Preface 



This book evolved from recommendations made at the Second Workshop on Environ- 

 mental Research for Transuranic Elements held at Seattle, Wash., Nov. 12—14, 1975 

 (proceedings available as ERDA- 76/134), under the sponsorship of the Environmental 

 Programs Branch of the U. S. Energy Research and Development Administration, Division 

 of Biomedical and Environmental Research. A sixfold expansion of research on the 

 environmental aspects of transuranic elements had occurred since the first plutonium 

 workshop was held at Estes Park, Colo., July 11-12, 1974, and a need for greater 

 communication of research results was identified. It was felt that investigators would be 

 encouraged to publish their work in open literature following the publishing of a single 

 publication that summarized the available information from the several Environmental 

 Programs Branch investigations. 



The objectives of this book are to assemble the available information on the behavior 

 of transuranic nuclides in the environment following their release from a variety of source 

 terms, their translocation by physical and biological transport phenomena, and the 

 interpretation of the consequences of such concentrations as might be found in higher 

 trophic levels of food webs. All such studies require attention to sampling design to 

 provide accurate data, much of which may be destined as input to computer simulation 

 models that are capable of treating the several variables and long half-lives that are 

 involved in projecting the long-term environmental consequences of the nuclear fuel cycle 

 of the future. 



The authors were asked to emphasize both similarities and differences in transuranic 

 nuclide behavior in various environmental settings and to identify research needs as they 

 perceived them. Topics were assigned to scientists who were considered to be best 

 qualified to address particular areas of research, often as members of a team. The 

 cooperation of several of the authors in making this arrangement function properly was 

 most gratifying and has magnified the application of tlieir research to a better 

 understanding of a difficult class of elements. 



The outline of the volume and an initial evaluation of many of the manuscripts were 

 presented at the Third Workshop on Environmental Research for the Transuranic 

 Elements held at Woods Hole, Mass., Apr. 18-22. 1977 (proceedings available as 

 CONF-770429). The hope that it would provide a comprehensive review and editorial 

 comment of a rough draft of this book was only partially realized. That it survived at all 

 is due in large part to the perseverance of the session chairmen. 



The importance of transuranic nuclides in terms of their long physical half-lives, 

 chemical toxicities, the effective linear energy transfer of their radiations, and the 

 appreciable public concern about their release to the environment has prompted several 



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