What is Actinium?

Actinium is a chemical element with symbol Ac and atomic number 89. Actinium gave

the name to the actinide series, a group of 15 similar elements between actinium
and lawrencium in the periodic table. It is also sometimes considered the first of the 7th-
period transition metals, although lawrencium is less commonly given that position.
A soft, silvery-white radioactive metal, actinium reacts rapidly with oxygen and moisture
in air forming a white coating of actinium oxide that prevents further oxidation. As with
most lanthanides and many actinides, actinium assumes oxidation state +3 in nearly all
its chemical compounds.
André-Louis Debierne, a French chemist, announced the discovery of a new element in
1899. He separated it from pitchblende residues left by Marie and Pierre Curie after
they had extracted radium. In 1899, Debierne described the substance as similar
to titanium  and (in 1900) as similar to thorium. Friedrich Oskar Geisel independently
discovered actinium in 1902 as a substance being similar to lanthanum and called it
"emanium" in 1904. After a comparison of the substances half-lives determined by
Debierne, Harriet Brooks in 1904, and Otto Hahn and Otto Sackur in 1905, Debierne's
chosen name for the new element was retained because it had seniority, despite the
contradicting chemical properties he claimed for the element at different times.

Health effects of actinium

Actinium-227 is extremely radioactive, and in terms of its potential for radiation induced
health effects, actinium-227 is about as dangerous as plutonium. Ingesting even small
amounts of actinium-227 would represent a serious health hazard.

Environmental effects of actinium

The development of nuclear technology has been accompanied by gross as well as
minute releases of radioactivity into the atmosphere, the soil, the oceans, seas, and
water table, showing up worldwide in animal, vegetable, and inert matter. Radiation
crosses species and concentrates through the food chain, subjecting other animals and
humans to its damaging effects.
Actinium-227 is extremely radioactive. Radioactivity damages the gene pool not only of
humans, but of all living creatures, causing cancers, immune system damage, leukemia,
miscarriages, stillbirths, deformities, and fertility problems. Furthermore, genetic
damage from radiationexposure is cumulative over lifetimes and generations.
What Is Thorium?
Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with symbol Th and atomic
number 90. Thorium metal is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air,
forming the dioxide; it is moderately hard, malleable, and has a high melting point.
Thorium is an electropositive actinide whose chemistry is dominated by the +4 oxidation
state; it is quite reactive and can ignite in air when finely divided.
Thorium was discovered in 1829 by the Norwegian amateur mineralogist Morten Thrane
Esmark and identified by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who named it
after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Its first applications were developed in the late
19th century. Thorium's radioactivity was widely acknowledged during the first decades
of the 20th century. In the second half of the century, thorium was replaced in many
uses due to concerns about its radioactivity.
Thorium was formerly used as an alloying element in TIG welding electrodes, as a
material in high-end optics and scientific instrumentation, and as the light source in gas
mantles, but these have become marginal uses. It has been suggested as a
replacement for uranium as nuclear fuel in nuclear reactors, and several thorium
reactors have been built.
How might I be exposed to thorium?
Since thorium is found almost everywhere, you will be exposed to small amounts of it in
the air you breathe and in the food and water you eat and drink. Scientists know,
roughly, the average amounts of thorium in food and drinking water. Most people in the
United States eat some thorium with their food every day. Normally, very little of the
thorium in lakes, rivers, and oceans gets into the fish or seafood we eat. The amounts in
the air are usually so small that they can be ignored.
How can thorium enter and leave my body?
Only a small amount of the thorium that you breathe or swallow in food, water, or soil
enters your blood. One animal study has shown that thorium can enter the body if it is
placed on the skin. After breathing thorium, you will usually sneeze, cough, or breathe
out some of it within minutes. Some forms of thorium can stay in your lungs for long
periods of time. However, in most cases, the small amount of thorium left in your lungs
will leave your body in the feces and urine within days. After you eat or drink thorium,
almost all of it leaves your body in the feces. The small amount of thorium left in your
body may enter your bones from the blood and stay there for many years. The main
way thorium will enter your body is by breathing dust contaminated with thorium.

How can thorium affect my health?

Studies of thorium workers have shown that breathing thorium dust may cause an
increased chance of developing lung disease and cancer of the lung or pancreas many
years after being exposed. Changes in the genetic material of body cells have also
been shown to occur in workers who breathed thorium dust. Liver diseases and effects
on the blood have been found in people injected with thorium in order to take special X-
rays.

