Part of the actinides in the environmentActinides in the environment refer to the sources, environmental behaviour and effects of actinides in Earth's environment. Environmental radioactivity is not limited solely to actinides; non-actinides such as radon and radium are of note....
series.
Plutonium in the environment since the mid-20th century has primarily been due to human activity. The majority of
plutoniumPlutonium is a rare transuranic radioactive element. It is an actinide metal of silvery-white appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen and...
isotopeIsotopes are different types of atoms of the same chemical element, each having a different number of neutrons. Correspondingly, isotopes differ in mass number but not in atomic number. The difference in the number of nucleons comes from a difference how many neutrons are in the atomic nucleus...
s are short-lived on a geological timescale. It has been argued that some natural plutonium (the very long lived
244Pu isotope) can be found in nature. This isotope has been found in lunar soil, meteorites, and in the
OkloOklo is a region near the town of Franceville, in the Haut-Ogooué province of the Central African state of Gabon.The discovery in September 1972 of several natural nuclear fission reactors in the uranium mines situated there has fired the imagination and aroused the curiosity of...
natural reactor. But in general it is normally considered that the bulk of all plutonium is man made. According to one paper on marine
sedimentSediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow, and which eventually is deposited.Sediments are most often transported by water transported by wind and glaciers...
s for plutonium in marine sediments, bomb fall out is responsible for the majority of the
239Pu and
240Pu (66% and 59% respectively of that found in the
English ChannelThe English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest, to only in the Strait of Dover...
) while
nuclear reprocessingNuclear reprocessing separates components of spent nuclear fuel.Reprocessing serves multiple purposes, whose relative importance has changed over time:*Producing plutonium for nuclear weapons...
is responsible for the majority of the
238Pu and
241Pu present in the sea (bomb tests are only responsible for 6.5 and 16.5% of these isotopes respectively).
Bomb detonations
About 3.5 tons of plutonium have been released into the environment by atomic bomb tests. While this might sound like a large amount it has only resulted in a very small dose to the majority of the humans on the earth. Overall the health effects of the fission products are far greater than the effects of the actinides released by a nuclear bomb detonation. The plutonium from the Pu fuel of the bomb is converted into a high fired
oxideAn oxide is a chemical compound containing at least one oxygen atom as well as at least one other element. Most of the Earth's crust consists of oxides. Oxides result when elements are oxidized by oxygen in air. Combustion of hydrocarbons affords the two principal oxides of carbon, carbon...
which is carried high into the air. It slowly falls to earth as global
falloutFallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion, aptly named because it "falls out" of the atmosphere into which it is spread during the explosion. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust created when a nuclear weapon explodes. This radioactive dust, consisting of hot...
and is not soluble, hence as a result it is difficult for this plutonium to be incorporated into an animal if taken by mouth. Much of this plutonium will become tightly absorbed onto sediments of lakes, rivers and oceans. However, about 66% of the plutonium from a bomb explosion is formed by the neutron capture of uranium-238; this plutonium is not converted by the bomb into a high fired oxide as it is formed more slowly. As a result this formed plutonium is more soluble and more able to cause harm when it falls to earth.
Some of the plutonium can be deposited close to the point of detonation. The glassy
trinititeTrinitite, also known as Atomite or Alamogordo Glass, is the name given to the glassy residue left on the desert floor after the plutonium-based Trinity nuclear bomb test on July 16, 1945, near Alamogordo, New Mexico...
formed by the first atom bomb has been examined to determine what actinides and other radioisotopes it contained. A recent paper reports the levels of long lived radioisotopes in the trinitite. The trinitite was formed from
feldsparFeldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals which make up as much as 60% of the Earth's crust....
and
quartzQuartz is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust . It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO
4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO
2.There are many different varieties of...
which were melted by the heat. Two samples of trinitite were used, the first (left hand side bars) was taken from between 40 and 65 meters of ground zero while the other sample was taken from further away from the
ground zeroThe term ground zero may be used to describe the point on the earth's surface where an explosion occurs...
point.
