PLUTO - A Software Package using the 'Maximum Likelihood Method' to Fit Plutonium in Urine Data to an Excretion Function

The PLUTO software package was developed at Sellafield to make optimum use of the analysis data from plutonium in urine samples in arriving at the best estimate of intake/uptake. The program prompts the assessment parameters required to fit the data to the excretion function using the maximum likelihood method. A critical appraisal is given of the relative strengths and weaknesses of this assessment package.