The Crematorium That Cools Corpses

Dead bodies could be FROZEN and DISSOLVED in chemicals if new proposals from Cambridge City Crematorium are approved.

These propositions come in response to Cambridgeshire County Council’s search for new ways to dispose of the city’s departed loved ones in the council owned crematorium.

Methods under consideration include a procedure known as ‘cryomation’ or ‘promession’, which uses liquid nitrogen to chill bodies to –196°C. The frozen corpses are then brittle enough to be broken up into human compost.

Another technique being considered is ‘resomation’. This involves submerging cadavers in an alkaline solution at temperatures of 160°C. The dead person in question then dissolves in just three hours.

If the proposal is given the go ahead, Cambridge City Crematorium would become the first in the country to use these techniques. The science fiction-eqsue methods are already used in the USA, but no British company has secured a license to practice them in the UK yet.

Crematorium staff that argue the new proposals are more environmentally friendly and cost-effective than cremation.

Tracy Lawrence, the local Bereavement Services Manager, summarised the benefits: “the plan… envisages a modern, forward-looking service delivering good value and offering improved returns to future investment.”

At present Britain suffers a lack of burial space, and the main alternative, cremation, gives off 573lbs of carbon dioxide per corpse, prompting environmental concerns.

The Council are due to discuss proposals for cryomation, resomation and promession on 13th January and are aware of the controversy surrounding the suggestions.

Councillor Simon Kightley commented: “Clearly anything new in the way of disposal or burial of bodies will depend entirely on public acceptance.

”I cannot see anything happening for two or three years but the council will maintain a watching brief over these processes and report back to members.”