[ RadSafe ] Pacemakers

Tue Aug 21 13:04:59 CDT 2007

Hello Mr. Brunkow,

Just a note on pacemakers.  The OSR Project, which is part of the 
Global Threat Reduction program in NNSA NA-21, has recovered and 
disposed of a large number of Pu-238 pacemakers.  Other technologies 
are used nowadays, but this project is available to deal with the few 
Pu-238 devices that are left out there.  You are correct that this 
was a very robust technology that remained viable over relatively 
long periods, due to the relatively long Pu-238 half life.  We also 
recently put together a fact sheet for some crematory associations to 
help people in this field identify radioactive types of pacemakers.

Julia Whitworth
Senior Project Leader, OSR Project
Los Alamos National Laboratory

At 11:15 AM 8/21/2007, Brunkow, Ward wrote:
>All this rhetoric brings up the question of nuclear pacemakers. When I
>was an RSO at a major university and medical school 20 years ago, we
>were actively installing them and removing some of them from patients,
>when we weren't taking bullets out of President Reagan. I was
>flabbergasted to find out the total quantity of Pu238 in one of these
>things. I can't remember now how much ..but I would think it would be a
>concern in our day and age, especially if the perpetrator was able to
>get several of them. They are stainless double encapsulated devices yet
>the low energy photon scatter was still giving the patient a couple
>hundred millirem a year external exposure..or should I say internal....
>As a new RSO, I was called in during an emergency operation one night
>when they were removing one and stood outside the operating room  door.
>The Doctors were always very anxious to get rid of these things as you
>can imagine, and before long plop.......I had a bloody pacemaker in my
>hand. What a night mare to ship back to the manufacturer also. Maybe all
>the nukes have been replaced now with batteries, and the everready
>bunny....but they were really realiable..just like the RTGs INL is still
>building for space ships and satellites.
>
>W. G. (Ward) Brunkow
>U.S. DOE Contrator
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
>Behalf Of Shawn Hughes (Road2)
>Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 9:21 AM
>To: radsafe at radlab.nl
>Subject: [ RadSafe ] RE: Little Leagues and Radioactive Terrorism
>
>Quote: "I should think this would be intimidating.  Youi're trying to
>watch
>a baseball game and all of a sudden a bunch of gorillas packing
>heat are standing over you asking  nosy personal question.  In this age
>of
>post-Sept. 11 paranoia I doubt that the interrogators were very
>congenial.  I wonder if any of them have wives?"
>
>Ignoring the baited comment as to referring to me as a gorilla, I would
>say
>that we have always been as polite and as unobtrusive as the situation
>would
>allow. Especially in light of the Health Information Portability Act.
>Generally, the way things are handled is once an above-background
>reading is
>made, the area of the anomaly is narrowed down using devices that do not
>resemble the classic 'frisker' you here may be familiar with. At that
>point,
>when the spike is narrowed to as few physical entities (could be a
>package,
>could be a vehicle, on occasion a person) as possible, that person is
>approached by Law Enforcement trained in for lack of a better term
>'radiological incidents', and identifies themself. Packages and vehicles
>are
>handled similarly - in a manner designed to not cause alarm. Most of the
>time, the panic would be a greater risk for injury than the finding.
>
>I won't go into the details, but the dialog is somewhere along the line
>of
>that we are testing equipment designed to better help in radiation
>accidents, and for some reason, the sensors indicate a mildly higher
>level
>of activity around you. Can you help us to understand why? People with
>nothing to hide are always up front about it. Many even have a little
>card
>from their doctor.
>
>
>Quote:Is the post-Sept. 11 paraonia so bad that our ostensible
>protectors
>believe terrorists (or perhaps run of the mill crackpots) are going to
>be
>throwing around 'lethal radioactive substances' at a Little League game?
>
>
>If you have to question why, in 2007, a highly publicized event like
>children from around the country playing ball might be a target for
>violence, I might humbly suggest getting out of the lab more often. I
>offer
>that RAM as a tool for Bad Guys has been a fact for a long time. It is
>unclassified that the Russians had an incident where RAM was left in a
>park
>as a demonstration of the ability of a group to use radiation as a
>weapon.
>People have had sources intentionally placed under their seats, and
>beams
>operated through walls towards them as a criminal act. I am sorry if
>this is
>surprising, but it is a reality of the world we live in today. Does it
>make
>me more fearful? Nope. More watchful? Yup.
>
>
>
>Quote: I don't know why Oklahoma City was chosen.  My guess is that
>there
>were many reasons for choosing it, and I doubt that its presence in the
>"heartland" had much to do with it.
>
>McVeigh had little to do with target selection. His transient lifestyle
>led
>him to people at a compound called 'Elohim City', where they had been
>planning for years to blow up the Murrah Building. He drank the koolaid
>and
>the rest is history.
>
>
>
>Quote: To answer what I consider to be the most important question, how
>many
>contingencies do you want to prepare for?
>
>
>Well, ah, we plan for them all. Not just at the government level. So do
>my
>friends and families. There is nothing wrong with being a Prepared
>Citizen;
>it is what seperates us from the rest of the sheeple.
>
>
>
>Quote: Shall each of us be assigned a policeman, or FBI agent, or BATF
>agent, or Homeland Security agent, or *someone*, to accompany us
>everywhere
>to make certain we don't blow someone up?
>
>I could be catty here, as you are fond of doing. I will say that in your
>theory, you totally ignore the reality of how many people are in Law
>Enforcement versus how many people are in the population. It sounds so,
>so
>very good at the rally, but in the real world, it is unworkable. And, I
>know
>you know that, Stephen.
>
>
>
>
>Quote of quotes: Franklin Roosevelt said "The only thing we have to fear
>is
>fear itself."  Thoreau said, "Nothing is to be so much feared as fear."
>As
>a people and as a nation, we need to get a grip on ourselves.
>
>
>I can play quote wars with you, but the bottom line is this: taking some
>persons' words out of context do not change the fact that history is
>replete
>with examples where lack of attention brought about the downfall of
>someone/something/somewhere. You are trying unsuccessfully to link fear
>and
>awareness, and they are not the same concept.
>
>
>
>Quote: She might have had a recent bone scan to look for metastases. The
>Tc-99m would still be detectable a day later.
>
>Actually, after I had the nuc treadmill, I was able to detect above
>background in me for a couple of days, and especially in my liquid
>output.
>
>
>Quote: That "wires or seeds" might be implanted is to my knowledge a
>ridiculous explanation by a wannabe "RADSAFE expert".
>
>
>Uh, here's your ridiculous explanation -  AP News: Breast Cancer
>Treatment
>Uses 'Seeds'
>http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/343/345551.html
>
>Google 'brachytherapy' for more.
>
>
>Have a blessed day, y'all!
>
>
>-Shawn
>
>
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Julia Whitworth
Senior Project Leader - OSR Project
Los Alamos National Laboratory N-GTR
(cell) 505-699-3915
(office) 505-667-0534  