[ RadSafe ] 60 Minutes feature on Hanford last night

[John Jacobus]

Jim,
>From the prespective of a tax paying citizen, I have
not impressed with milestones.  I am impressed that
the issue of Hanford waste disposal still exists.

As a health physicist, I recognize that the risks are
small.  Nevertheless, as a health physicist I am
impressed that the issue of Hanford waste disposal
still exists.  

(These comments are mine.  My employer and spouse have
no idea what I am up to.)

--- "Dukelow, James S Jr" <jim.dukelow at pnl.gov> wrote:

>  
> John Jacobus wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
> Behalf Of John Jacobus
> Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 12:44 PM
> To: radsafe at radlab.nl
> Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] 60 Minutes feature on
> Hanford last night
> 
> Jim,
> I would say it is hard to convince people that we
> know how to handle
> nuclear waste when we have DOE on our side.
> 
> ==================
> 
> What John says about the public might be true, but
> only because the
> public has been taught to react in a knee-jerk
> fashion, responding to
> the "conventional wisdom" on radiation issues and
> DOE.  I am puzzled to
> be found defending DOE, which has been deservedly
> criticized for a
> number of sins of omission and commission over the
> years, but, if you
> look at the Hanford cleanup, for instance, a number
> of worthwhile
> cleanup milestones are being met -- in some cases,
> ahead of schedule and
> under budget.  To a certain extent they have been
> picking the
> low-hanging fruit and the rest of the cleanup --
> clean out of K-Basins,
> completing the Vit Plant, processing tank waste
> through the Vit Plant,
> and processing Cs and Sr capsule waste through the
> Vit Plant -- will be
> significantly more difficult.  The general approach,
> however, strikes me
> as reasonable.
> 
> John, can you suggest a significant form of societal
> waste that has been
> better sequestered and has had LESS public health
> and environmental
> impact than radioactive waste -- outside the Soviet
> Union, at least,
> which had a horrendous radwaste accident several
> decades ago?
> 
> Best regards.
> 
> Jim Dukelow
> Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
> Richland, WA
> Jim.dukelow at pnl.gov
> 
> These comments are mine and have not been reviewed
> and/or approved by my
> management or by the U.S. Department of Energy.
> 


+++++++++++++++++++
"People will be shocked to see how safe it is to live in New York City."
ANDREW KARMEN, a sociology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, on murder trends in the city.

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

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