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USTUR 1060: Hanford — late 1940s Chronic Inhalation — U3O8 — Not Chelated
Intake
This registrant worked at Hanford for 40 years. He was chronically exposed to uranium, probably U3O8, while working at the Melt Plant in the late 1940s.
Study of Atmospheric Contamination in the Melt Plant Building »
1948-1950: Uranium exposure is indicated by consistently elevated urinary excretion of uranium. Although there are no incidents involving uranium reported in his health physics records, a spike (317 µg/d) in the urine data in 1948 indicates that there was an acute uranium intake in addition to the chronic “background” level of exposure.
This registrant was involved in several plutonium contamination incidents and was potentially exposed to elevated airborne plutonium concentrations on two occasions, but only one urine measurement exceeded the minimum detectable activity (MDA) for plutonium.
He was also potentially exposed to Cs-137 while moving some contaminated equipment.
Health Physics
Forty-six of the fifty uranium in urine measurements are above the contemporary MDA/2. These elevated excretion rates range from 9.9 µg/d to 317 µg/d, and they appear to indicate both a chronic uranium intake for the duration of his work at the Melt Plant, and a larger, acute intake in 1948. The health physics records also contain 52 plutonium-in-urine measurements. All of these are at or below the MDA/2 except for one sample, which measured 0.162 pCi/d (MDA: 0.149 pCi/d).
Whole body, Skeleton, and/or lung activities were measured in-vivo on five different dates. Monitored radionuclides include Na-24, Zn-65, Sr-90, Cs-137, Th-234, U-235, and Am-241.
Detailed external dosimetry records of beta, gamma, and hand exposures are on file. Cumulative doses at the end of employment are about 13 rem whole body, 30 rem skin, and 30 rem extremity (hands).
No fecal or chelation data could be found.
Figure 1. The urinary excretion rate of uranium. Four measurements are less than the MDA/2** and two follow-up data points are not displayed in order to better display the early data: day 9924 = 0.4 µg/d; and day 11451 = 0.5 µg/d; MDA/2 = 0.32 µg/d. The error bars result from a geometric standard deviation of 1.8.
Figure 2. Urinary excretion rate of plutonium.
**The MDA/2 was calculated by multiplying the OCAS MDA (µg/L) by the excretion rate of reference man, 1.6 L/d, to get daily excretion, then dividing by a factor of 2.
Autopsy and Pathology
The registrant died at age 83 of a cerebral infarction due to thrombosis of the left carotid artery. Other pathological findings include pleural plaques, which are suggestive of chronic asbestos exposure, pneumonia, chronic (old) pulmonary fibrosis, and emphysema.
To use USTUR narrative data, please cite:
USTUR 1060: Hanford — late 1940s Chronic Inhalation — U3O8 — Not Chelated: Narrative. United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries. 9 July 2009. Washington State University: College of Pharmacy. Accessed 23 November 2009. Available at: http://www.ustur.wsu.edu/Case_Studies/Narratives/1060_Narrative.php.
This page was last updated on July 8, 2009. usturwebmaster@tricity.wsu.edu