[ RadSafe ] RE: Little Leagues and Radioactive Terrorism

Tue Aug 21 13:26:23 CDT 2007

I knew someone many years ago who was very resistant to having a
plutonium powered pacemaker installed, even though other options were no
longer viable (I don't remember all the details).  Finally is was
pointed out to him that the radiation could only be a danger to him if
he was alive, and without the pacemaker that wouldn't be the case for
much longer.  He finally consented and in a fairly short time was
healthier that he had been in years.

On a related topic, has anyone here been involved in making Pu238?  I
have long been curious about the process. 

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of Brunkow, Ward
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 10:16 AM
To: Shawn Hughes (Road2); radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] RE: Little Leagues and Radioactive Terrorism

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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