On the possibility of the rapid assistance to people after a single exposure to uranium hexafluoride

Introduction. The accidental release of uranium hexafluoride (UHF) is associated with the pollution of the air of the working premises with its hydrolysis products, containing toxic substances (uranium and fluorine). The intake of UHF hydrolysis products by is related to a negative impact on the human body. The magnitude and the rate of the exposure are determined by the amount of deposited toxic substances. Known methods for the determination of these amounts are based on the study of involved biological media (urine, blood, postmortem examination of all organs), requiring time-consuming, sometimes are critical for the preservation of the human life. In this paper, we propose a theoretical method for the detecting the amount of the deposited toxic substances. The calculation is based on models constructed by authors of this article. They describe successively: pollution of the working premises with UHF hydrolysis products, the input of toxic substances in the human body, uranium and passing fluorine through the body. The first model includes the following processes: hydrolysis, the formation of aerosol particles as on the deposition gas molecules and the wall of working space as on the human skin, deposition of the aerosol particles on the floor of the working space. With continuity equations written for the concentrations of molecules of substances of interest to us, the analytical expressions for n(z,t) — the concentration of atoms of a toxic substance at the height z at the time t; j(t) — flux density of toxic substance atoms on the surface of the skin at the time t. The second and third models describe percutaneous intake and inhalation of uranium and fluorine consisting of UHF hydrolysis products entering the human body, as well as toxic substances passed through the body.

Results. There are presented results of calculating the amounts deposited in the body of uranium fluoride at various time points. There is given a comparison of these values with the experimental data in the literature on the quantity of uranium and fluorine, which enters the body to cause various organic and functional changes.

Conclusion. The theoretical method of determining a person’s level of the destruction was concluded to allow extending the prediction of the development of adverse effects of uranium and fluorine without its prior survey, and choose the most effective methods of healthcare provision.