[Alert] Iodine-125 Radioactive Corpse Dust Released From Wisconsin Funeral Home

The NRC waited 2 weeks to inform us that radioactive Iodine-125 was released at a funeral home in  Whitewater Wisconsin.  The release resulted from the cremation of an individual who a had Iodine-125 mesh implanted in his/her lungs.  A check by the health department found the remains to be radioactive at  "3.8 mR/hr on contact with a plastic bag".   "Radiation readings inside the crematorium were 0.75 mR/hr".

UNsurprisingly, there does not seem to be any indication that any testing was performed down wind of the crematory. Given that iodine is very volatile and spontaneously sublimates to a gas at room temperature that lack of further environmental testing, and the long delay public NRC event report is troubling. The iodine in question has a half life of approximately 60 days.

See NRC event report # 48331