Radium total

Inhalation, injection, or body exposure to radium can cause cancer and other body disorders. The maximum permissible border in the total body for 226Ra is 7400 becquerel. 

Radium occurs only in association with uranium (Chapter 31) the observed ratio Ra/U is 1 mg per 3 kg, leading to a terrestrial abundance for Ra of 10 ppm. As uranium ores normally contain only a few hundred ppm of U, it follows that about 10 tonnes of ore must be processed for 1 mg Ra. The total amount of Ra available worldwide is of the order of a few kilograms, but its use in cancer therapy has been superseded by the use of other isotopes, and the... 

Fig. 2-6. Schematic diagram illustrating the essential components of the phototimer circuit. When the total x-rays reaching the multiplier phototube, P, generate sufficient current to charge capacitor, C, to a predetermined potential the thyratron, T, fires and turns off the x-rays by means of the relay. (After Morgan, Am. J. Roentgenol. Radium Therapy, 48, 220.)...

Data on the geographic distribution of surficial radium concentrations were acquired by the National Airborne Radiometric Reconnaissance (NARR) survey, part of the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) program conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy in the mid-1970s. The data were originally collected and tabulated by 1° by 2° quadrangle map area, and the data cover approximately 450 out of a total of 474 such quadrangles... 

In the early years of Theosophy during Blavatsky s lifetime, the modem science that most occupied the movement was, without doubt, the theory of evolution rather than Victorian discoveries in physics and chemistry.4 While Blavatksy in Isis Unveiled and Secret Doctrine grappled in a limited way with modem physics and chemistry, she engaged much more fully with the work of alchemists, especially that of Paracelsus. Her defense of alchemical transmutation was based not upon contemporary science—though she asked of transmutation, Is the idea so absurd as to be totally unworthy of consideration in this age of chemical discovery (Isis 1 503)—but rather upon the exalted reputation of medieval and early modem scientists and alchemists who claimed to have witnessed transmutation (1 503-504). Moreover, the major events that launched modem particle physics—the discoveries of X-rays, the electron, radiation, radium, and radioactive decay—all occurred after Blavatsky died in 1891. 

Total annual intake, in Bq/kg BW, from all sources by a 60-kg person exceeds 66 of lead-210, 166 of polonium-210, 333 of radium-226, 670 of thorium-230, 830 of thorium-228, or 1330 of uranium-238. 

The liquid mine wastes are mainly represented by underground drainage waters (up to 2000 m3/day and even more), as well as low radioactive waste water from uranium treatment plants (from 100 up to 300 m3/day). The uranium isotopes, radium-226, thorium-230, polonium-210, lead-210 are the most dangerous. Their total activity in waste waters reaches often 10-50 Bq/L at the MPC values for natural waters of 0.111 Bq/L. 

We must now more fully consider the radium emanation — a substance with more astounding properties than even the radium compounds themselves. By distilling off the emanation from some radium bromide, and measuring the quantities of heat given off by the emanation and the radium salt respectively, Professors Rutherford and Barnes proved that nearly three-fourths of the total amount of heat given out by a radium salt comes from the minute quantity of emanation that it contains. The amount of energy liberated as heat during fre decay of the emanation is enormous one cubic centimetre liberates about four... 

Lauria DC, Godoy JM. 1988. A sequential analytical method for the determination of uranium-238, thorium-232, thorium-230, thorium-228, radium-228, and radium-226 in environmental samples. Sci Total Environ 70 83-99. 

Radium has been shown to cause adverse health effects such as anemia, cataracts, fractured teeth, cancer and death. As shown in Tables 1-1 through 1-4, the relationship between the amount of radium that you are exposed to and the amount of time necessary to produce these effects is not known. Although there is some uncertainty as to how much exposure to radium increases your chances of developing a harmful health effect, the greater the total amount of your exposure to radium, the more likely you are to develop one of these diseases. More information on this subject is presented in Chapter 2. 

There are few medical tests to determine if you have been exposed to radium. There is a urine test to determine if you have been exposed to a source of radioactivity such as radium. There is also a test to measure the amount of radon, a breakdown product of radium, when it is exhaled. These tests require special equipment and cannot be done in a doctor s office. Another test can measure the total amount of radioactivity in the body however, this test is not used except in special cases of high exposure. 

It is important to note that in the various studies reviewed in the preparation of this document, dose levels have been presented by those authors in several ways. In order to facilitate comparisons among studies, these levels have generally been converted to an equivalent dose in microcuries (p Ci) and kilo-Becquerels (kBq). The historical definition of one curie is the disintegration rate exhibited by one gram of radium. There are 0.027 pCi per kBq. In this document, comparisons are usually made between total administered amounts of radioactivity, in pCi/kg and kBq/kg, instead of using a daily dosage level. 

Acute leukopenia, with almost total absence of granular leukocytes, leukoblastic groups and lymphoid tissue in the bone marrow, was reported in the case of a 36-year-old chemist who had worked with radium for 14 years (Reitter and Martland 1926). 

Radium was also used as a "rejuvenating" tonic in the 1920s and was available to the general public in bottled water. Gettler and Norris (1933) described a case of a 52-year-old man who drank about 1,400 bottles of "Radithor", containing radium at 2 pg/60 ml bottle, over a 5-year period (total dose approximately 2,800 pCi or 56 pCi/kg or 2,074 kBq/kg for a 50-kg man). The cause of death was stated to be a combination of necrosis of the jaw, abscess of the brain, secondary anemia and terminal bronchopneumonia. However, it is important to note that each of these effects can also be attributed to other etiologies. 

