A rapid method for the determination of americium-curium, plutonium and thorium in biological and environmental samples.
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The 6-methyl-2-(2-pyridyl)-benzimidazole (biz) ligand coordinates with the actinide species in solution, and the complexes display efficient intramolecular energy-transfer processes. The energy transfer in the Cm(III)-biz system proceeds in a nonradiative mode, whereas a radiative mode is the principal mechanism in the Am(III)-biz system.
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A study was conducted in rats to determine solubility and subsequent metabolism of an inhaled aerosol of curium treated at high temperatures. Young adult Fischer-344 rats received a single inhalation exposure to one of three monodisperse aerosols of 244Cm2O3 (0.70, 1.3, or 2.6 micron activity median aerodynamic diameter) heat-treated at 1150 degrees C. Animals were maintained individually in metabolism cages for excreta collection and serially sacrificed in groups of two male and two female rats from 2 to 33 days after inhalation exposure. Additionally an injection study with curium citrate was done to define the systemic behavior of Cm in this rat model. The in vivo solubility was inversely related to the aerosol particle size. The relationship of the results of this study to results from other experimental inhalation studies with curium oxide aerosols is discussed, as is the relevance to bioassay interpretation and risk assessment in man.
Radionuclide decorporation is the only effective method of reducing radiation dose for persons contaminated accidentally. In this study, dogs that had inhaled a moderately soluble aerosol of 244Cm2O3 were treated with either discrete intravenous injections of the chelating agent diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Zn-DTPA) or with subcutaneous infusion of Zn-DTPA at either 30 or 120 mumol kg-1 d-1. Each treatment regimen was continued for 64 d, whereupon all animals were killed, and collected excreta and tissue samples were analyzed for curium. All DTPA treatment methods were effective. A total of 89% of the initial pulmonary burden (IPB) was removed by DTPA injection, whereas 94% IPB was removed by the low dose of infused DTPA and 97% by the high dose treatment. Thus, low and high infused doses of DTPA prevented the translocation of greater than 99.5% of curium to liver and 97-99% to bone and kidney. The resultant dose reductions to these organs were superior to those achieved by intravenous DTPA injections.
An elution program for separating actinides (thorium, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, and curium) on low hydrophobicity ion exchange columns was evaluated for solutions spiked with actinides and common surface water components. Potential interferences from dissolved ions (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Cl-, and SO(4)2-), humic acid, and radium were investigated. Sulfate levels greater than 0.25 mumol interfered with separation of americium, curium, and plutonium. Humic acid levels above 100 micrograms produced distinct widening of actinide peaks and reduced actinide recoveries. These interferences limit the range of useful sample volumes and create a need for sample pretreatment procedures. No interferences were produced by 0.025 to 2.5 mumol Ca2+, 0.045 to 4.5 mumol Na+, 0.015 to 1.5 mumol K+, and 0.025 to 4.5 mumol Cl-. In the absence of interferences, the program effectively separated radium from the actinides.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the risk factors of low birth weight, the authors conducted a matched case-control study. METHODS: 155 women which infants were singleton term SGA cases and 155 with singleton term non-SGA controls were interviewed. Cases and controls were matched by infant sex and maternal age. Analyses were performed by conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: Low prepregnancy weight (< or = 52kg), low weight gain (< or = 16kg), passive smoking and drinking tea during pregnancy, dying hair, marcel or curium oil three month before pregnancy and during pregnancy, low husband height (< 173cm), and maternal BMI (> or = 19) were associated with risk of term SGA. The odds ratio of those risk factors were 2.08, 2.83, 3.07, 2.94, 3.42, 2.72, 5.67, 2.92 and 0.41 respectively. CONCLUSION: It was also found significant positive interactions between low maternal weight and low weight gain, and dying hair, marcel or curium oil three month before pregnancy and during pregnancy, and low husband's height, and passive smoking during pregnancy.
A radiochemical procedure for the analysis of isotopes of Pu, Am and Cm was implemented during an expert mission to Thailand sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. This method was to be used for the analysis of food and environmental samples, particularly those of marine origin. The project was initiated by evaluating a procedure which had recently been published by the IAEA. This procedure could not handle the wide range of matrix materials used in the testing and a program was undertaken to develop a modified procedure. Plutonium was radiochemically separated using an anion exchange procedure which gives clean separations from the matrix. Americium and curium came off the column unseparated from most of the other elements in the matrix and they were separated by using a number of steps, which were selected to handle the specific chemical and radiochemical interferences in a particular matrix material. Sources were prepared for alpha spectrometry by coprecipitation with CeF3. The procedure was tested with a wide variety of sample types and good chemical yields and separations were obtained in most cases.
The presence of curium nuclides in irradiated nuclear fuel is well known, as is their occurrence in environmental materials exposed to liquid waste discharges from reprocessing plants and to fallout following the Chernobyl accident. Knowledge of the 242 Cm/244 Cm and 243 Cm/244 Cm atom ratios can be a useful tool for characterizing a source-term and assessing the burn-up history of nuclear fuel. Here, a practical technique, based on high-resolution alpha spectrometry and spectral deconvolution, is described by which the 243, 244 Cm multiplet can be resolved at the low activities typical of most environmental samples. The resulting 243 Cm/244 Cm ratio is then used to correct for any interference by 243 Cm in the 242 Cm window. The technique has been applied to the determination of the 243 Cm/244 Cm ratio in samples of seabed sediment collected near the Sellafield outfall, riverine sediment sampled downstream of the Mayak reprocessing plant and soil and lichen from within the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Near Sellafield, the 243 Cm/244 Cm ratio was found to be < 2%, while near Mayak and Chernobyl it was considerably higher, being approximately 6-8%.
