Is technetium‐99 (Tc‐99) radiologically significant

According to radiological protection authorities the radioisotope technetium-99 (Tc-99) is not 'radiologically significant' to humans or other species. The Sellafield plutonium reprocessing plant discharges large amounts of Tc-99 into the Irish Sea; by the year 2015 a total of about 3,000 tera-becquerels of Tc-99, weighing about 5 tonnes, will have been discharged. This article considers the effects of Tc-99 on the environment. After discharge, Tc-99 travels large distances in the ocean. Levels of Tc-99 in Norwegian coastal waters increased by ten times between 1991 and 1996. Tc-99 becomes concentrated offshore in seaweed, winkles and mussels. A concentration factor of 120,000 has been reported in seaweed and one of 650,000 has been measured in the green gland of lobster. It may be necessary to reassess the risk to human health following the ingestion of the relevant isotopes, including Tc-99, because of the possibility of radiation induced genomic instability, as well as the cancer risk. The committed effective doses used to determine permitted levels of intake of these isotopes should be increased and the authorized limits for the discharge of radioactive wastes from Sellafield reduced. Authorized limits of the discharge of radioactivity should be based on Contaminated Food Intervention Levels rather than Generalized Derived Limits as they are now

Nuclear medicine · Technetium · Medical Imaging Techniques and Applications · Medicine · Radiation Dose and Imaging · Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry and Applications