Distribution of Plutonium and Americium in Human Lungs and Lymph Nodes and Relationship to Smoking Status

Post-mortem radiochemical analyses for 238 Pu, 239+240 Pu, 241 Am and uranium were carried out in the lungs and associated lymph nodes of 58 tissue donors to the United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries. Exposure to actinides was typically via the chronic low level inhalation pathway, primarily taking place many years prior to death. Concentration of activity in both lungs and lymph nodes of the population examined was lognormally distributed, spanning several orders of magnitude. In the 54 cases for whom 239+240 Pu data were available, the geometric mean and standard deviation of the ratio of 239+240 Pu concentration in the lymph nodes to that in the lungs was 7.8 (GSD = 6.2). In the 29 cases for whom 238 Pu data were available and the 36 cases with 241 Am data, the comparable values were 13 (GSD = 5.8) and 12 (GSD = 3.4)