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Twenty-five persons incurred measurable inhalation exposures during a plutonium fire in 1965. Exposures ranged up to 17 times the maximum permissible lung burden as estimated by whole-body counting. Urine excretion of americium and plutonium was studied for six months following the accident. The ratio of plutonium to americium alpha activity in the urine averaged 1.5-1. The exposure material initially contained an alpha ratio of 11-1 plutonium to americium. There was no apparent change in this ratio with time during the period of study. Typical excretion curves for subjects treated with DTPA and for nontreated subjects are discussed.

Tissue samples from several internal organs were analyzed for plutonium following the natural death of an employee of a plutonium production plant. This employee had two contaminated puncture wounds and had several small inhalation exposures over a nine-year period. He had been excreting minute but measurable quantities of plutonium in his urine since 1958. A body burden calculation based on these urine results indicated the presence of 13.5% of the maximum permissible amount at the time of death. An extrapolation of tissue analysis to the whole body indicates the presence of 2.5% of the maximum permissible amount.

Dogs with simulated puncture wounds contaminated with reactor produced PuO2were studied to determine the relative translocation of Pu and Am. Differential distribution of the two elements was observed in both soft and skeletal tissues. Administration of the chelating agent diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, DTPA, produced significant effects in the relative concentration of Pu and Am in urine, liver, and femur bone tissues. In-vivodetermination of Pu burdens by the 241Am tracer method may produce inaccurate results.

The use of a Frisch grid ion chamber and a 100-channel analyzer is described for identification and estimation of long-lived α-contamination in environmental samples. The preparation techniques are described for air, water and vegetation samples. Typical pulse-height graphs are presented for air and vegetation samples.

Periodic whole-body counting and excretion analyses were performed on a subject who had incurred a 4- to 7-microc internal dose of Cs137. Data are presented correlating urine and fecal excretion with whole-body counts. A single exponential retention equation was obtained during the period of study, which was from 189 to 582 days after exposure. The retention half time during this period was 80 days. Comparison with the work of other investigators is included.