[ RadSafe ] container with cobalt 60 source in Genoa - Italy

[Brent Rogers]

Perhaps clueless is harsh, more like "just enough knowledge to be dangerous".  Clearly the useful number would be either exposure rate or activity.  "600 mSv of radioactivity" is of course, non-sense,

Brent Rogers
Sydney Australia

Sent from my iPad

On 15/01/2011, at 10:09, alstonchris at netscape.net wrote:

> 
> Nicolas
> 
> Out of curiosity, why do you feel that a value like 600 mSv (60,000 mrem or 60 rem, for The Americans) is indicative that the journalist is clueless?  It is a perfectly reasonable figure, if there are teletherapy sources, or the equivalent, in the container.
> 
> Cheers 
> cja
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BRISSON Nicolas <nicolas.brisson at irsn.fr>
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> Sent: Fri, Jan 14, 2011 9:51 am
> Subject: [ RadSafe ] container with cobalt 60 source in Genoa - Italy
> 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm looking for information about a news article published in French journal "Le 
> onde" on the 10Th of January. 
> You'll find a quick translation of the article below.
> 
> On 14 July the customs officers of the port of Genoa, Italy, discovered a 
> ontainer that showed an abnormally high radioactivity during 
> he  unloading process of a cargo , arriving from Ajman, United Arab Emirates.
> The container must contain the copper waste which destination was a reprocessing 
> lant.
> Six days later, an expert detected the presence of Cobalt-60 and measured 
> adioactivity of 600 mSv. 
> The container was then confined on a pier of the harbour, and placed under the 
> rotection of an armour of six containers 
> illed with water. 
> On 15 January, it will be moved to a concrete bunker built for the occasion, and 
> n February, its contents will be inspected by a robot. 
> According to Le Monde, the investigators, who found a shipment of T4 
> month after the one containing cobalt 60, think these shipments are designed  
> or "dirty bombs" processing. 
> Indeed, for investigators, "there is something wrong in this case. In general, 
> astes tend to follow the opposite path: from 
> urope to Asia or Africa, where they can be quietly buried, or thrown into sea "
> 
> The value of "600 mSv" shows that the journalist who wrote the article has no 
> eal clue about what he writes, from a scientific point of view. But the fact 
> hat they used full containers of water to shield the one containing the cobalt 
> 0 is enough to think that the dose rate near this container is quite huge.
> I happened to do measurement on containers with parts contaminated by cobalt 60 
> ut the dose rate was only several µSv/h in contact with the radioactive parts. 
> o I'm really curious about this.
> 
> I couldn't find information about this "discovery" in French papers and have 
> nly an Italian newspaper article that doesn't say more than this one.
> 
> Anyone heard about this story?
> 
> Nicolas Brisson
> IRSN/DEI/SIAR
> route du Panorama
> 92262 FONTENAY AUX ROSES
> Tel : +33 1-58-35-87-24
> por :  +33 6-08-76-55-32
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