The United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries USTUR

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The United States Transuranium and Uranium
Registries(USTUR)
4th JAEA-USEPA Workshop on Radiation Risk
Assessment, Tokai-mura, Japan, November 7-8, 2006

• Anthony C. James
• WSU/College of Pharmacy
• tjames_at_tricity.wsu.edu
• Barbara G. Brooks
• USDOE/HS-13

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Introduction Early U.S. Pu Autopsy Programs

• 1949 Hanford Site a modest program of
  postmortem tissue sampling at autopsy
• 1959 Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL)
• Pu analyses for general population.
• Early 60s USPHS (general population)
• AEC Rocky Flats (Pu workers).
• USAEC (Department of Biology Medicine) Meeting
  on Plutonium Contamination in Man July 25-26,
  1966, Denver (Rocky Flats Plant).

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The National Plutonium Registry (NPR)

• At the 1966 Rocky Flats Meeting, Dr. H. D. Bruner
  (USAEC) proposed a coordinated National
  Plutonium Registry (NPR).
• NPR set up in 1968 - under the management of
  Hanford Occupational Health Foundation (HOHF).
• Mission serve as a focal point for acquiring
  and providing the latest, most precise
  information about the effects of transuranic
  elements in man specifically plutonium
  workers.
• 1st NPR Director - W. Dag Norwood, MD.
• Distinguished Advisory Committee (including
  Robley Evans, Herb Parker, Wright Langham).

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Evolution of The U.S. Transuranium Registry
(USTR)

• 1978 15,000 U.S. transuranium element workers
  identified
• Hanford and LASL radiochemistry operations
  consolidated at LANL (Jim McInroy, Ph.D.) under
  separate DOE funding.
• Rocky Flats Plant continued separate
  radiochemistry and autopsy programs (Bob
  Bistline) under separate DOE funding.
• gt 1,000 authorizations for autopsy.
• 93 autopsies performed (by 1978).
• 1978 US Uranium Registry (USUR) formed at
  Hanford
• USUR Director Robert Moore, MD.
• 1982 USTR USUR combined (as USTUR) under
  Hanford Environmental Health Foundation (HEHF)
• USTUR Director - Margery Swint, MD.

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Major USTR Landmarks (i) 1976 Hanford 241Am
Incident

• Explosion of ion-exchange column containing 100
  g 241Am.
• Chemical operator injured acid burns,
  superficial cuts (face and upper body).
• From 1 to 5 Ci ( 40 200 GBq!) deposited on
  injured worker and his clothing.

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Major USTR Landmarks (ii) 1979 Whole Body
Donation

• Donor (radiochemist) worked with unsealed 241Am
  source in his doctoral research (1952-54).
• First indication of intake was detection of 241Am
  in urine sample (1958 routine surveillance
  program) No chelation therapy.
• Contemporary estimate of intake 0.23 1.1 µCi (
  8 40 GBq!).

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WSUs U.S. Transuranium Uranium Registries Grant

• 1992 USTUR, National Human Tissue Repository
  (NHRTR), and National Radiobiological Archive
  (NRA) operations and functions consolidated at
  Washington State University (WSU) under the
  College of Pharmacy.
• 3-y DOE grant cycle.
• USTUR Director - Ron Kathren, CHP (Tri-Cities).
• NHRTR/NRA Director John Russell (Tri-Cities).
• Radiochemistry Director Royston Filby
  (Pullman).

• 1993 Registries 25th
• Anniversary Compendium of
• Publications

• Reprints (pdf files) of all publications
  available at http//www.ustur.wsu.edu/publication
  s.html.

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USTUR/NHRTR/NRA Current WSU Grant

• 2005 2010 DOE/EH-53 (now HS-13) renewed WSUs
  grant for USTUR research, management and
  operation (new 5-y grant cycle).
• Director - Tony James PhD.
• December 2006 New Hire - Sergei Tolmachev PhD
  (ex-JAERI/NIRS) - Radiochemistry research
  (including ICP/MS).
• Radiochemistry Caseload Logistics
  Sub-contracting bulk of routine tissue
  preparation/radiochemical analyses to commercial
  laboratory.
• NRA Database - Chuck Watson PhD (ex-PNNL).
• Current University Collaborations
• Health Physics/Biokinetic modeling research
• Idaho State University (ISU) Health Physics
  Program
• Includes 3 doctoral dissertation projects.
• Voxel Phantom Modeling
• University of Floridas Advanced Laboratory for
  Radiation Dosimetry Studies (ALRADS)
• Dr. Wesley Bolch and graduate students.

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USTURs Past and Potential Volunteers

• All tissue and medical/health physics data
  donations to USTURs (and its predecessors)
  research programs are purely voluntary and
  private
• All private/privileged data in documentary and
  electronic archives is rigorously safeguarded.
• Except by express donor wish (i.e., in the two
  landmark cases illustrated earlier), all
  published data and research case studies are
  de-identified to protect the privacy of the
  Registrant and their family.
• USTURs research protocol is subject to annual
  approval by WSUs Institutional Review Board
  (IRB).
• On the 5th anniversary of their previous
  registration, each Registrant must confirm in
  writing their wish to donate tissues (and data
  records), i.e., re-register.
• A registrant (or the next-of-kin) can withdraw
  their permission at any time.
• When permission is withdrawn, the registrant is
  placed inactive in USTURs database.
• Their case records will continue to be protected
  by USTUR but not used for further research.

