[ RadSafe ] Pu-239 famous chemical toxitity or visiting Singapore. Re: Radiation-induced chromosomal aberrations long-lived (Pu study)

[John Andrews]

Emil wrote:

>John,
>
>Same as you, I could not see much new in the article.
>But may be it is just you and me, me who was just sucking up the PAPR
>rubber for the last three years, trying to keep thousands of DAC's of
>Pu-239 out of workers lungs and get aggravated by being too strict.
>
>I looked up in Radsafe archive, could not find much about mechanism
>of Pu chemical toxicity.
>  
>
>snip
>  
>

Stan Hammond, my late Industrial Hygienist friend from the plutonium 
world many years ago told me that Pu in wounds, particularly in hands of 
contaminated workers workers, would leave little nodules of calus like 
dead cells killed by the intense alpha activity of the contaminated 
spot.  These were probably tiny metalic particles embedded in the skin.  
They stayed in place and did not migrate further.  I do not know if this 
data had been published.  I never saw in in anything I read at the time.

John Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee