Carol,
You should go back thru the radsafe archives and look up the details of the
Ir-192 dispersion that occurred in Louisiana some months back, during
industrial radiography at an oil refinery, I think it was. The workers
involved got whole body scans at a local nuclear power plant, from
memory.... If you talk to the people who were involved I'm sure you will get
some useful info...
Mark Sonter
Radiation Control Section
NSW Environmental Protection Authority
Fax +61 2 9995 6603
Phone +61 2 9995 5974
-----Original Message-----
From: Carol S. Marcus [SMTP:csmarcus@ucla.edu]
Sent: Saturday, 7 September 2002 8:14
To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: Chemical state of Ir-192 sources
Dear Radsafers:
I am interested in knowing the chemical state of Ir-192 in sealed
sources,
and any thoughts on what would happen chemically to the Ir-192 if it
was
exploded as a radiologic dispersion device. I am trying to estimate
biodistribution and kinetics if such Ir-192 were to be inhaled,
ingested,
or introduced traumatically (e.g. contaminated shrapnel). Anyone
having
any information on biodistribution and kinetics is requested to
share it
with me.
The California Statewide Medical and Health Disaster Exercise on Nov
14th
includes an Ir-192 RDD scenario, and I have been asked to critique
our
Exercise Guidebook. Ir-192 in an RDD is a reasonable scenario, and
I need
to know this anyway.
If, for example, the Ir-192 is chemically just solid metal, and some
of it
is converted to insoluble oxide in the explosion, then we would
worry about
pulmonary and pulmonary lymph node deposition. Little would ionize
and get
into the blood and other organs. Ingested Ir-192 would just pass
through. If, on the other hand, much of it were to be in a soluble
form,
the biodistribution and kinetics would be entirely different.
Many thanks for any help you can give me.
Ciao, Carol
Carol S. Marcus, Ph.D., M.D.
<csmarcus@ucla.edu>
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