[ RadSafe ] Plutonium with High Concentrations Hazards Summary (Draft Number One).

[Otto G. Raabe]

At 04:24 PM 9/9/2005, James Salsman wrote:

>"From our investigations of gastrointestinal absorption,
>... the fraction [of Pu dissolved in natural waters as
>Pu(IV) and Pu(V)] transferred from the gut to blood is
>surely greater than 0.001 and may be as high as 0.2."
>-- R.P. Larsen, et al., "Plutonium:  Its Behavior in
>Natural Water Systems and Assimilation by Man," Health
>Physics, vol. 44, supp. 1 (1983) pp. 485-492.
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The amount of Pu in "Natural Water Systems" is minuscule, so that it 
probably exists as extremely tiny isolated insoluble particles. Although 
these are not technically "soluble" some can still pass into the blood via 
pores in the gastrointestinal lining even though the Pu is not ionized.  In 
this case the uptake via ingestion is assumed to be 0.001 by the ICRP. 
However,  this mechanism is meaningless with respect to possible 
toxicologically important exposures to plutonium.

Otto


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Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP
Center for Health & the Environment
(Street Address: Bldg. 3792, Old Davis Road)
University of California, Davis, CA 95616
E-Mail: ograabe at ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-7754   FAX: (530) 758-6140
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