[ RadSafe ] Re: Panel wants tighter radiation security

[Dan McCarn]

Hello Group:



Being a geologist, I thought I might add my two cents into this crazy
discussion:  Apparently, the defense folks skipped the issue about the many,
many neutron and gamma sources currently in use in the petroleum and mining
industries worldwide, not to mention the innumerable "retired" sources.  Every
country that has a potential petroleum or mineral resource has numerous
10-15 Curie sources running around in the bush to remote locations.



The hospitals present a "target" that can be hardened by "normal" Safeguards
measures to make them "resistant" to terrorist attacks.  If they are truly
concerned about this, perhaps the first step would be to initiate more
aggressive active and passive Safeguards measures.  This would be far less
expensive than the alternative.



I remember another discussion about soil density & moisture probes several
months ago being of concern with milliCurie sources.  That seemed to drop
off the public's radar after only a few weeks.



Regards!



Dan ii



Dan W McCarn, Geologist

Albuquerque & Houston


On 10/17/07, Clayton J Bradt <cjb01 at health.state.ny.us> wrote:
>
>
>
> The concern about Cs-137 irradiators did not originate with the Defense
> Science Board, although they are the first that I have heard advocate
> removing these units from service.  People from the national labs, DNDO
> and
> DHS have been ringing the alarm for quite some time, with the objective of
> improving security over these units.  The analyses leading to the concern
> have centered around the amount of uniformly distributed contamination
> that
> would result in an exclusion zone, a la Chernobyl.  Although based upon
> worst case assumptions, the physics and health physics of these analyses
> are sound enough: its the assumptions about social psychology and
> economics
> that I find unconvincing.  I don't think we can use Prypriat as a model
> for
> dealing with lower Manhattan.
>
> Previous posters on this thread indicated that the proposal to get rid of
> Cs-137 self-shielded irradiators was ridiculous.  I wanted to point out
> that it wasn't the uninformed, but rather HPs that have focussed attention
> on these devices.  If there is blame to distribute, at least some of it
> needs to be directed at our own profession.  A little more security for
> the
> units might be appropriate, if it can be done without impinging on the
> vital mission that they serve.
>
> In my opinion, the risk of Graft v. Host Disease as a result of
> transfusing
> unirradiated blood products far outweighs the risk of economic collapse
> should several blocks of lower Manhattan be contaminated with Cs-137.
> Unless an equally effective alternative technology is readily available to
> replace these units, to propose their removal from service is reckless.
>
>
> Clayton J. Bradt
> Assistant Bureau Director
> BERP
> NYS Dept. of Health
> 518-402-7578
>
>
>
>             Cindy Bloom
>             <radbloom at comcast
>             .net>                                                      To
>                                       Clayton J Bradt
>             10/17/2007 01:09          <cjb01 at health.state.ny.us>,
>             PM                        radsafe at radlab.nl
>                                                                        cc
>
>                                                                   Subject
>                                       Re: [ RadSafe ] Re: Panel wants
>                                       tighter radiation  security
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Clayton,
>
> I'm confused.  The original post stated:
>      "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 above description doesn't really sound like DOE HPs.  Authors names do
> not appear to be available because the report is not yet released, so I
> guess time will tell who has written the opinions (if names are included
> in
> the report - names were not readily available on the Board's web site).
>
> Also, it was difficult for me to glean your opinion regarding continued
> use
> of Cs-137 irradiators from your note, which  seems to be dependent on your
> (undisclosed) regard for DOE HPs.
>
> Cindy
>
> At 02:03 PM 10/15/2007 -0400, Clayton J Bradt wrote:
>
>      The people leading the charge against Cs-137 self-shielded
>      irradiators are
>      not ignorant bureaucrats and politicians: they're health physicists
>      working
>      for DOE.
>
>      Clayton J. Bradt
>      Assistant Bureau Director
>      BERP
>      NYS Dept. of Health
>      518-402-7578
>
>
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-- 
Dan W McCarn