# United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries: Human Data on Beryllium

- Institution: CERN
- Speaker: Sergey Tolmachev
- Year: 2026
- Language: English
- Source: [CERN](https://videos.cern.ch/record/3025537)
- Licence: [CERN](https://copyright.web.cern)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

The United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR) was established in 1968 as Plutonium Registry by the Atomic Energy Commission. Today, the USTUR and the associated National Human Radiobiological Tissue Repository (NHRTR) is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Health Studies and Former Workers Programs (EHSS-12).

The USTUR mission is to study biokinetics (uptake, translocation, retention, and excretion), and tissue dosimetry of plutonium, americium, uranium, and other actinides by following up former nuclear workers with documented intakes of these elements, who volunteered their bodies for scientific use posthumously (Registrants). The Registries collects tissue samples at autopsies and holds detailed work history, radiation exposure, and industrial hygiene records including self-reported information on beryllium exposure. Out of 384 Registrants, 104 self‑reported working with beryllium, and most of these individuals were accidentally exposed to plutonium at DOE facilities.

There is limited data published on beryllium concentrations and distribution in the human body. A pilot study was conducted by the USTUR to measure beryllium in various tissues from selected whole-body cases. It was found that systemic beryllium primarily accumulated in the skeleton followed by the liver and other soft tissues. These analyses provided important information on beryllium distribution in the human body. The Registries currently holds more than 3,000 acid‑digested tissue samples that were previously analyzed for actinides and are now available for beryllium measurements. Frozen and paraffin‑embedded tissues are also available, providing a unique opportunity to advance scientific understanding of beryllium biokinetics, and long‑term distribution in the human body - critical knowledge for improving exposure models, refining health‑protection standards, and supporting evidence‑based worker safety programs across the DOE complex.

00:00:00 Slide 1…

## Lectures

1. [United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries: Human Data on Beryllium](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/cern/3025537/221f77f5b7ff), 15 min (CERN's player)