Abstract
Whole-body ashes from nine cremated adult humans were acquired from local mortuaries in Ft. Collins, Colorado (USA) with the consent of next of I;in. Ashes of each individual corpse were ground, homogenized and sealed in a steel can for 30 days before gamma-spectroscopy measurements were made to determine the Ra-228,Th-228, U-238, Ra-226 and K-40 contents. The median values of radionuclide contents in our study subjects were generally higher than literature values in which only a selected set of organs had been analyzed. Direct estimates of natural or man-made radionuclides in whole-body human ashes should be more accurate than estimates based on analysis of small bone or tissue samples that require extrapolation to the entire body.