These bone sarcomas and head carcinomas have been seen in many radium dial painters and have appeared from 5 to more than 50 years after first exposure to radium. Of those dial painters for whom radium intakes have been estimated (a total of 1,907), 41 have developed bone sarcomas,... 

Based on data on these dial painters from the 1985 listing of radium cases studied at the Argonne National Laboratory (Gustafson and Stehney 1985) Rundo et al. (1986) have estimated that the lowest total intake level of radium associated with a malignancy was 60 pCi (2,222 kBq) or 1.03 p Ci/kg (38 kBq/kg) based on an estimated 58 kg body weight for a woman. These estimates are based on current radium body content modified by the Norris retention function (to account for the decrease in body radium content with time since exposure) and an estimate of radium-228 from measurements of radium-226 and the known or presumed ratios of these isotopes in the materials to which these persons were exposed (Rundo et al. 1986). 

Osteogenic sarcomas were reported in 3 out of 5 rats administered radium for 20 days by dropper (Evans et al. 1944). Each animal was given a different estimated total dose ranging from 10 to 70 p Ci. The lowest dose to clearly induce a malignancy was 22 pCi (approximately 73 pCi/kg or 2,703 kBq/kg). 

In the years after World War II (1946 to 1950), repeated injections of radium-224 were given to adults and children in Germany for treatment of tuberculosis, ankylosing spondylitis, and other diseases. Out of about 2,000 persons who received this treatment, 816 of these cases are currently being followed (Spiess et al. 1978). Of the 816, 204 were injected as juveniles (ages 1 to 20 years) and 612 as adults. The average total injected activity was 18 pCi/kg (666 kBq/kg) (Mays et al. 

A second study of persons injected with radium-224 in Germany from 1948 to 1975 included 1,473 ankylosing spondylitis patients who were also treated with repeated intravenous injections of radium, but at lower levels. They typically received a series of 10 to 12 injections at weekly intervals, each containing 28 pCi (1,037 kBq). Some patients received two or three such series, and one patient received four. The average total injected activity was 4.8 pCi/kg (178 kBq/kg) (Wick and Gossner 1983, 1989). 

Bone tumors, primarily osteogenic sarcomas, have appeared in the first group of German patients injected with radium-224 (see Section 2.2.4) (Spiess et al. 1989). A total of 56 sarcomas have been found the expected number is 0.2 to 0.3 (Spiess et al. 1989). The lowest total dose associated with a bone tumor was 6.4 pCi/kg (237 kBq/kg) given over two months (Mays and Spiess 1984). 

Based on the results in humans and animals, lethality is a major public health concern associated with long-term low-level or short-term high-level exposure to radium. As discussed previously, total cumulative intake appears to be the most important factor in relation to health effects related to radium exposure. 

Ocular effects have not been reported in humans or animals exposed to radium via inhalation, oral, or dermal routes. However, ocular effects have been observed in both humans and animals injected with radium. Cataracts were reported in 6% of the German patients who had been injected with radium-224 as children (Chmelevsky et al. 1988a Stefani et al. 1985). In contrast, the incidence of cataracts in female dial painters was not correlated with total radium intake or age at first exposure, nor was there a difference in appearance times between high and low total radium intakes (Adams et al. 1983). However, the dial painters were exposed orally, the isotope was mainly radium-226, and very few of these dial painters were exposed when younger than 15 years of age. Any of these factors may account for the difference between the results observed in these two studies. 

Cancer. In humans, radium-224 is known to induce bone sarcomas, and it is strongly suspected of inducing breast cancer in females who received this isotope when younger than 21 years of age at total doses greater than 12 pCi/kg (444 kBq/kg). Liver and kidney cancers are also possibly induced by radium-224 (Spiess et al. 1989). 

In Great Britain, radium dial painters with higher total radium-226 intakes and who were younger than 30 years of age at the start of painting showed an excess of breast cancers (Baverstock and Papworth 1989). External gamma ray exposure to the radioactive paint could also have been the cause of cancer in this population. 

Immunotoxicity. Studies that assess the potential effects of radium on the immune system of orally or dermally exposed humans have not been located. The case report of a chemist exposed to radium primarily via inhalation for 14 years reported leukopenia and the almost total absence of granular leukocytes, leukoblastic groups, and lymphoid tissue in the bone marrow. No studies on animals exposed via inhalation, oral, or dermal routes have been located. A study reporting a reduction in peripheral white blood cells in intraperitoneally injected rats has been located. The reported observations suggest that immunological effects may be a concern for humans exposed to radium. 

The radium-228 content of fly ash has varied from 1.8 to 3.1 pCi/g (0.07 to 0.12 Bq/g) (Eisenbud and Petrow 1964). If it is assumed that the total radium content of fly ash is 5 pCi/g (0.19 Bq/g), and that 1% of the ash generated at all coal-fired power plants in the United States escapes into the atmosphere, then an order-of-magnitude estimate of the amount of radium released each year would be 2.2 Ci (81,000,000 kBq) (Roy et al. 1981). Eisenbud and Petrow (1964) estimated that a single 1000-megawatt coal-fired power plant will discharge about 28 mCi (1,037,000 kBq) of total radium per year. Radium-226 has been detected in soils in industrial regions at levels up to 8.1 pCi/g (0.30 Bq/g) (Jaworowski and Gryzbowska 1977). 

Land releases of radium are related to atmospheric fallout of coal fly ash (see Section 5.2.1). For example, elevated radium-226 concentrations in snow have been detected near a coal-fired power plant in Poland (Jaworowski et al. 1971). Other land releases may include the disposal of coal fly ash, lime slurry derived from water softening processes, and uranium mine tailings and associated wind-blown dusts. However, no information was located on the total amount of land-released radium... 

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