The metabolism of americium and plutonium in the rat.

The distribution and retention of the alpha-emitting nuclides americium-241 and plutonium-239 in the tissues and bones of rats have been studied over a period of about 600 days following intravenous injection. The biological half-lives of americium and plutonium were found to be 1600 days and 1320 days respectively. Autoradiographic techniques have been used to study the microscopic distribution of the nuclides in bone and to estimate the distribution of radiation dose resulting from the deposition of americium-241 in the femur.