[ RadSafe ] Detectability vs. Hazard ,uranium in peaches

[Steven Dapra]

March 20

         Did it ever occur to the assistant that if he had been 
correct you were also exposing yourself to "dangerous radiation"?

         Some markedly shallow "thinking" going on that day.

Steven Dapra

At 09:32 PM 3/19/2011, you wrote:
>Dear Larry:
>
>Years ago I had a lab assistant who was helping me disassemble a liquid
>scintillation counter in order to repair it. Of course, there was a check
>source deep in the machine shielded with lead.  As I began to remove the
>heavy external lead shielding from the machine, he began to move further and
>further away from the counter until by the last piece of shielding, he was
>on the other side of the room.  And he looked pretty scared.
>
>"What's the matter?" I asked.  He said, "You are exposing us to dangerous
>radiation!"  I asked him from where.  He said, "The machine!"  I tried to
>explain that the shielding was to keep outside radiation out, but he didn't
>believe me and that the check source was contained a minuscule amount of
>radioactive material.  I pulled-out my Ludlum Model 19 survey meter, and
>showed him that the background was normal. He wasn't buying any of it. So I
>gave him a copy of the operator's manual, and he went home nauseated.
>
>Several hours later, about 11:00PM, he called me, and excitedly told me that
>he had read the manual and discovered that he wasn't suffering from
>excessive radiation exposure, that the shield really was to keep the outside
>radiation out.  He came back to work the next day slightly embarrassed.
>
>The poor boy had made himself sick with worry!
>
>The truth is that scared people develop stress-related diseases.  Post
>Chernobyl these included suicide, drug & alcohol abuse, diabetes, heart
>disease and stroke.  I sincerely hope that the media has the sense to
>moderate the discussion.
>
>Dan ii
>
>--
>Dan W McCarn, Geologist
>108 Sherwood Blvd
>Los Alamos, NM 87544-3425
>+1-505-672-2014 (Home - New Mexico)
>+1-505-670-8123 (Mobile - New Mexico)
>HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email) HotGreenChile at gmail dot com

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