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UPTAKE OF URANIUM FROM DRINKING WATER
Citation:
Singh, N. AND M. Wrenn. UPTAKE OF URANIUM FROM DRINKING WATER. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/D-87/290.
Description:
The gastrointestinal absorption (G.I.) of uranium in man from drinking water was determined by measuring urinary and fecal excretion of 234U and 238U in eight subjects. In order to establish their normal backgrounds of uranium intake and excretion, the subjects collected 24 hour total output of both urine and feces for seven days prior to drinking water. During the next day they drank, at their normal rate of drinking water intake, 900 ml of water containing approximately 90 pCi 238U and 90 pCi 234U (273 meg U) and continued to collect their urine and feces for seven additional days. The G.I. absorption of 234U ranged from -0.07% to 1.88% and G.I. absorption of 238U ranged from -0.07% to 1.79%. Employing another technique for analyzing the data, the G.I. absorption ranged from -0.04 to 1.46% for 234U and from 0.03% to 1.43% for 238U. The dietary intake of U was also estimated from measurements of urinary and fecal excretion of U in eight subjects prior to drinking water containing U. The estimated average dietary intake of U for these subjects is 3.30 + or - 0.65 or 4.22 + or - 0.65 mcg/day. These averages are two to four times higher than the values reported in the literature for dietary intake.