⁹⁹Tc transfer from water to monogastric

¹ Laboratoire de Sciences Animales, INRA-INPL-UHP, ENSAIA, BP. 172, 54505 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France
² EDF-CNPE de Cattenom, BP. 41, 57570 Cattenom, France

Abstract

Technetium-99 (T_1/2 : 212 000 years) is derived from the fission of uranium-235 and produced more particularly by nuclear fuel reprocessing plants. We studied, during a chronic contamination by water, excretion, distribution and retention of ⁹⁹Tc in rats as monogastric model. More than 85 % of ingested ⁹⁹Tc is excreted by urine and feces, urinary way being dominant from the first week, to reach 72 % of total excretion at the end of the experiment (14 weeks). The thyroid and hair content increased until the end of the treatment. They represented respectively 0.1 and 16 % of the given dose, after 98 days of intake. The liver and the kidneys content reached a plateau between the 40^th and the 56^th days of the exposure period. There was no ⁹⁹Tc in the muscle and the intestine.