How can thorium affect my health?

Studies of thorium workers have shown that breathing thorium dust may cause an
increased chance of developing lung disease and cancer of the lung or pancreas many
years after being exposed. Changes in the genetic material of body cells have also
been shown to occur in workers who breathed thorium dust. Liver diseases and effects
on the blood have been found in people injected with thorium in order to take special X-
rays.
What is Protactinium

Protactinium is a silver metallic element that belongs to the actinide group. It is

malleable, shiny, silver-gray, radioactive. It does not tarnish rapidly in air, it is attacked
by oxygen, steam and acids, but not by alkalis. It is superconductive at temperatures
below 1.4 K.

Applications
Due to its scarcity, high radioactivity and toxicity, there are currently no uses for
protactinium outside of basic scientific research.
Protactimium in the environment
Protactimium-231 occurs naturally in uranium ores such as pitchblende, to the extent of
3 ppm in some ores in Zaire. Protactinium is naturally present in soil, rock, surface
water, groundwater, plants and animals in very low concentrations (on the order of 1 ppt
or 0.1 picocouries (pCi)/g).

Health effects of protactinium

Protactinium does not play any biological role.
Protactinium can be taken into the body by eating food, drinking water, or breathing air.
When protactinium is inhaled, a significant fraction can move from the lungs through the
blood to other organs, depending on the solubility of the compound.
Gastrointestinal absorption from food or water is a likely source of internally deposited
protactinium in the general population. Most of the protactinium taken in by ingestion will
promptly leave the body in feces; only about 0.05% of the amount ingested is absorbed
from the gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream. After leaving the intestine or lung,
about 40% of the protactinium that does enter the bloodstream deposits in the skeleton,
about 15% deposits in the liver, about 2% deposits in the kidneys, and the rest is
excreted. The biological half-life in the skeleton is about 50 years. Of the protactinium
deposited in the liver, 70% is assumed to be retained with a biological half-life of 10
days, with the remaining 30% having a biological half-life of 60 days. Of the protactinium
deposited in the kidneys, 20% is assumed to be retained with a biological half-life of 10
days, with the remaining 80% having a biological half-redistribution.
Primary health effects: Protactinium is generally a health hazard only if it is taken into
the body, although there is a small external risk associated with the gamma rays
emitted by protactinium-231 and a number of short-lived decay products of actinium-
227. The main means of exposure are ingestion of food and water containing
protactinium and inhalation of protactinium-contaminated dust. Ingestion is generally the
exposure of concern unless there is a nearby source of contaminated airborne dust.
Because protactinium is taken up in the body much more readily if inhaled rather than
ingested, both exposure routes can be important.
The major health concern is cancer resulting from the ionizing radiation emitted by
protactinium deposited in the skeleton, liver, and kidneys. The health risks associated
with protactinium-234m are included with those for uranium-238. Protactinium-234m
decays by emitting an energetic beta particle so precautions against this radiation are
needed when handling uranium; for example, heavy rubber gloves are worn to protect
the hands and forearms.
The inhalation risk factor for protactinium-231 represents one of the largest risk factors
for any radionuclide. Actinium-227 and its decay products account for more than 80% of
this inhalation risk. While the risk factor for ingestion is much lower than for inhalation,
ingestion is generally the most common means of entry into the body.
Similar to other radionuclides, the risk coefficient for tap water is about 75% of that
shown for dietary ingestion.
In addition to risks from internal exposures, there is a risk from external gamma
exposure to protactinium-231.
Using the external gamma risk coefficients to estimate lifetime cancer mortality risks, if it
is assumed that 100,000 people were continuously exposed to a thick layer of soil with
an initial average concentration of 1 pCi/g protactinium-231, then 8 of these 100,000
people would be predicted to incur a fatal cancer. As for internal exposures, much of
this risk is from actinium-227 and its decay products.

Effects of protactinium on the environment

Protactinium preferentially adheres quite well to soil, and the concentration associated
with sandy soil particles is typically 550 times higher than in interstitial water (water in
the pore space between the soil particles); concentration ratios are even higher (about
2,000 and above) for loam and clay soils.
Protactinium is generally not a major contaminant at DOE (Department Of Energy) sites
and is not a concern for groundwater.