Re: Therapeutic I-131 waste

[avest@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Albert Lee Vest)]

As Dale Boyce says,

>I thought I'd throw my 2 c$ on I-131 excretion.
...
>With (thyroidectomized) patients the
>excretion rate seems to usually be about a one day effective half
>life.  We have seen patients hold on to it a little longer, but
>I can't remember seeing anyone with more than perhaps as much as a two
>day effective half life.  I believe the variability is a function of
>both fluid consumption and kidney function.

Most such patients treated at Ohio State during the early 1990's showed a
mode half-life of about 19 hours.  (I ought to know, since I surveyed them
enough!)

You other guys - I don't think referring to NRC regs or NCRP publications is
at all helpful, since those are specific to the USA.  The person asking the
question is in GREECE.

For that matter, he never mentioned what he meant by "tackle the problem".
Which problem?  Are you just asking permission from local authorities for
sanitary sewer disposal, or are you about to start collecting data/samples
for an original research project?  (I hope for your sake it's the former.)

Albert Lee Vest           The Ohio State University
Health Physicist    Room 103 1314 Kinnear Road Bldg
(614)292-1284                     1314 Kinnear Road
avest@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu   Columbus OH 43212
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