A Rapid Fecal Bioassay Method for Pu/Am

Fecal radiobioassay is a sensitive tool to estimate intake of radionuclides, especially for insoluble or poorly absorbed actinides. To increase efficiency and reduce turnaround time, improvements were introduced in the sample digestion step of a fecal bioassay method to rapidly detect Pu and Am. The acid- and microwave-digestion of the spiked fecal samples (5–10 g) were effectively completed in 1 h. The turnaround time for the sample analysis was minimized to 6 h. The average recoveries for Pu and Am were 35% and 60% for artificial fecal samples, respectively. Much better recoveries for Pu and Am were obtained for natural fecal samples. Observed relative biases for Pu and Am were marginally in the range of -0.25 to +0.50. The relative precision values for both radionuclides were, however, within the performance index of 0.4. This rapid fecal method is a potential candidate for an acceptable quantitative radiobioassay and screening method for the suspected Pu/Am exposures.