PLUTONIUM
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1. PUBLIC HEALTH STATEMENT
1.4 HOW CAN PLUTONIUM ENTER AND LEAVE MY BODY?
Plutonium can
When you breathe air that contains plutonium, some of it will get trapped in
enter your body
your lungs. Some of the trapped plutonium will move to other parts of your
when it is inhaled
body, mainly your bones and liver. The amount of plutonium that stays in
or swallowed
your lungs depends on the solubility of the plutonium that is in the air you
breathe.
A small amount of the plutonium you swallow (much less than 1%) will enter
other parts of your body (mainly your bones and liver).
If plutonium gets onto your healthy skin, very little, if any, plutonium will enter
your body. More plutonium will enter your body if gets onto injured skin,
such as a cut or burn.
Plutonium in your
Plutonium leaves your body very slowly in the urine and feces. If plutonium
body will remain
were to enter your lungs today, much of the plutonium would still be in your
there for many
body 30–50 years later.
years
Further information on how plutonium enters and leaves the body is given in Chapter 3.
1.5 HOW CAN PLUTONIUM AFFECT MY HEALTH?
Plutonium may remain in the lungs or move to the bones, liver, or other body organs. It generally stays in
the body for decades and continues to expose the surrounding tissues to radiation.
Lung, liver, and
bone cancer
You may develop cancer depending on how much plutonium is in your body
and for how long it remains in your body. The types of cancers you would
most likely develop are cancers of the lung, bones, and liver. These types
of cancers have occurred in workers who were exposed to plutonium in air
at much higher levels than is in the air that most people breathe.
Affect ability to
fight infections
In laboratory animals, plutonium affected the animal’s ability to resist
disease (immune system).
More information on the health effects of plutonium is presented in Chapters 2 and 3.
PLUTONIUM
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1. PUBLIC HEALTH STATEMENT
1.6 HOW CAN PLUTONIUM AFFECT CHILDREN?
This section discusses potential health effects in humans from exposures during the period from
conception to maturity at 18 years of age.
There are
Studies in young animals have shown that a larger amount of the plutonium
differences
deposited in the lung will move to growing bones. Therefore, it is possible
between children
that the bones of children could be more severely affected by plutonium
and adult
than the bones of adults; however, this has not been shown in humans or
laboratory animals.
Studies in animals have also shown that a larger amount of plutonium that
enters the gut of newborn animals is absorbed into the body.
Effects in unborn
children
We do not know if plutonium causes birth defects or affects the ability to
have children, although some plutonium that reaches the blood can be
found in ovaries and testes.
A large portion of the plutonium in the body of adults is in bone. It is
possible that plutonium in the bones of a pregnant woman may move to the
fetus, when the calcium from the mother’s bone is being used to build the
bones of the fetus.
1.7 HOW CAN FAMILIES REDUCE THE RISK OF EXPOSURE TO PLUTONIUM?
Exposure of the general population to plutonium will be small. Plutonium levels in water, air, and food
are generally low in areas that have not been contaminated by accidents or other releases of radioactive
materials.
Risk for working
adults
People working at facilities using plutonium that is not highly contained will be
more highly exposed to plutonium than the general population.
Risk near the
home
People do not generally live near facilities that use plutonium in their
operations. Some people may be slightly more exposed to plutonium due to
releases of plutonium through filtered stack-emissions or waste water. Any
releases are to be within regulatory limits. Disposal sites are deep
underground and away from the public.
Risk in the air you
breathe
Breathing plutonium-contaminated air is the most dangerous way to be
exposed to plutonium. If you know or suspect that plutonium has been
released to the air, you should leave the area immediately.
PLUTONIUM
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1. PUBLIC HEALTH STATEMENT
1.8
IS THERE A MEDICAL TEST TO DETERMINE WHETHER I HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO
PLUTONIUM?
Can be measured
in urine and feces
Plutonium can be measured in the urine and feces even at very low levels.
These measurements can be used to estimate the total amount of
plutonium that has entered the body.
The levels of plutonium in body can be used to predict the kind of health
effects that might develop from that exposure.
Plutonium inside
the body can be
detected from
outside the body
Some sensitive equipment can measure the weak gamma rays that travel
to the outside of the body after they are released from plutonium and other
radioactive materials inside the body. In the United States, this equipment
is only available in a few locations.
Further information on how plutonium can be measured in exposed humans is presented in
Chapters 3 and 7.
1.9
WHAT RECOMMENDATIONS HAS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MADE TO
PROTECT HUMAN HEALTH?
The federal government develops regulations and recommendations to protect public health. Regulations
can be enforced by law. Federal agencies that develop regulations for toxic substances include the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC).
Recommendations provide valuable guidelines to protect public health but cannot be enforced by law.
Federal organizations that develop recommendations for toxic substances include the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH), and the FDA.
Regulations and recommendations can be expressed as “not-to-exceed” levels, that is, levels of a toxic
substance in air, water, soil, or food that do not exceed a critical value that is usually based on levels that
affect animals; they are then adjusted to levels that will help protect humans. Sometimes these not-to-
exceed levels differ among federal organizations because they used different exposure times (an 8-hour
workday, a 24-hour day, or a work-year), different animal studies, or other factors.
Recommendations and regulations are also updated periodically as more information becomes available.
For the most current information, check with the federal agency or organization that provides it.
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