SKIN CONTACT TRANSFER OF TRITIUM FROM BRASS,

Abstract

It is shown that contact of skin with contaminated metal can facilitate the transfer of tritium, that the radioactivity absorbed onto the skin enters the body water, and that it follows the metabolic pattern of tritium entering by other modes. Tritium in the skin was determined after converting all forms to tritiated water by dry combustion. Standardized exposures were checked by liquid scintillation counting. Curves for the disappearance of tritium in the skin could be resolved into 0.3, 3, and 14 day half-times, and after 15 days there was little difference between wet and dry tissues. The accumulative excretion curves, based on the measured half-time value of 5.5 days for urine radioactivity, showed that substantially all of the skin radioactivity can be accounted for in body water by 28 days. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 29, 1964
Accession Number
AD0603309

Entities

People

  • B. E. Vaughan
  • M. E. Hutchin

Organizations

  • Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Body Water
  • Combustion
  • Excretion
  • Hydrogen
  • Liquids
  • Radioactivity
  • Scintillation
  • Super Heavy Water
  • Tritium
  • Water

Readers

  • Aquatic Ecology
  • Immunology
  • Thermal Physics or Thermal Science.