Basis for the ICRP's age-specific biokinetic model for uranium

Health Phys. 1994 Dec;67(6):589-610. doi: 10.1097/00004032-199412000-00002.

Abstract

In an effort motivated largely by the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is developing age-specific biokinetic models and dose coefficients for environmentally important radionuclides. This paper describes the ICRP's age-specific biokinetic model for uranium. The model is constructed within a physiologically based framework originally developed for application to the alkaline earth elements but sufficiently general to apply to the larger class of bone-volume-seeking elements. Transfer rates for a reference adult are based mainly on: 1. measurements of uranium in blood and excreta of several human subjects who were intravenously injected with uranium; 2. postmortem measurements of uranium in tissues of some of those subjects; 3. postmortem measurements of uranium in tissues of occupationally and non-occupationally exposed subjects; 4. data on baboons, dogs, and smaller laboratory animals exposed to uranium for experimental purposes; and 5. consideration of the physiological processes thought to control retention and translocation of uranium in the body. Transfer rates for the adult are extended to children by application of a set of generic assumptions applied by the ICRP to calcium-like elements. These assumptions were derived mainly from observations of the age-specific biokinetics of the alkaline earth elements and lead in humans and laboratory animals but are consistent with available age-specific biokinetic data on uranium.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aging / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Child
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation
  • Humans
  • International Cooperation
  • Models, Biological
  • Tissue Distribution
  • Uranium / administration & dosage*
  • Uranium / pharmacokinetics*

Substances

  • Uranium