[ RadSafe ] Tonight's NCIS:LA TV - a (nuclear) blast

Tue May 14 20:15:41 CDT 2013

After over three years, the ol' yellow CDV-700 showed up on the original NCIS finale tonight when it started clicking away (with no headphones or attached speaker) as the Geiger-Mueller detector was moved near a severed head that was being investigated by the NCIS medical examiner team.    

You'd think NCIS would have upgraded their equipment since then, maybe to a  handheld gamma ray spectrometer?    

Rick Strickert
Austin, TX

________________________________________
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Conklin, Al  (DOH) [Al.Conklin at DOH.WA.GOV]
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 4:25 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Tonight's NCIS:LA TV - a (nuclear) blast

As I recall, the 2010 episode of NCIS involved a terrorist group
stealing the cobalt 60 out of dental X-ray machines (enough, they said,
to make 5 dirty bombs??). Then they used a CDV-700 that had sound, even
though that instrument had no speaker except with a headset.

Al Conklin
Lead Trainer and Health Physicist
Radiological Emergency Preparedness Section
Office of Radiation Protection
Department of Health
office: 360-236-3261
cell: 360-239-1237

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Brennan, Mike
(DOH)
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 1:21 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Tonight's NCIS:LA TV - a (nuclear) blast

While I enjoyed watching NCIS (the LA version, not as much), the show
was not useful for spreading accurate information about radiation to the
viewing public.  Any time radiation or radioactive material was part of
the plot you could assume they would get it wrong, usually very wrong,
and often wrong in several different ways at the same time.  I don't
recall the episode, but I remember one occasion where they had three
errors in a single sentence.

"Bones" is at least as bad.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Strickert,
Rick (Consultant)
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 1:08 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Tonight's NCIS:LA TV - a (nuclear) blast

Tonight's season finale of NCIS:Los Angeles (8 PM CT; CBS) features a
terrorist plot and a nuclear explosion.

A preview of the episode
(http://www.aceshowbiz.com/video/download/00042322/) shows a brief scene
of the nuclear explosion.

Given Hollywood's strict adherence to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of
1963 (and the show's limited budget), it is no surprise that the nuclear
explosion was just a cropped video of the May 25, 1963, Grable 15 Kt
explosion, which was the only test using "Atomic Annie," the 280 mm M65
cannon that fired an atomic projectile at the Nevada Test Site
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT4mSoZsbzM).

Compare the NCIS video at 1 sec to the Grable shot at 15 secs to see the
similarity.

Back in a February, 2010, episode of the original NCIS show, the team
reached into their equipment inventory to measure suspected radioactive
contamination using an old CDV-700 geiger counter
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YsCQMVm4Ur0/S2inVpNU-iI/AAAAAAAAAEc/utpPSR3ZFig/s
640/NCIS%20Rad%20Equipment.JPG).

Rick Strickert
Austin, TX

_______________________________________________
You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list

Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood
the RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html

For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
visit: http://health.phys.iit.edu
_______________________________________________
You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list

Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood
the RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html

For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
visit: http://health.phys.iit.edu
_______________________________________________
You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list

Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood the RadSafe rules. These can be found at: http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html

For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings visit: http://health.phys.iit.edu