Nuke Agency Reports Unusual Radiation in Europe

[Dusty]

http://news.yahoo.com/nuke-agency-re...134506410.html

VIENNA (AP) — Very low levels of radiation, which are higher than normal but don't seem to pose a health hazard, are being registered in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday.

The agency said the cause was not known but was not the result of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, which spread radiation across the globe in March.

The "very low levels of iodine-131 have been measured in the atmosphere," the agency said in a statement. It said such radioisotope will lose much of its radiation in about eight days.

However, an official familiar with the matter, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said the release appeared to be continuing.

The agency said that it was investigating.

In Prague, an official at the Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety said he was "100 percent sure" that the radiation had not come from any Czech nuclear power plant — or from any other source on Czech territory.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to the media, the official said tests are under way around the country to try and identify the source.

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[PedOncoDoc]

We use iodine-131 therapeutically in our patients. The half life is, indeed, short as mentioned in the article, so for persistent low-level detection, presuming the level is staying constance, the source is either ongoing low-level release from an undisclosed source, or migration of higher-levels of iodine-131 from another area - this is something that could be tracked back to a source, in theory, if one analyzes wind migration patterns and I-131 levels back along the pattern. Its unexplained detection is concerning. The radiation effects decrease dramatically with distance; one would need to be within feet to meters from our patients after I-131 therapy over time to get any significant exposure, so high-altitude I-131 is of questionable health risk.