIMENT )

MCINROY, J F [LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY]; MOSS, W D [LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY]; STEWART, M W [LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY]

HREX; HUMAN TRACHEOBRONCHIAL; HUMAN TRACHEOBRONCHIAL LYMPH N; LYMPH NODES; PLUTONIUM; STUDIES; TRACHEOBRONCHIAL

Location - DOE/NNSA NUCLEAR TESTING ARCHIVE Address - P.O. Box 98521 City - Las Vegas State - NV Zip - 89193-8521 Phone - (702)794-5106 Fax - (702)862-4240 Email - NTA@NV.DOE.GOV

BOOK

Never classified

0005

NV0703627

1994 Aug 27

2012 May 14

STUDIES OF PLUTONIUM IN HUMAN TRACHEOBRONCHIAL LYMPH NODES BY JAMES F. MCINROY, MICHAEL W. STEWART, WILLIAM D. MOSS. SINCE 1959 TISSUES FROM 70 OCCUPATIONALLY EXPOSED FORMER EMPLOYEES OF THE LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY HAVE BEEN EXAMINED FOLLOWING AUTOPSY. CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF SELECTED TISSUES WERE PERFORMED TO DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF PLUTONIUM RETAINED IN THE BODY AT THE TIME OF DEATH. ON THE BASIS OF THE MEASURED TISSUE CONCENTRATIONS OF PLUTONIUM, EXTRAPOLATIONS OF TOTAL BODY BURDENS WERE MADE. THIRTY-THREE OF THE MEASURED CASES HAD PLUTONIUM DEPOSITIONS IN THE TRACHEOBRONCHIAL LYMPH NODES RANGING FROM 0.1 TO 4000 PDM PER GRAM OF TISSUE (0.05 TO 1800 PCI/G). THE DURATION OF EXPOSURES RANGE FROM 4 TO 30 YEARS. MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVE SECTIONS OF THESE LYMPH NODES REVEALED NO ABNORMALITIES OTHER THAN THOSE WHICH WERE DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE BASIC DISEASE THAT CAUSED THE DEMISE OF THE VARIOUS PERSONS IN THIS STUDY. THE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF PLUTONIUM PARTICLES IN NODES FROM ONE INDIVIDUAL WAS DETERMINED BY EXPOSING TISSUE SECTIONS TO NUCLEAR TRACK FILM. THE ESTIMATED MASS MEDIAN DIAMETER OF THE PARTICLES WAS 0.3 UM AND THE DISTRIBUTION HAD A GEOMETRIC STANDARD DEVIATION OF 1.6. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT 95% OF THE INDIVIDUAL PARTICLES HAD CORRESPONDING PLUTONIUM CONCENTRATIONS BETWEEN 0.001 AND 0.22 PCI.