The interaction of the two chemical homologues [Cm(III) and Eu(III)] with calcium silicate hydrates (CSH phases) at pH 13.3 has been investigated in batch-type sorption studies using Eu(III) and complemented with time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS) using Cm(III). The sorption data for Eu(III) reveal fast sorption kinetics and a strong uptake by CSH phases with distribution ratios of (6 +/- 3) x 10(5) L kg(-1). Three different Cm(III) species have been identified: A nonfluorescing species, which was identified as a curium hydroxide (surface) precipitate, and two fluorescing Cm(III)/CSH-sorbed species. The fluorescing sorbed species have characteristic emission spectra with main peak maxima at 618.9 and 620.9 nm and fluorescence emission lifetimes of 289 +/- 11 and 1482 +/- 200 micros, respectively. From the fluorescence lifetimes, it was calculated that the two fluorescing Cm(III) species have one or two and no water molecules left in their first coordination sphere, suggesting that these species are incorporated into the CSH structure. A structural model for Cm(III) and Eu(III) incorporation into CSH phases is proposed based on the substitution for Ca at two different types of sites in the CSH structure.
During the preparation of targets for the mass spectrometer some 242Cm escaped from the preparation box resulting in a contamination of the laboratory air and of subsequent ingestion of radioactivity by the technician concerned. Nose wipe tests were taken immediately after the incident and faecal and urine samples during the following week. Air sampling filters located in three places in the laboratory were changed immediately and then at regular intervals. The size distribution of the particles was calculated from autoradiographs made from the filter samples. From the results of these analyses the quantity ingested in the respiratory tract was determined using the ICRP "Lung Model" as a guide. The distribution of the ingested material in the body organs was then estimated from the data in Publication 2 (1959) of the ICRP. Although the quantities involved predicted an internal contamination far below the maximum permissible values, this detailed analysis was carried out as an opportunity for testing the "Lung Model" in the case of Curium inhalation. Interpretation and comparison of air filter sampling data with results of nose wipe and faecal tests suggest that the ICRP lung model may serve as a useful guide to estimate the approximate level of an internal contamination after inhalation exposure to 242Cm.
Wistar rats were exposed via inhalation to aerosols of 239PuO2, 244Cm oxide or a mixed Pu-Cm oxide with an activity ratio of about 1:1. Activity in lung and several extrapulmonary tissues were examined up to 120 d after exposure to determine whether calcining Pu and Cm together affected lung clearance or translocation to other sites in the body for either nuclide. Initial deposition was about 1,200 Bq (32 nCi) for 239PuO2, 4,200 Bq (115 nCi) for 244Cm, and 2,400 Bq (65 nCi) total alpha for the mixed oxide. The kinetics of single nuclides were as expected, with Pu oxide confined mainly to lung at all times and cleared with a half-time of 42 d. Curium was translocated rapidly to liver, with a peak activity of about 10% of the initial alveolar deposition at 7-14 d. Skeleton activity increased gradually, amounting to 12-15% of initial deposition near the end of the study. Lung clearance of Cm was more rapid than for Pu, with about 13% of Pu and less than 5% of Cm remaining at the end of the experiment. Both Pu and Cm remained in the lung somewhat longer when administered as a mixed oxide than the respective nuclides administered singly, and virtually all activity in the body was confined to the lung. Translocation of Cm to extrapulmonary tissues was almost entirely prevented by incorporation into the PuO2 matrix. Therefore, calcining the two radionuclides together in an aerosol altered the kinetics of both following inhalation in rats, but most dramatically for 244Cm. The resulting change in radionuclide distribution for the lung and the body following such a mixed inhalation exposure would presumably alter the long-term health effects compared to those seen with the pure compounds.
Curium isotopes are major by-products in irradiated nuclear reactor fuel and comprise a significant fraction of the alpha-emitting radionuclide inventory. Although little use is currently being made of purified Cm sources, such usage is possible if reprocessing of spent fuel becomes feasible. Because little information is available on the biokinetics and dosimetry of inhaled Cm compounds, a study was conducted in which adult beagle dogs received a single inhalation exposure to either a monodisperse aerosol of 244Cm2O3 (1.4 micron activity median aerodynamic diameter [AMAD]; sigma g = 1.16) or a polydisperse aerosol of 244Cm (NO3)3 (1.1 micron AMAD; sigma g = 1.74). At times ranging from 4 h to 2 y after exposure, animals were sacrificed and their tissues analyzed for Cm content. The data describing the uptake and retention of 244Cm in the different organs and tissues and the measured rates of excretion of these dogs formed the basis on which a biokinetic model of Cm metabolism was constructed. This Cm model was based on a previously published model of the biokinetics of 241Am that was shown to be applicable to data from human cases of inhalation exposure to 241Am aerosols. This Cm model was found to be adequate to describe the biological distribution of Cm in dogs and was also applied to the sparse data from humans. Reasonable agreement was found between the model predictions for lung retention of Cm and for urinary excretion patterns in humans.