[Fel]

The Izotópintézet Kft, Budapest, Hungary issued a statement on November 17, 2011 that during the production of 131-iodine for medical purposes they released about 324 GBq 131-iodine through September-November. This release corresponds to about 20% of their yearly release limit.

The Frédéric Joliot-Curie National Research Institute for Radiobiology and Radiohygiene, Budapest, Hungary as a member of the National Environmental Radiological Monitoring System measures the 131-iodine content in the air weekly. The background level of 131-iodine is about 10 µBq/m³ in the air in Budapest.

During the Fukushima accident the Institute detected increased iodine levels through March 21 May 20. During this period the highest iodine level was 3020 µBq/m³ in the air in Budapest. After May 20 the increased iodine level was back to normal levels.

Starting from September 01 the institute detected slightly increased iodine levels in the air. The highest iodine level peaked on September 26 at 173 µBq/m³ that is nearly 20 times lower than the increase detected during the Fukushima accident. By November 10 the radio-iodine levels were back to background levels.

The updated iodine measurement data can be viewed at the official website of the institute (Environmental Radiation Situation).

Experts at the institute estimated the risks of the potential public exposures. According to the estimates the excess exposure from the recent iodine release corresponds to 5 minutes exposure originating from natural background radiation. That means no excess public risks.