USTUR Special Session Roundtable-US Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR): A Five-decade Follow-up of Plutonium and Uranium Workers

Our plain-English summary of USTUR Special Session Roundtable-US Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR): A Five-decade Follow-up of Plutonium and Uranium Workers, by S.Y. Tolmachev, M.J. Swint, R.W. Bistline, et al (Health Physics, 2019).

The study

• Authors: S.Y. Tolmachev, M.J. Swint, R.W. Bistline, R.O. McClellan, J.F. McInroy, R.L. Kathren, R.E. Filipy, R.E. Toohey
• Journal: Health Physics
• Published: 2019;117(2):211-222
• Cited by: 8 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The US Transuranium and Uranium Registries is a human tissue program that collects tissues posthumously from former nuclear workers and radiochemically analyzes them for actinides such as plutonium, americium, and uranium. It was established in 1968 with the goal of advancing science and improving the safety of future workers. Roundtable participants recalled various aspects of this multidisciplinary research program, from establishing consistent autopsy protocols to comparing the registries' findings to those of other programs, such as the historical beagle dog studies and the Russian Radiobiological Human Tissue Repository. The importance of meeting ethical and legal requirements, including written consent forms, was emphasized, as was the need to know whether workers were exposed to nonradiological hazards such as beryllium or asbestos. At Rocky Flats, a bioassay program was established to follow workers after they terminated employment. The resulting data continue to help researchers to improve the biokinetic models that are used to estimate intakes and radiation doses. After 50 y, the US Transuranium and Uranium Registries continues to contribute to our understanding of actinides in humans, which is a testament to the vision of its founders, the generosity of its tissue donors, and the many dedicated scientists who have worked together to achieve a common goal.

In plain English

This article is a transcript of a roundtable held in Spokane, Washington, on 19 July 2016, not a research study. Past directors and associates of the US Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR) recalled its history. The USTUR collects workers' tissues after death and measures plutonium, americium and uranium in them. One participant recalled that Rocky Flats workers with plutonium intakes were moved elsewhere, including to uranium areas. There, workers taking hot billets from furnaces wore asbestos gloves without respiratory protection. The same participant recalled several Rocky Flats death certificates listing mesothelioma. No counts or mesothelioma type were given. Another participant recalled that Los Alamos analyzed about 150 former workers and over 1,100 general population samples. That participant recalled no difference in deposition between people living near and far from nuclear facilities; plutonium deposition in about 200 people sampled at a Pennsylvania hospital was no different, statistically, from people near facilities. The participant recalled that changes to urine analyses suggested the models then in use grossly overestimated workers' whole-body contents. The authors concluded that after 50 years the registries continue to contribute to understanding actinides in humans.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Transcript of a roundtable discussion (forum article) in which participants recalled the history of a tissue registry program; not an original research study
• Who was studied: Roundtable panel of past USTUR directors and associates (Robert Bistline, Roger McClellan, James McInroy, Margery Swint, Ronald Kathren, Ronald Filipy; chair Richard Toohey), speaking at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Health Physics Society, Spokane, Washington, 19 July 2016. The workers they discussed were former US nuclear workers who donated tissues to the registries.
• Exposure: Mainly internal deposition of actinides (plutonium, americium, uranium) in nuclear workers. A participant also recalled that uranium workers at Rocky Flats wore asbestos gloves (fiber type not stated) and slapped them to put out fires. Beryllium exposure was also mentioned.
• Main results:
  • A participant recalled that Rocky Flats workers with internal plutonium deposition were moved to other areas, some to beryllium areas and many to uranium areas.
  • The same participant recalled that the uranium workers wearing asbestos gloves did not wear respiratory protection.
  • The participant recalled noticing several death certificates from Rocky Flats listing mesothelioma, and others listing chronic beryllium disease. No number of cases and no site of mesothelioma were given.
  • A participant recalled starting a recall program at Rocky Flats in 1980 that brought retired workers back for monitoring every three years.
  • The Los Alamos program analyzed about 150 former workers.
  • Los Alamos analyzed over 1,100 general population samples. A participant recalled that people living near nuclear facilities had no different deposition than people living far away.
  • As an example, the participant recalled that plutonium deposition in samples from about 200 people at a Pennsylvania hospital was no different, statistically, from estimates for people living close to nuclear facilities.
  • A participant recalled that changes to urine analyses suggested that the urinary excretion models then in use grossly overestimated workers' whole-body contents.
  • A participant recalled a quick calculation showing that the average body burden in the Russian registry was 250 times that of the US worker.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that after 50 years the USTUR continues to contribute to understanding of actinides in humans.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • A participant said the figure given for whole bodies analyzed at Los Alamos (something like 15 to 20) came from memory and was not exact.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Autopsy.

Related studies

• Analyses of radiation and mesothelioma in the US Transuranium and Uranium Registries — H. Gibb, K. Fulcher, et al. (2013)
• A Monte Carlo t Test to Evaluate Mesothelioma and Radiation in the US Transuranium and Uranium Registries — J.Y. Zhou, S.L. McComish, et al. (2019)
• Causes of death in a cohort of 260 plutonium workers — B. Gold, R.L. Kathren (1998)
• French cohort of the uranium processing workers: mortality pattern after 30-year follow-up — I. Guseva Canu, E. Cardis, et al. (2010)
• Lung cancer and internal lung doses among plutonium workers at the Rocky Flats Plant: a case-control study — S.C. Brown, M.F. Schonbeck, et al. (2004)
• Lung fibrosis in plutonium workers — L.S. Newman, M.M. Mroz, et al. (2005)

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