[ RadSafe ] Panel wants tighter radiation security

Wed Oct 17 08:27:06 CDT 2007

Now we are securing these sources at hospitals and I'm sure at research labs
and companies. It would be difficult but not impossible to access the
sources. If the sources were replaced, there would not need to be the
security. However many Americans still think that xrays make you
radioactive. Would the average terrorist (who is able to be talked into
believing that blowing yourself up is a good idea) be any more likely to
differentiate this? Would this make our hospitals more likely terrorist
targets?

Also, the machines that would be put in would use a large amount of
electrical power. On average much of this power would be generated using
fossil fuels. We would be replacing a unit which has a very minimal carbon
footprint with a machine that has a large carbon footprint. Meanwhile the
government is trying to decrease the use of fossil fuels!!!

Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing??

Pete

Peter Fear
Health Physics Technologist
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Radiation Safety Office
636 UH
750 E. Adams St.
Syracuse, NY 13210

Phone: (315)464-6510
FAX:     (315)464-5095
fearp at upstate.edu

>>> Maury Siskel <maurysis at peoplepc.com> 10/15/07 7:18 PM >>>
In this connection, the BS Board is drafting regulations requiring that 
one BSB agent will be fastened at all times  to each of these machines. 
These agents will serve eight hour shifts five days per week. They will 
receive minimum training to emit the DeanScream Alarm if any attempt is 
made to hijack a machine. The manning requirements will be arranged to 
include individual 40 hour weeks, two weeks leave per year, and 26 weeks 
sick leave per year. Average intelligence (Binet IQ Survey) and an 8th 
grade level education are required.

If you think the above is funny, please review the Federal Regulations 
governing residential toilet tank size and the allowable flow rate on 
residential shower heads. Note also the allowable limits for breath 
alcohol, carbon dioxide, and the gasoline content of domestic ethynol.. 
Also, the new rules of acceptable court evidence will include: "Rules  
of circumstantial evidence will be regarded hereafter as very strong; as 
when catfish are found in milk".

And so on and on  ...

Maury&Dog  (Maury Siskel   maurysis at peoplepc.cm)

==============================

BLHamrick at aol.com wrote:

> 
>We may all think this is ridiculous (I know I do), but it may be reality 

>soon.  Congress can't fix the real problem (i.e., how to stop an actual 
nuclear 
>weapon), so they (and the executive agencies, which are all dependent  on

>funding appropriated by Congress) focus on things they think they  can
solve, 
>whether they're a real public danger or not, because it will look  like
they're 
>doing something...at least to the vast majority of the public who  have
been 
>brainwashed into believing the myths about the unique and terrifying 
dangers of 
>radioactivity.
> 
>Barbara L. Hamrick
> 
>In a message dated 10/11/2007 11:13:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time,  
>sandyfl at cox.net writes:
>
>Ridiculous or WHAT!!!
>
>Panel wants tighter radiation  security
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) Oct 9 - The U.S. government should replace  more than 
>1,000 irradiation machines used in hospitals and research  facilities 
>because terrorists could use the radioactive materials inside  to make 
>a "dirty" bomb, a government advisory panel has concluded.  
>
>"Any one of these 1,000-plus sources could shut down 25 square  
>kilometers, anywhere in the United States, for 40-plus years,"  
>according to panel documents obtained by The Associated Press.
>
>The  machines are in relatively unprotected locations such as 
>hospitals and  research facilities all over the country, and may be a 
>tempting source of  radioactive materials for terrorists who want 
>bombs that explode and  disperse radioactive debris over a large area, 
>rendering it uninhabitable,  the board found.
>
>The irradiators contain Cesium-137, one of the most  dangerous and 
>long-lasting radioactive materials. They are used for  radiation 
>therapy and to sterilize blood and food.
>
>Swapping the  Cesium irradiators for X-ray machines or irradiators 
>that use other  materials would cost about $200 million over five 
>years, but it would take  the most accessible source of dangerous 
>radioactive material inside the  United States "off the table" for 
>terrorists, the panel says.
>
>The  recommendation is part of an as-yet-unreleased report that 
>describes how  unfriendly nations or terrorist groups could undermine 
>the computers and  satellites the U.S. military relies on and attack 
>the United States with  radiological or biological weapons or 
>blackmail the U.S. government with a  threat of a nuclear detonation, 
>all while manipulating world opinion  against the United States in the 
>media and on the Internet.
>
>The  report comes from the Defense Science Board, a panel of retired 
>military  and CIA officials and defense industry experts who offer the 
>Pentagon  possible solutions to actual and potential national security 
>problems. It  is expected to be released late this year.
>
>The board wants the Pentagon  to create a joint military force able to 
>locate and seize illicit nuclear  materials and weapons when they are 
>still in transit, and to safely  destroy nuclear weapons captured from 
>terrorists or defeated  states.
>
>It says U.S. intelligence has failed to determine what  countries or 
>groups are developing or trying to obtain nuclear,  radiological and 
>biological weapons and how and when they are likely to  use them.
>
>"No adversary can exercise all options; but we don't know  which 
>options they can exercise," the documents state.
>
>The report  recommends creating "unfettered X-treme intelligence 
>teams" to improve the  "poor intelligence community posture." Exactly 
>what the teams would do is  classified.
>
>The board advocates diplomacy and trying to influence world  opinion 
>so the United States is less likely to be attacked or lured into a  
>foreign war it might not win.
>
>"We are unprepared," state the  documents. "At best we will be 
>deterred. Worse, we will enter the fray and  then quit when we 
>appreciate the cost of success. Instruments of national  power other 
>than the military, such as strategic communication, will  assume 
>greater importance."
>
>The U.S government should be promoting  universally accepted values 
>like human dignity, economic well-being,  health care and education 
>rather than "democracy" and "freedom," the panel  states.
>
>"What we say is often not what others may hear __ concepts such  as 
>'democracy,' 'rule of law' and 'freedom' have different meanings in  
>different cultures and at different stages of their development," the  
>documents state. "It is about them, not only about us."
>
>It  recommends that the State Department spend $250 million over five 
>years to  create an independent "Center for Global Engagement" to 
>conduct opinion  research and analyses on media and culture that the 
>government can use to  design projects and messages that will advance 
>those values.
>
>It  also recommends deploying more hospital ships for medical and 
>humanitarian  relief; releasing spy imagery to help other countries in 
>crop management,  weather forecasting, and environmental studies; and 
>adopting policies that  will help create jobs in key strategic nations 
>such as Lebanon, Pakistan  and Iraq.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>************************************** See what's new at
http://www.aol.com 
>_______________________________________________
>You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
>
>Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood
the RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
http://radlab.nl/radsafe/radsaferules.html 
>
>For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
visit: http://radlab.nl/radsafe/ 
>
>  
>

_______________________________________________
You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list

Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood the
RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
http://radlab.nl/radsafe/radsaferules.html 

For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
visit: http://radlab.nl/radsafe/