RE: "Normal" concentration of tritium in urine

["Elizabeth M. Brackett" <brackett@bright.net>]

You shouldn't be detecting any I-131 (assuming that's the isotope you meant)
in the thyroids of members of the public.  With the half life of I-131 so
short and no current (at least not in the US) above-ground weapons testing,
the only reason iodine would be detected would be due to a medical procedure.  

I don't believe you should be detecting any H-3 in the urine of members of
the public either, at least not with typical bioassay methods (1 mL sample
analyzed by liquid scintillation).  It's been awhile since I reviewed H-3
results on a regular basis, but I believe even the people who routinely
worked with H-3 would go for stretches with nothing detected (presumably
during periods when they weren't actually handling it).

Liz Brackett

At 03:01 PM 10/20/97 -0500, William Lorenzen wrote:
>I have the same question but concerning the variability of radiation 
>(radioiodine) levels in John Q. Public's thyroid...
>
>William A. Lorenzen
>Children's Hospital
>Boston, MA
>
>lorenzen_w@a1.tch.harvard.edu
>617-355-7516
>
>
>
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| Elizabeth Brackett, CHP |
|  Sr. Health Physicist   |
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