Speciation and transfer of radionuclides in the human organism especially taking into account decorporation agents (RADEKOR)

Summary

In case radionuclides (RN) enter the food chain and are incorporated by humans, they pose a possible health risk due to their radio- and chemotoxicity. To precisely assess the health risk after oral incorporation of RN with food and beverages and to apply effective decontamination methods, it is mandatory to understand the processes of RN biokinetics on both cellular and molecular scale. Within the planned joint research project, quantitative excretion analysis and biokinetic modeling of orally incorporated RN are combined with molecular speciation studies of RN in the alimentary tract of humans in the absence and presence of decorporation agents. Aim of the joint research project is to expand the knowledge of processes underlying RN interactions within the human alimentary tract on a cellular and molecular scale to establish a precise biokinetic model as well as to contribute to the development and improvement of nuclide specific decontamination methods.

The part of HZDR is to investigate experimentally the speciation of trivalent lanthanides and actinides (Ln(III)/An(III)) as well as uranium in model fluids of the alimentary tract in the absence and presence of decorporation agents by spectroscopic methods and to calculate the speciation by thermodynamic modeling.