The
152Eu and
154Eu was mainly formed by the neutron activation of the
europiumEuropium is a chemical element with the symbol Eu and atomic number 63. It was named after the continent of Europe.-Physical:Europium is about as hard as lead and quite ductile...
in the soil, it is clear that the level of radioactivity for these isotopes is highest where the neutron dose to the
soilSoil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. It is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and...
was larger. Some of the
60Co is generated by activation of the
cobaltCobalt is a hard, lustrous, gray metal, a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. Although cobalt-based colors and pigments have been used since ancient times for making jewelry and paints, and miners have long used the name kobold ore for some minerals, the free metallic cobalt was...
in the soil, but some was also generated by the activation of the cobalt in the
steelSteel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
(100 foot) tower. This
60Co from the tower would have been scattered over the site reducing the difference in the soil levels.
The
133Ba and
241Am are due to the neutron activation of barium and plutonium inside the bomb. The
bariumBarium is a chemical element. It has the symbol Ba, atomic number 56, and is the fifth element in Group 2. Barium is a soft silvery metallic alkaline earth metal. It is never found in nature in its pure form due to its reactivity with air. Its oxide is historically known as baryta but it reacts...
was present in the form of the nitrate in the chemical explosives used while the plutonium was the
fissileIn nuclear engineering, a fissile material is one that is capable of sustaining a chain reaction of nuclear fission.All known fissile materials are capable of sustaining a chain reaction in which either thermal or slow neutrons or fast neutrons predominate...
fuel used.
It is interesting to note that the
137Cs level is higher in the sample which was further away from the ground zero point. This is thought to be because the precursors to the
137Cs (
137I and
137Xe) and the caesium to a lesser degree are volatile. The natural radioisotopes in the glass are about the same in both locations.
In this paper a sample of the glass was digested and the plutonium extracted from it, and the mass ratio of the isotopes was calculated from the radiometric measurements. In light green the isotopic signature for the plutonium used for making the bomb is shown, and on the right in dark green the signature of the plutonium in the trinitite glass is shown. It is very clear that
238Pu and
241Pu were generated during the detonation, so it is reasonable to conclude that some
240Pu was formed during the detonation.
As the
239Pu/
240Pu ratio only changed slightly during the detonation, it has been commented that this isotope ratio for the majority of atom bombs (
In Japan the 239Pu/240Pu ratio in soil is normally in the range 0.17 to 0.19) is very different than from the bomb dropped upon Nagasaki, so the forest soil and the lake sediment layer containing the local
falloutFallout or nuclear fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion.Fallout may also refer to:*Fallout , a 1997 post-apocalyptic computer role-playing game released by Interplay Entertainment...
from
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
bomb is very different from the layers due to global fallout from bomb tests conducted later.
Bomb safety trials
One form of release of plutonium into the environment has been
safety trials in these experiments nuclear bombs have been subjected to simulated accidents or have been detonated with an abnormal initiation of the chemical explosives. An abnormal implosion will result in a compression of the
pitNuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three basic design types...
which is less uniform and smaller than the designed compression in the device. Such an abnormal implosion could result from an accident which triggers one or more of the detonators which trigger the chemical explosive charges.
As a result of these experiments (where no or very little
nuclear fissionIn nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts, often producing free neutrons and lighter nuclei, which may eventually produce photons...
occurs) plutonium metal has been scattered around near the site of the experiment. While some of these tests have been done inside holes in the ground, other such tests were conducted in open air. A paper on the radioisotopes left on an island by the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
nuclear bombs tests of the 20th century has been printed by the
International Atomic Energy AgencyThe International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for military purposes. It was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
and a section of this report deals with plutonium contamination resulting from such tests.
Other related trials were conducted at
Maralinga, South AustraliaMaralinga, South Australia in the remote western areas of South Australia was the home of the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Indigenous Australian people. Maralinga was the site of the secret British nuclear tests in the 1950s. The site measures about 3,300 km² in area...
here both normal bomb detonations and "safety trials" have been conducted. While the activity from the fission products has decayed away almost totally (as of 2006) the plutonium remains active. A report (
warning it is very big) can be read at while a smaller report can be seen at.
