Advances in health risks and detection of plutonium isotopes in environmental and biological samples

Accurate detection the plutonium (Pu) concentration in environmental samples is of great importance for assessing the Pu contamination closing to human health. Ever since various nuclear activities from 1940s, the Pu isotopes 238 Pu, 239 Pu, 240 Pu, and 241 Pu have been widely released into environment. Those Pu isotopes in environment are readily enriched in human body through food chain. This review firstly focused on the recent advances in health risks and recent advances mass spectrometry techniques for Pu isotopes detection in environmental soil, water and biological samples. Some insights from the Mayak worker cohort and gender differences from Pu radiation sensitivity for assessing the lung cancer risk was summarized. Also, the dose-response analysis for the risk of liver and bone cancer induced by Pu was also reviewed. Since the ultra-low concentration of Pu in environmental samples, the highly efficient concentration and separation strategies for Pu in complex environmental matrices prior to detection were critically reviewed. Also, the progress made in Pu isotopes measurement in various environmental samples by various techniques, including alpha spectrometry, coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), laser resonance ionization mass spectrometry (LRIMS), thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) over the past decade were systematically reviewed. What’s more, the testing principles, advantages and disadvantages as well as some new strategies that have been developed for overcoming UH + interferences and enhancing sensitivity with innovative reaction gases, improving the detection accuracy and reducing the detection limits by those MS techniques were mainly discussed. • Recent advances in health risks and mass spectrometry for Pu isotope detection are reviewed. • Pu mainly enters the human body as aerosols and excess Pu can cause lung, bone and liver cancer. • The separation of Pu over other matrix components and isobaric interferences is key. • The latest progress in accurate detection ultra-low Pu isotopes by novel MS techniques like AMS, SIMS were summarized.