Is maligning plutonium metal justified?

THERE IS SO MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT THE TOXICITY OF PLUTONIUM AVAILABLE IN OPEN LITERATURE THAT IT IS TIME TO EXAMINE WHETHER MALIGNING THE PRECIOUS SOURCE OF ENERGY IS JUSITIFIED OR NOT. IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT EVEN SPECIALISTS IN REPROCESSING HAVE EXAGGERATED NOTIONS ABOUT PU-TOXICITY.

Dr.K.S.Parthasarathy


Is maligning plutonium metal justified?

Unsubstantiated fears must not impede technological progress towards energy security

Experts do not agree that plutonium is the most toxic material known to man There has not been a single death due to Pu among workers at U.S. nuclear weapon facilities

The Health Physics Society (HPS), a scientific association noted that the word ‘plutonium’ in a news story seems invariably preceded by the adjective ‘deadly.’

HPS argued that the statements such as plutonium is ‘the most deadly element known’ and that ‘a single speck of plutonium inhaled can kill a person’ are not facts but opinions; reporters apparently include them to dramatise the ir story.
Not very soluble

Some scientists perceive plutonium (Pu) as extremely toxic. “What will happen if a misguided fellow drops some Pu in a municipal water reservoir?” a senior scientist, who specialised in fuel reprocessing once asked me. Pu, in its most common chemical form, is not very soluble in water. Once dropped, the heavy metal will sink to the bottom of the reservoir. The damage will not be dramatic.

Many ignorant but influential people contribute to the misinformation on Pu. On November 16, 1996, the Mars-96 satellite fell into the sea with 200 grammes of Pu-238 onboard. Hans Koning, a prolific writer believed that this amount was in principle enough to kill all life on earth!

“Fortunately, it did not fall on a city, where it would have killed a million or more people” he wrote in the International Herald Tribune (IHT, November 27, 1996).

According to the 1982 report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), between 1945 and 1980, nuclear explosions dispersed about 2.8 tons of Pu-239 globally. “Still life exists” Dr Zbigniew Jaworowski, a scientist who once chaired UNSCEAR, reminded the readers (IHT December, 24 1996).

Specialists asserted that the risk from the well-encapsulated Pu is minimal.

Public apparently believed Hans Koning, the fiction writer rather than Jaworowski, the scientist or the specialists.

Historically, during the war years, someone stated that plutonium was the most toxic material, partly to scare workers into using respirators and following safety precautions scrupulously.

At least 11 Hollywood movies and television shows refer to Pu, not honourably. Two of them depict characters suffering from ‘radiation sickness’ due to inhalation of plutonium.
Biasing the public

One of them was a terrorist. Such movies bias public against plutonium. Scientists find it difficult to undo the damage.

What are the facts? “In the Handbook of Toxicology of Metals 1979, Pu does not rate a mention except in passing in the entry for uranium,” Dr. Colin Keay, former Professor of Physics, University of Newcastle wrote in the Skep tic Magazine (1997).

Experts do not agree that Pu is the most toxic material known to man. Radium is more toxic. Plutonium is an angel compared to polonium-210! A few tenths of a microgramme of polonium-210 killed an Ex Russian spy (The Hindu, December 7) last year.

Orally, Pu is less toxic than caffeine, some vitamins, many plants and fungi. Its chemical toxicity may rank with lead or other heavy metals (chemistrydaily.com, 2005). Ricin, tetrodotoxin, botulinum toxin, tetanus toxin are fatal in doses as low as a milligramme.

A small amount of inhaled plutonium may cause cancer in the next few decades. Large amounts of inhaled or ingested plutonium will cause radiation sickness and death.

So far, there has been not even a single death attributable to Pu among the thousands of workers at U.S. nuclear weapon facilities which handled tens of tons of Pu, 26 workers who became contaminated with Pu during the forties and 18 persons into whom researchers injected Pu to study its excretion rates.
Notable record

Despite this notable record of accomplishment, fear of nuclear proliferation made Pu, the most ‘toxic’ substance known to man. Condemning Pu is a single point agenda of anti-nuclear activists.

We must handle Pu carefully to minimise its associated risks which are well recognised. Indian scientists have been handling substantial amounts of Pu safely since January 22, 1965 when they set up the first plant to extract Pu. Plutonium is vital to the country’s three-stage nuclear power programme. Unsubstantiated fears must not impede the technological progress, which ensures energy security to the nation.

K.S. PARTHASARATHY

Former Secretary, AERB

( ksparth@yahoo.co.uk )

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