Space
Another potential source of plutonium being introduced into the environment is the reentry of artificial satellites containing
atomic batteriesThe terms atomic battery, nuclear battery, tritium battery and radioisotope generator are used to describe a device which uses the emissions from a radioactive isotope to generate electricity. Like nuclear reactors they generate electricity from atomic energy, but differ in that they do not use a...
. There have been several such incidents, the most prominent being the
Apollo 13Apollo 13 was the third manned mission by NASA that was intended to land on the moon, but a mid-mission technical malfunction forced the lunar landing to be aborted. The crew members were commander James A. Lovell, command module pilot John L. "Jack" Swigert, and lunar module pilot Fred W....
mission. The
Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment PackageThe Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package comprised a set of scientific instruments placed by the astronauts at the landing site of each of the five Apollo missions to land on the Moon following Apollo 11...
carried on the Lunar Module re-entered the atmosphere over the South Pacific. Many atomic batteries have been of the
Radioisotope thermoelectric generatorA radioisotope thermoelectric generator is an electrical generator which obtains its power from radioactive decay. In such a device, the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material is converted into electricity by the Seebeck effect using an array of thermocouples.RTGs can be...
(RTG) type.
Chain reactions do not occur inside RTGs, so such a
nuclear meltdownA nuclear meltdown is a term that is neither recognized by the International Atomic Energy Agency nor by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission but is used in certain circles to describe a severe nuclear reactor incident that results in core damage and is classified as anywhere from Level 4 to...
is impossible. In fact, some RTGs are designed so that fission does not occur at all; rather, forms of
radioactive decayRadioactive decay is the process in which an unstable atomic nucleus spontaneously loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and radiation. This decay, or loss of energy, results in an atom of one type, called the parent nuclide transforming to an atom of a different type, named the daughter...
which cannot trigger other radioactive decays are used instead. As a result, the fuel in an RTG is consumed much more slowly and much less power is produced.
RTGs are still a potential source of
radioactive contaminationRadioactive contamination is the uncontrolled distribution of radioactive material in a given environment. The amount of radioactive material released in an accident is called the source term.- Sources of contamination :...
: if the container holding the fuel leaks, the radioactive material will contaminate the environment. The main concern is that if an accident were to occur during launch or a subsequent passage of a spacecraft close to Earth, harmful material could be released into the atmosphere. However, this event is extremely unlikely with current RTG cask designs.
In order to minimise the risk of the radioactive material being released, the fuel is typically stored in individual modular units with their own heat shielding. They are surrounded by a layer of
iridiumIridium is the chemical element with atomic number 77, and is represented by the symbol Ir. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second densest element and is the most corrosion-resistant metal, even at temperatures as high as 2000 °C...
metal and encased in high-strength
graphiteThe mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Greek γραφειν : "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead, as distinguished from the actual metallic element lead...
blocks. These two materials are corrosion and heat-resistant. Surrounding the graphite blocks is an aeroshell, designed to protect the entire assembly against the heat of reentering the earth's atmosphere. The plutonium fuel is also stored in a ceramic form that is heat-resistant, minimising the risk of vaporization and aerosolization. The ceramic is also highly
insolubleSolubility is the property of a solid, liquid, or gaseous chemical substance called solute to dissolve in a liquid solvent to form a homogeneous solution. The solubility of a substance strongly depends on the used solvent as well as on temperature and pressure...
.
The US Department of Energy has conducted seawater tests and determined that the graphite casing, which was designed to withstand reentry, is stable and no release of plutonium should occur. Subsequent investigations have found no increase in the natural background radiation in the area. The Apollo 13 accident represents an extreme scenario due to the high re-entry velocities of the craft returning from cislunar space. This accident has served to validate the design of later-generation RTGs as highly safe.
The Plutonium-238 used in RTGs has a
half-lifeHalf-life is the period of time, for a substance undergoing decay, to decrease by half. The name originally was used to describe a characteristic of unstable atoms , but may apply to any quantity which follows a set-rate decay....
of 88 years, as opposed to the plutonium-239 used in nuclear weapons and
reactorsA nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate.The most significant use of nuclear reactors is as an energy source for the generation of electrical power and for the power in some ships...
