United States Transuranium Registry. Annual report, 1 October 1978-1 October 1979 to DOE Division of Biomedical and Environmental Research

This Registry was established in 1968 to protect the interests of workers, employers, and the public by serving as a national focal point for the acquisition and provision of precise information about transuranics in humans. This purpose is accomplished by studying the distribution and concentration of transuranics in man through the analysis of autopsy tissues of accupationally exposed workers; by comparing the estimates of body or chest burdens made during the life of a worker with estimates based on the analysis of tissues obtained after death; by seeking in autopsy histopathological changes that might be attributed to the effects of transuranics; and by studying the findings of animal experiments involving transuranics and comparing them with data from human beings who had received a transuranic deposition. Seven DOE contractor laboratories and several contractor licensees participate in the Registry by encouraging their staff members to sign releases of health physics and medical information and releases for autopsies. Data files and release records are kept at the Hanford Environmental Health Foundation, Richland, Washington.