Comparisons between in vivo estimates of systemic Pu deposition and autopsy data

In the UK the radiochemical analyses of autopsy specimens have been undertaken following the death of 30 employees during the period 1964 - 1980 whose work has at some time brought them into contact with plutonium. These workers were routinely monitored during their lifetime and estimates made of their total body content of plutonium. Past experience has shown that the urinary plutonium content bears a marked relationship to the bone and liver deposition levels of plutonium but not to the quantities found in the lungs (1). In this paper therefore the comparisons are made between in vivo estimates of bone and liver plutonium deposition and estimates derived from both the wet and ash weights of autopsy specimens. (author)