title: Iodine-131 monitoring in sewage plant outflow.
abstract: Three different hospital sites (Oxford, Sutton and Guildford) have performed sampling of their local sewage plant outflow to determine levels of radioactivity resulting from iodine-131 patients undergoing radionuclide therapies. It was found that a maximum of 20% of activity discharged from the hospitals was present in the sewage plant final effluent channel. This is significantly below the level predicted by mathematical models in current use. The results further show that abatement systems to reduce public exposure are unlikely to be warranted at hospital sites.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Physics and Protection, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: McGowan
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Pratt
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Hinton
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Peet
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Crawley
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D008506:Medical Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D012722:Sewage / Q000032:analysis*; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D008506:Medical Waste; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal; D012722:Sewage