[ RadSafe ] " Technology to detect radiation has progressed "

Jose Julio Rozental joseroze at netvision.net.il
Wed Aug 22 00:52:44 CDT 2007


Let me to make some comments on this subject.

The principle of justification was applied for practices and interventions 
in case of an emergency as we can learn, for instance, in the IAEA Glossary 
2007

justification
1. The process of determining whether a practice is, overall, beneficial, as 
required by the International Commission on Radiological Protection's System 
of Radiological Protection, i.e. whether the benefits to individuals and to 
society from introducing or continuing the practice outweigh the harm 
(including radiation detriment) resulting from the practice.

2. The process of determining whether a proposed intervention is likely, 
overall, to be beneficial, as required by the International Commission on 
Radiological Protection's System of Radiological Protection, i.e. whether 
the benefits to individuals and to society (including the reduction in 
radiation detriment) from introducing or continuing the intervention 
outweigh the cost of the intervention and any harm or damage caused by the 
intervention.

Now we have another approach, not only Safety and Radiation Protection 
approaches, but the Security approach, and it is necessary to justify 
attitudes, as an example, detection of residual radioactivity or seed 
implant in member of general population - Can we justify professionals with 
detector looking for people with residual radioactive material due nuclear 
medicine diagnostic or treatment, in large group of people, as in an Olympic 
or World sport event? -- Questioning suddenly the people? even with 
education and respect? however doing this by surprise?

I can understand training and exercise, I can understand several 
organizations involved, however I can also understand that countries should 
be prepared to learn how to inform population. There are technical response, 
an psycho social response to take into consideration - the last one to gain 
credibility and to interact with media, to avoid panic. I know what I am 
talking about, not in theory, but in real experience, as the response in 
Goiana. Adjusting ability (technical competence) and sensibility 
(consciousness) are two very important priorities previously to an 
emergency. And Goiania, now 20 years later, offer many lessons   yet to be 
learned

Jose Julio Rozental 
joseroze at netvivion.net.il 
Israel






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steven Dapra" <sjd at swcp.com>
To: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 4:03 AM
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] " Technology to detect radiation has progressed "


> Aug. 21
>
>         Your comment on people going to work on the morning of Sept. 11 
> has no bearing on anything.  No one knew the suicide bombers were going to 
> attack the World Trade Center (or anyplace else) that morning.  No one had 
> any reason to fear anything.  The fear I am talking about is the fear and 
> paranoia that is beginning to permeate the United States, and an unknown 
> number of Western countries -- perhaps even Australia.  Furthermore, it is 
> now common knowledge that our so-called protectors had repeatedly 
> *ignored* warnings about suspicious persons who only wanted to learn how 
> to fly airplanes, and not how to take off or land.  Who are the guards 
> guarding?
>
>         In an attempt to answer your question about being prepared for 
> contingencies, first, the Atlanta Olympics is a vastly larger event that 
> the Little League World Series.  I did not know the latter event existed 
> until a few days ago when it popped up on RADSAFE.  Terrorist attacks are 
> more than likely going to be carried out at large and well-known events.
>
>         I consider your question about being prepared for contingencies to 
> be so hypothetical that it does not warrant serious consideration, and I 
> reiterate what I said earlier:  "To answer what I consider to be the most 
> important question, how many contingencies do you want to prepare for? 
> 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?"  The only way to be prepared for every 
> contingency is to establish a police state, or to never have any public 
> events or gatherings.  I say the latter because it is physically 
> impossible to monitor every meeting, sporting event, convention, etc., 
> etc., in any nation to the degree necessary to screen everyone attending 
> the event to make certain that he is not going to blow someone up, or 
> commit some other type of terrorist act.
>
>         I further reiterate that we need to get a grip on ourselves.  If 
> we don't we will make ourselves crazy looking for terrorists everywhere. 
> Left-wing extremists used to rant and rave about people looking for "Reds 
> under the beds."  Get the point?
>
> Steven Dapra
>
>
> At 12:50 PM 8/21/07 +1000, ROGERS, Brent wrote:
>
>>Franklin Roosevelt said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
>>
>>I'm sure 3000 people cheerfully went to work one glorious late summer day 
>>in NYC thinking the exact same thing.
>>
>>PS:  You answered my "most important question" with a question of your 
>>own.  A new question, is not an answer.  I ask again:  If you were 
>>responsible for safety and security of Williamsport, would you be willing 
>>not to be prepared for that contingency?
>>
>>Brent Rogers
>>Leader Commercial Radiation Safety Group
>>Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
>>PMB 1, Menai NSW 2234
>>T +61 2 9717 3251
>>F +61 2 9717 9266
>>M +61 4 1723 1879 (0417 231 879)
>>E <mailto:brent.rogers at ansto.gov.au>brent.rogers at ansto.gov.au
>>www.ansto.gov.au
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Steven Dapra [mailto:sjd at swcp.com]
>>Sent: Tuesday, 21 August 2007 12:30 PM
>>To: brent.rogers at ansto.gov.au; radsafe at radlab.nl
>>Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] " Technology to detect radiation has progressed "
>>
>>
>>
>>Aug. 20
>>
>>         To answer what I consider to be the most important question, how 
>> many contingencies do you want to prepare for?  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?
>>
>>         There is a problem with the business of guarding everyone:  "Sed 
>> quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"  ---  "But who is to guard the guards 
>> themselves?"
>>
>>         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.
>>
>>Steven Dapra
>>
>>All quotes are from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 16th edition.
>>
>>'Guarding the guards' --- Juvenal; p 109:3
>>Roosevelt --- 648:18
>>Thoreau --- 476:26
>>
>>
>>
>>At 11:58 AM 8/21/07 +1000, ROGERS, Brent wrote:
>>
>>Steven
>>
>>If a crackpot/terrorist with a strange combination of dislikes (abortion
>>clinics and lesbians) is willing to blow up a bag of nails at an event
>>related to neither of these activities, the Atlanta Olympics...  It's not 
>>a
>>far stretch to think something similar involving radioactive material 
>>might
>>occur at the Little League World Series.  That foolishness occurred 5 
>>years
>>before 9/11.
>>
>>If you were responsible for safety and security of Williamsport, would you
>>be willing not to be prepared for that contingency?
>>
>>Brent Rogers
>>Leader Commercial Radiation Safety Group
>>Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
>>PMB 1, Menai NSW 2234
>>T +61 2 9717 3251
>>F +61 2 9717 9266
>>M +61 4 1723 1879 (0417 231 879)
>>E brent.rogers at ansto.gov.au
>>www.ansto.gov.au
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Steven Dapra [mailto:sjd at swcp.com]
>>Sent: Tuesday, 21 August 2007 11:40 AM
>>To: Brian Rees; radsafe at radlab.nl
>>Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] " Technology to detect radiation has progressed "
>>
>>Aug. 20
>>
>>          I may (or may not) be willing to concede a small amount on this
>>one.
>>
>>          A little more to the point, why are people being screened when
>>they are going to a Little League World Series game?  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?  Does anything think this
>>may be getting a little out of hand?  And if not, what *does* constitute
>>getting out of hand?
>>
>>Steven Dapra
>
> [edit]
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