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Nutopia
Published in Alan Perkins, Life and Death Rays, 2021
In 1941 Glenn Seaborg, Joseph Kennedy, Arthur Wahl and Emilio Segrè went on to demonstrate that neptunium-239 could be produced by firing neutrons at uranium-238 which rapidly decays to plutonium-239 with a half-life of 24,100 years. Plutonium-239 proved to be far more suitable for use in explosive chain reactions. Seaborg and his team at Berkeley originally considered the names ‘ultimum’ and ‘extremium’ for the new metal they had discovered, since they originally thought this to be the at the very end of the periodic table. In line with naming other elements after the planets the name ‘plutium’ was considered, but they finally settled on the name ‘plutonium’ after the planet Pluto. Pluto is also the ruler of the underworld in Greek mythology.
The Physical Environment
Published in Vilma R. Hunt, Kathleen Lucas-Wallace, Jeanne M. Manson, Work and the Health of Women, 2020
Vilma R. Hunt, Kathleen Lucas-Wallace, Jeanne M. Manson
Studies of the reproductive effects of internally deposited radioisotopes have been virtually confined to animals except for the relatively ineffectual efforts to obtain information from the radium dial painters. Plutonium 239(as citrate solution) intravenously injected into mice is deposited almost completely within the intertubular spaces of the testes and in the surrounding peritubular tissues.37 With the short path length of alpha particles, the spermatogonial stem cells become the critical target cells for the high-energy alpha radiation and the dose to these cells is considerably higher than for the testes as a whole. Further reproductive studies by Luning and Frolen38 showed a significant excess of intrauterine mortality when females were mated to males intravenously injected with 239Pu nitrate solution. The intrauterine mortality increased from 9% in the animals conceived the first week following injection to 12 to 13% in the animals conceived the fifth week following injection, after which mortality dropped. During the first 5 weeks of fertilization of ova, the sperm used were those in post- and perimeiotic stages at the time of injection so that the effect of alpha irradiation on that stage of spermatogenesis was induction of dominant lethality. In addition, F, males sired by 239Pu injected fathers sustained the dominant lethal effect, seen as an increase in intrauterine mortality in mated females over controls.38
Special Problems of Internal Radioactive Materials
Published in George W. Casarett, Radiation Histopathology, 2019
Plutonium-238 is an alpha emitter with a physical half-life of 50 years, and plutonium-239 is an alpha emitter with a physical half-life of 24,000 years. Plutonium-239 is a bone seeker which, inside the body, is about as hazardous as radium. However only 0.0026% is absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract as compared with 30% for radium. Absorption of plutonium from lung is also minimal. Plutonium disappears rapidly from the blood and the plutonium content of the skeleton rises rapidly to maximal levels in about 48 hr. About 80 to 90% of the body burden is eventually found in the skeleton, on bone surfaces, and in the organic matrix rather than in the mineral phase. Therefore relatively large amounts of plutonium are found in cancellous bone as compared with compact bone. There is a later redistribution to compact bone. The soft tissue with the greatest concentration is liver. Excretion is chiefly from the gastrointestinal tract and is slow. Nearly 90% of the element is retained for many years, chiefly in bone.
Facts and ideas from anywhere
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2020
The long-term consequences of the Chernobyl disaster remain unclear. While the actual impact of the radiation exposure on the health of the population is still debated, there can be little doubt that the whole society was left traumatized for decades. Every sixth Ukrainian adult reports being in poor health, a significantly higher percentage than in neighboring countries. And those affected by the Chernobyl radiation have lower levels of employment and fewer working hours than the rest of Ukraine’s population. Despite the new shelter over the damaged reactor unit 4, the area around the nuclear plant will not be safe for human habitation for at least another 20,000 years. The half-life of cosium-137, one of the most harmful nuclides, is approximately 30 years. The iodine-135 half-life is only 8 days; cesium-134, 2 years; cesium-137, at least 180 years; and plutonium-239—traces of which were found as far away as Sweden—24,000 years.
Radiological risk assessment of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (HPNS)
Published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2022
Dennis J. Paustenbach, Robert D. Gibbons
A traditional risk assessment approach was adopted to estimate cancer risks for various populations potentially exposed, both on- and off-site, to eight radionuclides of concern (ROCs) (americium-241 [Am-241], cobalt-60 [Co-60], cesium-137 [Cs-137], plutonium-239 [Pu-239], radium-226 [Ra-226], strontium-90 (Sr-90), thorium-232 [Th-232], and uranium-235 [U-235]) that were potentially present at the site due to site-related operations. These eight radionuclides were selected for this risk assessment based on the Navy’s 2006 Action Memo, recent Navy work plans (USN 2006, 2018), and professional judgment.
The Russian Radiobiological Human Tissue Repository: characteristics of biological specimens donated by nuclear workers with lung cancer
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2020
Galina Zhuntova, Christopher Loffredo, Evgeniya Grigoryeva, Gleb Sychugov, Evgeny Kazachkov, Evgeniya Kirillova, Tamara Azizova
One of the most significant health effects in the Mayak PA worker cohort is an increased risk of incidence and mortality from lung cancer associated with internal exposure to alpha particles from plutonium-239 as well as with prolonged external gamma-ray exposure (Jacob et al. 2005; Gilbert et al. 2013; Labutina et al. 2013; Gillies et al. 2017).