13 people in Seattle were exposed to Cesium-137 at a Seattle medical research center on Thursday while a piece of equipment was being decommissioned and moved at the facility authorities report.

Cesium-137 is a radioactive talcum powder-like substance that can cause serious burns, serious radiation sickness and even death with exposure to larger amounts. 

All 13 of the exposure victims were decontaminated and ten of those were taken to the emergency room, but have since been released. It is reported that they had no immediate symptoms. The building where the leak took place was evacuated.

It was at the loading dock of the UW Medicine’s Harborview Medical Center Research and Training Building near Terrace and Terry Streets, as the center’s irradiator was being removed that the leak was detected.

Authorities stated that there is no further public threat.

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