Plutonium in Environmental and Biological Media

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Abstract
Data are presented on the concentrations of Pu in air, precipitation, total diet, milk and human tissue samples collected in the United States during the period 1964-1966. Pu239 in monthly composites of particulates collected from surface level air in Winchester, Massachusetts, ranged from 0.047 to 0.437 fCi/m3 from May 1965 to April 1966, and that the average Pu239 to Sr90 ratio was 0.019 and the average Pu238 to Pu239 ratio was 0.04. Monthly deposition of Pu239 from precipitation over the same period ranged from 0.86 to 8.8 pCi/m2. Children''s diets collected from 6 widely spaced geographical areas showed average concentrations which ranged from 2.7 to 5.8 fCi/kg for monthly samples for the period July-December 1965. Milk samples collected in a similar manner over a similar period showed concentrations which were not significantly different from 0. Analyses of human tissue samples obtained at autopsy in the greater Boston area during the period August 1965-July 1966 showed concentrations of Pu239 in livers ranging from 0.21 to 2.52 pCi/kg and in lungs ranging from 0.14 to 1.13 pCi/kg. Pu239 was not detected in bone samples from individual autopsies but was detected in large composite bone samples in concentrations ranging from 0.04 to 0.12 pCi/kg.

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