title: Investigations on the solubility of corrosion products on depleted uranium projectiles by simulated body fluids and the consequences on dose assessment.
abstract: Ingestion and inhalation of corrosion products covering weathered penetrators made of depleted uranium (DU) represent potential radiological exposure pathways. In order to study the bioavailability of these corrosion products, their solubility was determined using simulated gastric and pulmonary juices. About 75 and 36% of the uranium in the corrosion products were found to be soluble in simulated gastric and pulmonary juices, respectively. The effective dose coefficient for adults after ingestion was calculated to be 0.61 muSv mg(-1) DU. This compares to an effective dose coefficient for an adult of 0.71 muSv mg(-1) for DU materials given by the World Health Organization (WHO). The effective dose coefficient for inhalation was calculated to be 3.7 x 10(-6 )Sv Bq(-1) for workers and 5.3 x 10(-6 )Sv Bq(-1) for members of the public, respectively, which is between those of particles of Types M and S as defined by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The speciation of the corrosion products was investigated by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). The mean oxidation state of uranium was found to be 4.6, which suggests that the uranium in the corrosion products consists of a mixture of U(IV) and U(VI) species.
authors.affiliation: GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Radiation Protection, Ingolstaedter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany. gerstmann@gsf.de
authors.forename: Udo C
authors.initials: UC
authors.lastname: Gerstmann
authors.forename: Wilfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Szymczak
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Höllriegl
authors.forename: Wei Bo
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schramel
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takenaka
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Oeh
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D001826:Body Fluids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003343:Corrosion; D005389:Firearms; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D012995:Solubility; D014501:Uranium / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014501:Uranium