Re: Handling DU

[William Lorenzen <LORENZEN_W@A1.TCH.Harvard.edu>]

          I can't say I know much about that issue...  
          
          My response was to a question of handling large masses of uranium 
          such as shields, counterweights and the like.
          
          I have never seen or heard of any publications which discuss 
          chemical toxicity of insoluble material in the lung.  The issues 
          around the retention of class Y compounds in the lung and the 
          related dosimetery is what I have experienced.  I have had several 
          sips of water from the Ken Skrable fire hydrant of internal 
          dosimetery however I don't claim to be knowledgeable enough in 
          this area to comment much further.
          
          You do bring up an interesting point.  I have been watching the 
          issue of the gulf war vets with DU fragments imbeded in them and 
          their constant positive urine bioassay measurements and the 
          concerns over the local chemical and radiological conditions 
          around the wound site of the imbeded DU.
          
          The VA has been attempting to evaluate this and I'm not sure there 
          have been any conclusions reached or knowledge gained.  One would 
          typically consider a solid piece of DU an insoluble form of DU 
          however, once imbeded into tissue apparently there is a slow 
          breakdown into a form which is solublized and consistently seen in 
          urine at levels not typical of a class Y exposure scenario.
          

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