Estimation of risk from dispersed active plutonium particles at Mururoa

Active plutonium particles exist on three rather remote motus of Mururoa Atoll as a result of atmospheric safety trials. The incorporation of active particles in cuts or wounds is a potential exposure pathway for future atoll residents, the significance of which depends on factors such as the activity and size distribution of the particles, the frequency of incidents leading to cuts and wounds, and the behaviour of a particle embedded in tissue. For the situation at Mururoa the different factors and components of probability were combined in a Monte Carlo analysis to give an overall risk probability distribution. The annual risk of fatal cancer for this route of exposure was estimated as less than 10-6