Comparison of estimates of systemic Pu from urinary excretion with estimates from post-mortem tissue analysis

Urinalysis data for 17 individuals with known exposure to Pu were supplied to six laboratories, each of which made an estimate of systemic deposition. In general, the evaluation was done with the Langham model or one of its derivatives, and the values obtained by the laboratories for any single case were typically within a factor of two of the mean for all laboratories. The estimates made from urinalysis data typically were several-fold greater than those made from autopsy data. The results indicate that estimates based on urinary excretion overestimate systemic deposition and tend to confirm previous observations that the Langham equation underestimates urinary excretion.