Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Bone sarcomas and head carcinomas were diagnosed among this group, but no statis-
tically significant number of leukemias was found.
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Uranium
Occurrence
Natural uranium may be found in both surface and groundwater. The
highest levels of uranium are found in the mountainous region of the western United
States. In the 1960s and 1970s, the USGS conducted the National Uranium Resource
Evaluation (NURE), collecting 89,000 surface water and groundwater samples. The
largest concentration of uranium measured in this study was 600 pCi / L, although a
measurement of 6,900 pCi / L has since been reported from a private well in Colorado.
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory identified approximately 20,000 of the sites in
the NURE study as existing or potential drinking water supplies. The mean concen-
tration in these supplies was 1.8 pCi / L.
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Other surveys report average concentrations
of 2.4 and 3 pCi / L for U.S. groundwaters.
2,3
Health Effects
Ingested uranium goes primarily to the bone and kidney. The low
radioactivity per gram of uranium makes it difficult to develop dose-response studies
in animals. Limited evidence suggests the health effects data from radium may serve
as a surrogate for uranium. Uranium is also known to have deleterious or chemotoxic
effects on the kidney.
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REFERENCES
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6.
Drinking Water and Health
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