The bone volume effect on the dosimetry of plutonium-239 and americium-241 in the skeleton of man and baboon

Studies were undertaken using bone removed from young adult baboons, which had been contaminated with plutonium-239 at various times prior to sacrifice, and human bone from an adult male (USTR Case 246), who had received an internal deposition of americium-241 as a result of a glove-box explosion 11 years prior to his death. The baboon bone was supplied by the CEA, France, and the human bone by the United States Transuranium Registry. The bone samples, examined by qualitative and quantitative autoradiography with CR 39 detectors, demonstrated the rapid redistribution of bone surface-seeking radionuclides in younger primates due to growth and the slower, bone turnover driven redistribution in the adult human bone. In both species, primary and secondary surface deposits of radionuclide remained conspicuous despite bone activity; true volumization of radionuclide was seldom seen. The dosimetric implications of these findings are discussed.