Abstract

The concentrations of strontium-90, cesium-137, and polonium-210 in various human tissues have been measured at the Northeastern Radiological Health Laboratory since 1965. The greatest concentration of cesium-137 was found in the psoas muscle. The “soft tissue” concentration of strontium-90 was highest in psoas muscle of males, but this tissue contained the lowest concentration for females. The highest concentration of polonium-210 was observed in the liver. In general, higher concentrations of this radionuclide were observed in organs from smokers than in those from nonsmokers. Comparison of the relative distribution of radionuclides observed in this study to the values used in computing maximum permissible concentrations for radiation workers revealed a number of differences. On this basis it would appear that considerably more effort is required on the determination of the body distribution of the more common radionuclides being ingested by the population today.