Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays are usually associated with an extragalactic origin. Active galactic nuclei are an unlikely source because of photon drag. Here the possibility of supernova events are considered. The time spread of arrival of 10/sup 20/ eV protons is 100 to 400 years at 10 to 20 kpc and the angular spread is +-15 to +-30/sup 0/ depending upon the Galactic field configuration. The time spread is sufficient to include several to a dozen type I SN. This is enough events and angular spread to include the observed data. The concentration of the observed events at the galactic poles is contradictory. The flux is reasonable if the observed flux and slope at 10/sup 12/ to 10/sup 15/ eV is characteristic of the source(s) and confined at this energy for roughly 100 traversals of the Galaxy, or 3 x 10/sup 6/ years.

The objectives are to summarize our knowledge of the way in which plutonium and some other transuranium elements migrate through ecosystems; to consider how the physiochemical state of these elements and the biological systems through which they pass may influence this movement; and to put into perspective the risks of serious illness in man resulting from his exposure to these elements in the environment.

The usual assumption of the acceleration of ultra high energy cosmic rays, greater than or equal to 10/sup 18/ eV in quasars, Seyfert galaxies and other active galactic nuclei is challenged on the basis of the photon interactions with the accelerated nucleons. This is similar to the effect of the black body radiation on particles > 10/sup 20/ eV for times of the age of the universe except that the photon spectrum is harder and the energy density greater by approx. = 10/sup 15/. Hence, a single traversal, radial or circumferential, of radiation whose energy density is no greater than the emitted flux will damp an ultra high energy. Hence, it is unlikely that any reasonable configuration of acceleration can void disastrous photon energy loss. A different site for ultra high energy cosmic ray acceleration must be found.