a018  2321  11 Sep 80
PM-Plutonium Antidote, Bjt,640
Chemical Removes Plutonium From Living Tissue
By PAUL RAEBURN
Associated Press Writer
    BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - A substance that removes deadly plutonium
from living tissue has been developed by University of California
scientists, who call it the first advance in treating radiation
contamination in more than 30 years.
    It also could prove valuable in removing radioactive elements from
nuclear waste, thus defusing the highly controversial problems of
storing spent plutonium, as well as low-level wastes from nuclear
medicine and research, the scientists say.
    ''All of the chemistry for reactor-waste storage was developed
shortly after the Manhattan Project,'' the intensive World War II
effort to develop the atomic bomb, said Kenneth Raymond, one of the
substance's inventors.
    ''I think this new chemical, or something very close to it, will
prove to be a significant part of the answer'' for disposal of wastes
from nuclear power plants and weapons, he said Thursday.
    The substance, called LICAM-C, removed 70 percent of the plutonium
injected into laboratory mice. And repeated doses could probably
remove more with little or no toxic side effect, researchers said.
    Plutonium, one of the deadliest substances known, is both a
by-product of and a fuel for nuclear power plants and weapons
manufacture. Chemically similar to iron, it is easily absorbed by the
body and collects in the lungs, spleen, liver and bone marrow. The
radiation it emits can transform normal cells into cancerous ones.
    Plutonium-239, a nuclear fission fuel, has a half-life of 25,000
years, which means half the plutonium will decay in that time. That
enormous half-life and plutonium's deadly radiation are at the crux of
the storage problem.
    Developed by Raymond and Fred Weitl at the University of
California's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, LICAM-C grabs individual
plutonium ions - electrically charged atoms - and engulfs them in
chemical pincers, the researchers said.
    For that reason, it is called a ''chelate,'' after the Greek word
for crab's claw.
    Raymond had been studying iron chelates, which occur naturally,
because of the similarity between iron and plutonium. Several
plutonium chelates were developed, but they were found to be toxic
when tested on mice, he said.
    ''Finally we came up with a chemical that binds tightly with
plutonium, is non-toxic, and of low enough molecular weight to pass
through the kidneys so it can be excreted,'' Raymond said.
    Some earlier experimental substances removed plutonium, but also
removed essential minerals such as iron, calcium and zinc, he said.
LICAM-C is selective for plutonium.
    There will be no tests of LICAM-C with humans because ''there's no
way you're going to give somebody plutonium to test it,'' Raymond
said.
    ''The significant thing is you can make this specific for
radioactive elements,'' Raymond said. Similar substances could be
developed for uranium and other radioactive elements.
    He currently is seeking funding to develop similar substances to
remove plutonium from radioactive waste.
    Thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel are now piling up at the
nation's reactors. The fuel is not being reprocessed because of
federal restrictions, and it will be dangerously radioactive for
centuries. The Senate this summer decided to store the wastes at
federally owned interim sites while technology is being developed to
render it harmless.
    The storage of low-level nuclear wastes also is an urgent problem.
All such waste now is stored at sites in Beatty, Nev., Barnwell, S.C.,
and Hanford, Wash., and governors in those states have objected to
handling dangerous materials from around the nation. The dumps closed
last fall amid protests that the federal government was failing to
insure safe packaging and transportation of the waste. They reopened
with the promise that they would not be the nation's only such dumps
for much longer.
    
ap-ny-09-12 0222EDT
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