Solubility and transferability of several industrial forms of uranium oxides

This study was aimed at determining the solubility of two uranium oxides (U 3 O 8 and UO 2 +U metal ) produced by a new enrichment process using laser technology and at understanding some mechanisms involved in the intracellular particle transformation. The solubility of the two compounds is lower when they have been phagocytised by alveolar macrophages than in a medium without cells. The addition of new macrophages during the culture has permitted the solubility of U 3 O 8 to be tested over 14 days in spite of the toxicity of this compound. The biokinetics of uranium after exposure of rats to UO 2 +U metal have confirmed the in vitro results. The electron microscopy study and EELS analysis of alveolar macrophages from rats instilled with both compounds have shown the formation of very thin needles of uranyl phosphate within the lysosomes