THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN URINARY ELIMINATION, AIRBORNE CONCENTRATION, AND RADIOACTIVE HAND CONTAMINATION FOR WORKERS EXPOSED TO URANIUM

The purposes of this study were to estimate the proportional contribut ion of uranium dust exposure to urinary excretion of the metal, and to examine the influence of hand contamination on the elimination of ura nium from the urine of workers who performed different jobs. The study was based on records taken from a gaseous diffusion plant in 1956. Re gression techniques were used to investigate the relationship between uranium concentration in urine and exposure variables, including the c oncentration of uranium dust and the incidence of hand contamination. The proportional contribution of airborne to urinary uranium was estim ated by the slope of this relationship. it is concluded that the worke rs eliminated uranium at relatively constant rates per unit air concen tration (0.67 to 1.27 mu g/L per mu g/m(3)). In addition to airborne u ranium, hand contamination significantly contributed to the eliminatio n among maintenance crew, but not among production workers. Furthermor e, the production index was shown to be a useful surrogate for airborn e and urinary uranium.