[ RadSafe ] Radiation fears have prevented authorities from collecting as many as 1, 000 bodies

[radbloom at comcast.net]

Franz et al, 



I have to wonder if this is a case of folks not knowing the differences among the terms.  Having reviewed many, many documents, I've found that even the professionals occasionally misuse the terms radiation, radioactivity and contamination.  And in this case where radiation is what is being measured, the person interpreting the measurement then has to determine what that measurement of radiation means.  Does it mean the body is covered with radioactive contamination?  Does it mean that there is radioactivity that has been taken into the bodies (I doubt that this would show up in field measurements and it is likely that intakes were very small or nonexistent until days after the initial tsunami/earthquake)?  I personally doubt that these bodies would have been activated (made radioactive by interaction with certain types and energies of radiation). 



I think this forum is a great place to jump in and remind folks (including ourselves) to be careful with our words, so we can improve our communication.  I also think that the translations between Japanese and English might occasionally add to the confusion. 



I hope I've been careful enough with my words, because I mean this only to be constructive. 



Thank you for encouraging my thoughts.  I'm hoping you've given me the incentive to contact those who are providing reports that are not clear regarding these terms.  



What a horrible tragedy this is.  My heart goes out to these families. 



Cindy Bloom 




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Franz Schönhofer" <franz.schoenhofer at chello.at> 
To: "The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList" <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu> 
Sent: Wednesday, April 6, 2011 3:37:08 PM 
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radiation fears have prevented authorities from        collecting as many as 1, 000 bodies 

RADSAFErs, 

The situation in Fukushima is bad, but much worse in my opinion is the two 
faced (according to my dictionary) attitude, which does not clearly 
distinguish between the catastroph caused by the earthquake and the Tsunami 
together and on the other hand of the nuclear disaster. 

In the international mass media the different causes are "deliberately?" 
mixed together. This seems to be the case in this press message. Bodies 
exposed to "high levels of radiation" would not be radioactive. 

I refrain to comment more on that message, because it is to disgusting and a 
lack of reverence for the dead. Shame on those "journalists"! 

Franz   

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


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- 
Von: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu 
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] Im Auftrag von Gaglierd, Tony 
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 06. April 2011 21:02 
An: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu 
Betreff: [ RadSafe ] Radiation fears have prevented authorities from 
collecting as many as 1, 000 bodies 

Radiation fears have prevented authorities from collecting as many as 1,000 
bodies of victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami from within the 
20-km-radius evacuation zone around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant 

Bodies had been "exposed to high levels of radiation after death." Elevated 
levels of radiation were found on a body in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, 
about 5 km from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. 

Does anyone know or have a reference that would give some values to the 
ambient radiation levels in the No Go Zone? How about contamination levels? 

"Elevated levels of radiation were found on a body..." I assume that was 
contamination? Not activity? How much contamination? What isotopes I-131, 
Cs-137? 

Based on risk benefit, and not being disrespectful of the dead, is the risk 
acceptable to retrieve these bodies and process them for proper burial? 

With DHH and CDC,s sudden interest in Nuclear detonation, and having been in 
the past and presently involved in Nuclear Preparedness Planning, I wonder 
how we would plan for and deal with this issue post attack or more 
realistically post sever power plant incident? 

Considering what I've seen coming from these folks it's a veiled copy of the 
old CD RDO program. Radiation is Radiation, Contamination is contamination, 
Fallout is Fallout. 

P.S. Let's get on with putting the spent fuel in Yucca Mountain, and in the 
future reprocess it. Carter was a Nuclear Engineer, what's Obama's Excuse? 


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