[ RadSafe ] Rad waste dumping off Somalia(?)

Fri Apr 24 16:00:04 CDT 2009

Hi, Bill.

Again; why would anyone, especially criminal organizations, pay more to
illegally dump in distant shallow water than they would to dump in
deeper closer water?  I have no problem at all believing that there are
people out there who would do illegal things, including dumping
hazardous waste in the ocean.  But people who would do that for money
would do it for the most money and the least risk they could arrange,
and that is NOT taking to shallow waters off Somalia.  I also can see a
scenario where, when Somalia had a government, waste might have been
brought there legally and disposed of poorly, including in shallow
waters.  But that is not what is being alleged.  

The "Senior Scientist" from Greenpeace does not, alas, increase the
credibility of the article.  First, of the events and issues that I have
first-hand knowledge of that I have heard Greenpeace take a position on,
I have yet to find that their position is sound.  I am not saying they
are wrong about everything, just everything that I know something about.
Second, the "Senior Scientist" DOES NOT say that they have analyzed
anything from the area and that the analysis supports the claim that it
is radioactive waste; he finesse the point.  He does say:

 "It could well be that some of those health effects are a result of
exposure to radioactive material and in that case, for some people,
regrettably, the prognosis could be very devastating," he explained.
"There could be people who simply would not recover." 

Now given what you and others on this board know about radioactive
material, how comfortable would any of us be to be so confident as to
even say "It could well be..." about a diagnosis of radiation exposure
to unseen people in a broken country on a continent that has almost an
infinite number of diseases?  Look at the cases of no-lie short-term
radiation effects and the doses associated with them, then explain how
people are going to get that kind of dose from waste in barrels, even
broken barrels on the beach.  Especially when the waste the article
cites is "uranium radioactive waste", which, if it were pure uranium
(and why would anyone be dumping pure uranium?) is over 2,000 kg to the
curie.  

In my opinion, this article and the people quoted does not enhance the
credibility that the pirates operating out of Somalia are romantic,
egalitarian defenders of the environment, as the original article tries
to paint them.  

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Prestwich [mailto:prestwic at mcmaster.ca] 
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 11:39 AM
To: Brennan, Mike (DOH)
Cc: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Rad waste dumping off Somalia(?)

see
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-03/2005-03-15-voa34.cfm?modd
ate=2005-03-15

"Brennan, Mike (DOH)" wrote:

> I don't particularly doubt that foreign fishermen are going to 
> Somalian waters and vacuuming up what they can, as you have to fish 
> where the fish are, and as a world-wide community fishermen do not 
> have a good record of sound stewardship of the resources.
>
> As for the claim that European governments are dumping rad and 
> hazardous wastes off the Somalia so close that the barrels wash 
> ashore: this is best answered in an old style computer program.
>
> 10 X=1
> 20 PRINT "HA, "
> 30 X=X+1
> 40 IF X<1000 GOTO 20
> 50 PRINT "HA!"
> 60 END
>
> The question that would need to be asked is why would anyone in Europe

> pay to have a ship go all the way to Somalia, through the Suez Canal 
> (with non-trivial tolls) to dump in shallow waters off Somalia when 
> they could dump it in much, much deeper waters in the Atlantic for 
> much less money?  Even from the Eastern Mediterranean there are 
> cheaper, easier places to illegally dump than off of Somalia.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On 
> Behalf Of Steven Dapra
> Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 6:40 PM
> To: radsafe at radlab.nl
> Subject: [ RadSafe ] Rad waste dumping off Somalia(?)
>
> April 23
>
>         At the link below will be found an article from the 
> Independent
> (UK) whose author (Johann Hari) claims that European governments have 
> been dumping rad waste into the ocean off the coast of Somalia.  Hari 
> is probably not a very reliable source, however he claims to have been

> told this by the United Nations envoy to Somalia.  True or not, has 
> anyone heard any rumors about rad waste being dumped off Somalia?
>
> http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1428
>
> Steven Dapra
> sjd at swcp.com
>
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