, which has a
half-lifeHalf-life is the period of time, for a substance undergoing decay, to decrease by half. The name originally was used to describe a characteristic of unstable atoms , but may apply to any quantity which follows a set-rate decay....
of 24,100 years.
Nuclear fuel cycle
Plutonium has been released into the environment in aqueous solution from
nuclear reprocessingNuclear reprocessing separates components of spent nuclear fuel.Reprocessing serves multiple purposes, whose relative importance has changed over time:*Producing plutonium for nuclear weapons...
and uranium enrichment plants. The chemistry of this plutonium is different from that of the metal oxides formed from nuclear bomb detonations.
One example of a site (military not civil) where plutonium entered the soil is Rocky Flats where in the recent past
XANESX-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure is a type of absorption spectroscopy.XANES data indicate the absorption peaks due to the photoabsorption cross section in the X-ray Absorption Spectra observed in the energy region, extending over a range of about 100 eV, between the edge region and the EXAFS...
(a
X-rayX-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays...
spectrscopy) has been used to determine the chemical nature of the plutonium in the
soilSoil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. It is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and...
. The XANES was used to determine the
oxidation stateIn chemistry, the oxidation state is an indicator of the degree of oxidation of an atom in a chemical compound. The formal oxidation state is the hypothetical charge that an atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were 100% ionic. Oxidation states are typically represented by...
of the plutonium, while EXAFS was used to investigate the structure of the plutonium compound present in the soil and
concreteConcrete is a construction material composed of cement as well as other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water, and chemical admixtures...
.
Chernobyl
Because plutonium oxide is very involatile, most of the plutonium in the reactor was not released during the fire. (See also
Chernobyl disasterThe Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear reactor accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine . It is considered to be the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history and the only level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale...
.) However that which was released can be measured. V.I. Yoschenko
et al. reported that grass and forest fires can make the
caesiumCaesium or cesium is the chemical element with the symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-gold alkali metal with a melting point of , which makes it one of only five metals that are liquid at or near room temperature...
,
strontiumStrontium is a chemical element with the symbol Sr and the atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element that is highly reactive chemically. The metal turns yellow when exposed to air. It occurs naturally in the minerals celestine and...
and
plutoniumPlutonium is a rare transuranic radioactive element. It is an actinide metal of silvery-white appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen and...
become mobile in the air again. (
Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 2006,
86, 143-163.) As an experiment fires were set and the levels of the radioactivity in the air downwind of these fires was measured.
Nuclear crime
One case exists of a
GermanThe German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...
man who attempted to poison his ex-wife with plutonium stolen from WAK (Wiederaufbereitungsanlage
KarlsruheKarlsruhe is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border....
). WAK was a small scale reprocessing plant where he worked. He did not steal a large amount of plutonium, just some rags used for wiping surfaces and a small amount of liquid waste. This man was sent to
prisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Other terms are penitentiary, correctional facility, and jail , although in the United States "jail" and "prison" refer to different subtypes of correctional facility...
for his crime. At least two people (besides the criminal) were contaminated by the plutonium. Two flats in
Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 federal states of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz....
were contaminated. These were later cleaned at a cost of two million
euroThe euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
.
For photographs of the case and details of other nuclear crimes see which was presented by a worker at the
ITUItu is an old and historic municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2004 is 149,758 and the area is 641.68 km². The elevation is 583 m. This place name comes from the Tupi language. Itu is linked with the highway numbered the SP-75 and are flowed with two rivers, Tietê...
. A general over view of the forensic matters associated with plutonium exists.
The details of how the two flats in
LandauLandau or Landau in der Pfalz is an autonomous city surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town , a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the...
were cleaned has been recorded. In addition it has been claimed that a house in
Reading, BerkshireReading is a large town in England, located at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London...
has been contaminated with plutonium.
