[ RadSafe ] Radiation fears have prevented authorities from collecting as many as 1, 000 bodies

[Gaglierd, Tony]

Radiation fears have prevented authorities from collecting as many as 1,000 bodies of victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami from within the 20-km-radius evacuation zone around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant

Bodies had been "exposed to high levels of radiation after death." Elevated levels of radiation were found on a body in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, about 5 km from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

Does anyone know or have a reference that would give some values to the ambient radiation levels in the No Go Zone? How about contamination levels?

"Elevated levels of radiation were found on a body..." I assume that was contamination? Not activity? How much contamination? What isotopes I-131, Cs-137?

Based on risk benefit, and not being disrespectful of the dead, is the risk acceptable to retrieve these bodies and process them for proper burial?

With DHH and CDC,s sudden interest in Nuclear detonation, and having been in the past and presently involved in Nuclear Preparedness Planning, I wonder how we would plan for and deal with this issue post attack or more realistically post sever power plant incident?

Considering what I've seen coming from these folks it's a veiled copy of the old CD RDO program. Radiation is Radiation, Contamination is contamination, Fallout is Fallout.

P.S. Let's get on with putting the spent fuel in Yucca Mountain, and in the future reprocess it. Carter was a Nuclear Engineer, what's Obama's Excuse?