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USTUR Registrant Statistics as of October 1st,
2006

• Deceased Registrants Donors
• Total number of persons 370
• Partial-body (routine autopsy) donations 335
• Whole-body donations 30 (i.e., 8)
• Special case (bioassay data) donations 5.
• Living Registrants Current Volunteers
• Total number of persons 110
• Partial-body (routine autopsy) volunteers 86
• Whole-body donation volunteers 17 (i.e., 15)
• Special case (bioassay data) donations 7.

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When Did USTUR Whole-Body Donors Get Their
Intakes?
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How Do USTUR Registrants Tissue Burdens Compare
With MAYAK Workers?
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So, What are USTURs Major (Current) Objectives?

• Quantify the variability in behavior of
  transuranic materials among individuals
  (workers).
• Validate new methodologies used at DOE sites (and
  internationally) to assess realistic intakes
  and tissue doses for individual workers.
• Model effectiveness of chelation therapy.
• Examine adequacy of early protection standards
  for Pu (and other actinides).
• Make indexed (de-identified) USTUR data available
  on the World Wide Web.

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1. Quantifying Individual Variability USTUR
Case Data

• 102 Rocky Flats Cases.
• Ratio of LiverLung Pu concentration at death is
  highly variable.
• Generally insoluble Pu but very different
  from ICRP Type S.

Median Ratio 0.29 Type S 1.6 ?g 5.6

• What specific factors are determining this
  behavior i.e., why?
• What is effect on tissue risk/ doses/compensation
  causation calculations?

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1. Quantifying Individual Variability ICRP
Model Framework

• Uptake from exposure environment, e.g.,
  respiratory tract (HRTM).
• Systemic biokinetics and excretion (bioassay),
  e.g., ICRP67 Pu biokinetic model.
• Excretion behavior (bioassay data) and tissue
  retention (dose) is a convoluted function of BOTH.

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1. Quantifying Individual Behavior Mathematical
Representation

• Composite rate matrix specifies each individual
  intake case exposure event personal
  biokinetic factors.
• Systemic ICRP67 Pu biokinetic model structure
  top left.
• Intake ICRP66 Human Respiratory Tract Model
  (HRTM) bottom right.

• Kinetic systems act simultaneously to determine
  Pu retention/tissue dose.

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1. Quantifying Individual Behavior Example of 2
USTUR Cases

• Case 0259 Inhaled 238PuO2 ceramic particles
  (James et al., 2003)
• Case 0262 Skin wound, 239PuO2 particles in
  wound/axillary lymph node 2 prior inhalations
  (James et al., in press)

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1. Quantifying Individual Behavior USTUR Goal

• Solve rate matrix for every USTUR whole body
  donation case.
• Build worker population distribution of
  intake/person specific parameters and rate
  constants.

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2. Validate Practical Field Methods - Software

• 2001-2005 Development of IMBA Expert software
  suite sponsored by DOE/EH-52/31, NIOSH/Office of
  Compensation Analysis Support/ORAU, and CANDU
  Owners Group (COG).
• 2006 Gap Analysis completed by DOE/EH-31.

• IMBA used as the initial step in all USTUR case
  studies to characterize intake(s).

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IMBA Expert? Bioassay Analysis Case 0262
Wound (33-y)
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Composite Inhalation/Wound Biokinetic System
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Best Fit Tissue Contents Using IC67 Pu
Biokinetics

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Optimized Fit by Modifying IC67 Parameter
Values

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Wound/Axillary Lymph Node Retention

• Total intake 204 Bq.
• Wound site retention at death (12,021 d 32.9 y)
  68 Bq No visible scarring.
• Axillary lymph node retention at death 56 Bq.
• Fractional absorption rates
• ?1 0.5 d-1 (3.3)
• ?2 0.012 d-1 (10.3)
• ?3 5.9 10-5 d-1 (49.1)
• ?4 5 10-6 d-1 (37.4).

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2. Validate Field Methods External Counting
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2. Validate Field Methods Voxel Modeling
http//www.betaustur.org/voxel/index.html
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3. Model Effectiveness of Chelation Therapy
Case 0269
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3. Model Effectiveness of Chelation Therapy
Case 0269
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3. Model Effectiveness of Chelation Therapy
Case 0269
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3. Model Effectiveness of Chelation Therapy
Case 0269
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4. Examine Adequacy of Early Protection Standards

• 1940s-1960s
• Protection standard in terms of Maximum
  Permissible Body Burden (MPBB).
• Primitive common sense (empirical) methods to
  assess bioassay data.
• By how much do actual tissue doses received by
  USTUR donors differ from early operational
  estimates?

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5. World Wide Web Availability of De-identified
Case Data
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5. New USTUR Beta Website Being Developed
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Epilog USTURs Current Registrants are Alive and
Lively!

• Annual USTUR Newsletter is a key personalized
  means of maintaining contact with registrants.
• Feedback indicates that they read and study
  newsletter

Hi Susan, I read with interest the latest USTUR
Newsletter, especially the Did You Know? article.
I note with interest that I am dead!! I am a
Transuranium participant (whole body donor) and I
live in Maine. The map shows that Maine has
zero living registrants and one dead one. I can
only conclude that I am dead!! My wife tells me
that only confirms a suspicion she has had for
some time but did not want to upset me. I hope
that you do not claim my body very soon because,
although dead, I am enjoying using it and would
not like to give it up just yet.