Year: 1966
Type: report
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The retention and excretion of uranium by about 80 employees routinely assigned to calcining and fluorinating uranium-bearing materials enriched in the isotope have been closely followed for more than a year.In vivo measurements of body radioactivity were made by means of gamma spectrometry with two Hal scintillation detectors in an "iron-room" type, low background counter.Initial chest cavity burdens ranged from less than 0.006 pCi to about 0.050 pCi of enriched uranium, with only two cases having annual averages greater than 0.017 pCi.The effective halflives for chest cavity retention of the three employees who were temporar ily removed from uranium processing areas ranged from about 120 to 250 days.Urine samples _o1lected over 2k hours were analyzed for uranium 275 mass, alpha activity, and U enrichment.Average ratios of chest cavity burden to urine excretion rate increased from about 550 bo 1100 between the initial and final determinations.Fecal excretion rates averaged *This document is based on work performed at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, operated by Union Carbide Corporation, Nuclear Division, for the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission.
DOI: 10.2172/4525310
Author: N Schultz
Language: English
Subfield: Radiological and Ultrasound Technology
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4247736570