[ RadSafe ] Radiation Sensors to Scan U.S. Air Cargo

[Jim Hardeman]

Barbara --
 
Well, having spent several years of my career providing oversight to a CsCl cleanup in Decatur, GA I can understand taking advantage of the low-hanging fruit. After the incident, our radioactive materials regulators modified our regulations to stipulate that you can use any source you want in a wet-storage panoramic irradiator -- as long as it's no more soluble in water than cobalt metal <grin>.
 
You're right though -- there is a need for programs to respond. One of the things we're doing here is to work with our public health folks around the state to equip and train them to perform monitoring of the general public. That alone is not sufficient, but it stands us in much better stead than we have been in the past.
 
Jim

>>> <BLHamrick at aol.com> 9/13/2008 01:10 >>>

I agree that preventing an IND has a significantly better pay-off than preventing an RDD.  Unfortunately, detecting an IND is substantially more difficult than detecting potential RDD materials.  To make it worse, Congress apparently can't tell the difference between the two.  They'd prefer to halt all use of radioactive cesium chloride than fund projects to respond to an IND, which we need, because it is unlikely we will find it before it goes off.  Pick the low hanging fruit - that's the Congressional way.

 
Barbara
 
In a message dated 9/12/2008 8:21:53 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, Jim.Hardeman at dnr.state.ga.us writes:


If you make the presumption that the monitoring is primarily designed
to prevent the detonation of an IND on US soil, the cost-benefit ratio
looks a little better. I agree that with the possible exception of an
extraordinarily large RDD delivered to a carefully selected target -- if
you're only considering RDDs in your cost-benefit ratio, the math
doesn't come out all that well.




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