Re: Patient Excreta

[Steve Cima <cima@bellsouth.net>]

Sandy,

Could you amplify on your response just a bit?  Who was receiving measurable
exposures and how?

That the activity would remain a bolus within a sewage system is not surprising.
Really significant dilution would only occur outside the closed system.  But the
conclusion that sewage disposals resulted in "measurable exposures" is
surprising.

Thanks.

my opinions only etc.,
Steve Cima
cima@bellsouth.net

Sandy Perle wrote:

> > What is the potential for exposure to the patient and members of the public
> > from this (and the "holdup tank") scenario vs. just dumping it in the sewer
> > where it will decay, anyway, without causing more unnecessary exposure to
> > anyone ?
>
> When in Graduate School, one my colleague's research was to
> study the release and effect of radioactive material into the sewer
> system in Dade County Florida (Greater Miami area), which
> included around 10 large medical facilities. The results were that
> there was very little dilution, with the release staying in a bolus (not
> as expected), the facility could be identified by the "fingerprint" and
> time of arrival at the sampling station. The dose from the release, if
> I remember correctly (and this was quite some time ago) was not
> insignificant. It was quite measurable.
>
> Sandy Perle
> E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
> Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205
>
> "The object of opening the mind, as of opening
> the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
>               - G. K. Chesterton -
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