Overview
Plutonium like other actinides readily forms a dioxide plutonyl core (PuO
2). In the environment, this plutonyl core readily complexes with carbonate as well as other oxygen
moietiesIn organic chemistry, functional groups are specific groups of atoms within molecules that are responsible for the characteristic chemical reactions of those molecules. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reaction regardless of the size of the molecule it is a part...
(OH
-, NO
2-, NO
3-, and SO
4-2) to form charged complexes which can be readily mobile with low affinities to soil.
- PuO2(CO3)1-2
- PuO2(CO3)2-4
- PuO2(CO3)3-6
PuO
2 formed from neutralizing highly acidic nitric acid solutions tends to form polymeric PuO
2 which is resistant to complexation. Plutonium also readily shifts valences between the +3, +4, +5 and +6 states. It is common for some fraction of plutonium in solution to exist in all of these states in equilibrium.
Binding to soil
Plutonium is known to bind to soil particles very strongly, see above for a X-ray spectroscopic study of plutonium in soil and
concreteConcrete is a construction material composed of cement as well as other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water, and chemical admixtures...
. While
caesiumCaesium or cesium is the chemical element with the symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-gold alkali metal with a melting point of , which makes it one of only five metals that are liquid at or near room temperature...
has very different chemistry to the actinides, it is well known that both caesium and many of the actinides bind strongly to the
mineralA mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. A rock, by comparison, is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids, and need not have a specific...
s in soil. Hence it has been possible to use
134Cs labeled soil to study the migration of Pu and Cs is soils. It has been shown that
colloidA colloid is a type of chemical mixture in which one substance is dispersed evenly throughout another.The particles of the dispersed substance are only suspended in the mixture, unlike in a solution, in which they are completely dissolved...
al transport processes control the migration of Cs (and will control the migration of Pu) in the soil at the
Waste Isolation Pilot PlantThe Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, is the world's third deep geological repository licensed to permanently dispose of transuranic radioactive waste for 10000 years that is left from the research and production of nuclear weapons...
according to R.D. Whicker and S.A. Ibrahim,
Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 2006,
88, 171-188.
Microbiological chemistry
Mary Neu (at
Los AlamosLos Alamos usually refers to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, United States.It may also refer to:*Los Alamos, California*Los Alamos, New Mexico — the city where the laboratory is located...
in the USA) has done some work which suggests that
bacteriaThe bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
can accumilate plutonium because the
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
transport systems used by the bacteria also function as plutonium transport systems.
Biology
Plutonium ingested by or injected into humans is transported in the
transferrinTransferrin is a blood plasma protein for iron ion delivery that, in humans, is encoded by the TF gene. Transferrin is a glycoprotein that binds iron very tightly but reversibly. Although iron bound to transferrin is less than 0.1% of the total body iron, it is the most important iron pool, with...
based
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
(III) transport system and then is stored in the
liverThe liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals; it has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
in the iron store (
ferritinFerritin is a globular protein complex consisting of 24 protein subunits and is the primary intracellular iron-storage protein in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, keeping iron in a soluble and non-toxic form...
), after an exposure to plutonium it is important to rapidly inject the subject with a
chelatingChelation is the formation or presence of two or more separate bindings between apolydentate ligand and a single central atom.Usually these ligands are organic compounds, and are called chelants, chelators, chelating agents, or sequestering agents....
agent such as
calciumCalcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft grey alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
complex of
DTPADiethylene triamine pentaacetic acid is a polyamino carboxylic acid consisting of a diethylenetriamine backbone modified with five carboxymethyl groups. The molecule can be viewed as an expanded version of EDTA. DTPA is used as its conjugate base, often undefined, which has a high affinity for...
. This antidote is useful for a single one off exposure such as that which would occur if a glove box worker was to cut their hand with a Pu contaminated object. The calcium complex has faster metal binding kinetics than the
zincZinc , also known as spelter, is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
complex but if the calcium complex is used for a long time it tends to remove important minerals from the person. The zinc complex is less able to cause these effects.
Plutonium that is inhaled by humans lodges in the lungs and is slowly translocated to the lymph nodes. Inhaled plutonium has been shown to lead to lung cancer in experimental animals.