A Case of Accidental Inhalation of Irradiated Uranium

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Abstract
A case of accidental inhalation of irradiated uranium was studied by body radioactivity measurement for 850 days. The whole-body retentions of 137Cs, 95Zr/95Nb, 103Ru and 141Ce + 144Ce were all measured; the biological half-lives were 113 days, 250 days, ≮ 230 days and ≮ 2,800 days for these radionuclides respectively. The results suggested that after the first week there were no major changes in the distribution of the radioactivity in vivo, although there may have been some translocation of the cerium from lung to lymph nodes. The 137Cs content was used to estimate a lower limit for the amount of uranium deposited initially in the lung, while the 95Zr content six days after inhalation was used to estimate the amount of uranium retained. The latter was probably not more than 6 per cent of the former. The fate of the uranium was unknown. The implications of the findings to the calculation of maximum permissible concentrations in air of insoluble radioactive material are discussed. Some recommendations are made for the investigations of possible future cases, to eliminate some of the speculation involved in the present discussion.