Causing lung cancer and leukemia.?

Question

The nuclides 85/36 Kr and 90/38 Sr are both products of nuclear fission and are released in minute amounts into the atmosphere during the reprocessing of atomic fuels. Explain why 85/36 Kr may attack skin and lungs but does not accumulate in the body, while 90/38 Sr may accumulate in the bones, possibly causing bone cancer and leukemia.

Answer 1

Krypton is a chemically inert gas, so the only way it can enter the body is by being inhaled.  Once in the lungs, I don't think it will be absorbed to any large degree due to its inertness (xenon actually is absorbed - it has anesthetic properties when inhaled).

Strontium is chemically similar to calcium.  Bones are made primarily of calcium phosphate (hydroxylapatite), so the body incorporates strontium into bone as well.  There is actually a drug for osteoporosis that uses a (stable) strontium compound.