[ RadSafe ] RE: Tonight's NCIS 'dirty bomb' episode

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

Hi, Franz.

NCIS (stands for Naval Criminal Investigation Service) is a TV show in the "action nerd" genre, where the characters are equally at home in the lab and in a gun fight, where sexual tensions run high (and everyone's lover has a secret link to a case), and where limits of technology and physics are not allowed to interfere with "the story".  That being said, there are some entertaining characters, and it pulls less vacuum than many other shows.  

I have never heard of Co-60 being used in any imaging system used for people (I seem to recall it being used in some therapy machines, but I could easily be wrong).  While it is a better choice (from the bad guy's point of view) to use in a dirty bomb than something like depleted uranium, it still isn't very good.  It is so hot that it would be a pain to work with in the basement bomb shop (unless you were the kind of organization that did not provide either medical coverage or retirement programs), and it would be fairly easy to clean up (it's radioactive, after all.  It is easy to find with most gamma meters).  

All in all, for a show not renowned for close adherence to the facts, this was one was exceptionally bad.   

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf Of Franz Schönhofer
Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2010 10:31 AM
To: 'Strickert, Rick'; 'radsafe'
Subject: AW: [ RadSafe ] RE: Tonight's NCIS 'dirty bomb' episode

RADSAFErs,

Not having seen the movie mentioned, not being a real specialist in x-ray
dentistry but having experience as a dentistry patient and a "little" in
radiation protection I would like to pose the following questions:

All dental status x-raying I have undergone during decades was performed by
x-ray machines. Co-60 does not emit x-rays, but hard gamma rays, so it
cannot be used in x-ray machines. How does this cope with this obviously
silly film??? Why are these basic (deliberate) "errors" not mentioned on
RADSAFE?

Best regards,

Franz

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag
von Strickert, Rick
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 03. Februar 2010 23:12
An: radsafe
Betreff: [ RadSafe ] RE: Tonight's NCIS 'dirty bomb' episode

Some other observations from last night's NCIS show (Spoiler Alert!):

At the scene where a car exploded and burned during a police chase the night
before, while having a problem using his cell phone near the burnt wreckage,
an NCIS agent observed, "I know something that could cause local RF
interference."    

The old CDV-700 was brought to detect what later another NCIS agent
determined was "a minute trace of radiation" from Co-60.

Later another NCIS agent took the CDV-700 and was playfully spinning the GM
detector around by the HV cable just before entering another location to
check for more Co-60.  
 
And where did the Co-60 come from?  Later the agents are told by a dentist
that his 15 Co-60 units, used for dental x-rays, were recently stolen.  The
worried NCIS agents mutter, "That's enough for five dirty bombs when
powderized."

[So now do-it-yourself terrorist know that all they have to do is grind up
three stolen dental x-ray machines to make a 'dirty bomb'.  ;-)]

The rest of the show and the plot ending were pretty much downhill from
there.


Rick Strickert
Austin, TX


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