In December, the USTUR mailed its 2025 Registrant newsletter to living Registrants and deceased Registrants’ next of kin. This year’s newsletter included two guest articles from the scientific director of the Million Person Study, Lawrence Dauer. The first article introduced the MPS and the second discussed an observed association between Parkinson’s disease and radiation dose. The newsletter also included the USTUR director’s annual “Direct from the Director” letter, information about a proposal to create a Radiological and Nuclear Security Leadership Academy at WSU, an update on the USTUR’s follow-up urine collection program, a … » More …

One unique donation to the USTUR is that of a former nuclear worker who inhaled curium. His curium intake was minor in comparison to a much larger plutonium intake; however, relatively little direct human data about curium in humans is available. Curium is a minor actinide that has mostly been studied in animal models, or in terms of excretion of curium in urine after an intake. To our knowledge this is the first time that the curium biokinetic model has been combined with direct measurements of curium in human tissues.

This Registrant received an acute inhalation of curium-244 when a glove box failed. The … » More …

USTUR research provides vital insights into the behavior of actinides in the human body, and USTUR faculty have been a consistent part of the conversation at both national and international radiation protection conferences. USTUR Director, Sergey Tolmachev, chaired a session on radionuclide decorporation agents and chelation therapy at the 2025 Radiation Research Society meeting and delivered a talk on a USTUR study involving a worker exposed to curium-244. This study is the most extensive work on the biokinetics and distribution of curium-244 in the human body. This is an example of the unique value that USTUR research has for the body of knowledge about … » More …

Xirui Liu gave an invited talk highlighting the USTUR history and research at the Occupational Internal Dosimetry Training and Meeting hosted by Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA). This in-person training course for radiation protection professionals was focused on internal radiation dosimetry principles, tools, and regulatory applications.

Presentation slides
Training and Meeting Website