[ RadSafe ] Was there a Plutonium Power source aboard Apollo XIII

Tue Apr 3 08:49:37 CDT 2018

Thank you Brian.
Please mention this!

~Thomas

On Tue, Apr 3, 2018 at 9:43 AM, Rees, Brian G <brees at lanl.gov> wrote:

> Thank you!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RadSafe [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of
> Joseph Shonka
> Sent: Tuesday, April 3, 2018 7:17 AM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List <
> radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Was there a Plutonium Power source aboard Apollo
> XIII
>
> It was used to power instruments left behind (except for Apollo 13, whose
> SNAP source is in the Pacific). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/
> wiki/Systems_for_Nuclear_Auxiliary_Power
>
> Joe Shonka
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Apr 3, 2018, at 9:08 AM, Rees, Brian G <brees at lanl.gov> wrote:
> >
> > I don’t know why they'd put a Pu238 RTG on Apollo XIII, the mission
> wasn’t that long, and was close enough to the sun to use solar panels.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: RadSafe [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf
> > Of Jason Meade
> > Sent: Monday, April 2, 2018 7:39 AM
> > To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing
> > List <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> > Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Was there a Plutonium Power source aboard
> > Apollo XIII
> >
> > Plutonium is not remotely the most dangerous or deadly substance ever
> created by humans.
> >
> > Just one of the "scariest."
> >
> > Karen Wetterhahn, for example, died from exposure to two drops of
> dimethyl mercury absorbed through her gloves, for example.  While
> technically an organic compound, researchers have distilled it into
> astonishingly lethal concentrations.
> >
> > And let's not even get into viral and infectious agents being toyed with
> in labs across the globe.
> >
> >> On Mon, Apr 2, 2018 at 5:28 AM, Roger Helbig <rwhelbig at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Was there a Plutonium power source aboard Apollo XIII?  This article
> >> claims that there was, but the source is Nuclear News, so it is not
> >> exactly known for its journalistic excellence.
> >>
> >> Roger Helbig
> >>
> >> https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2018/03/31/the-real-houston-pr
> >> o
> >> blem
> >>
> >> Has the world forgotten the catastrophic danger if a
> >> plutonium-powered space rocket crashed to Earth
> >>
> >> by Christina MacPherson
> >>
> >> Beyond Nuclear 31st March 2018, President Trump has announced that he
> >> wants the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to
> >> “lead an innovative space exploration program to send American
> >> astronauts back to the moon, and eventually Mars.” But the risks such
> >> ventures would entail have scarcely been touched upon.
> >>
> >> For those of us who watched Ron Howard’s nail-biter of a motion
> >> picture, Apollo 13, and for others who remember the real-life drama
> >> as it unfolded in April 1970, collective breaths were held that the
> >> three-man crew would return safely to Earth. They did.
> >>
> >> What hardly anyone remembers now — and certainly few knew at the time
> >> — was that the greater catastrophe averted was not just the potential
> >> loss of three lives, tragic though that would have been. There was a
> >> lethal cargo on board that, if the craft had crashed or broken up,
> >> might have cost the lives of thousands and affected generations to
> >> come. It is a piece of history so rarely told that NASA has continued
> >> to take the same risk over and over again, as well as before Apollo
> >> 13. And that risk is to send rockets into space carrying the
> >> deadliest substance ever created by humans: plutonium.
> >> https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2018/03/31/the-real-
> >> houston-problem/
> >>
> >> Christina MacPherson | April 2, 2018 at 4:04 am | Categories: safety,
> >> technology | URL: https://wp.me/phgse-zEL
> >>
> >> Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
> >> http://nuclear-news.net/2018/04/02/has-the-world-forgotten-
> >> the-catastrophic-danger-if-a-plutonium-powered-space-
> >> rocket-crashed-to-earth/
> >>
> >> Tell Word Press to get out of the Fake News business!
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> 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
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Thanks,
> > Jason A Meade, AS, BS, MHSA, RRPT, R.T.(T) Senior Radiation Safety
> > Specialist Virginia Commonwealth University
> >
> >
> > Sanger Hall, B2-016
> > 1101 East Marshall St
> > PO Box 980112
> > Richmond, VA 23298-0112
> >
> > meadeja at vcu.edu
> >
> > 330-347-0271 cell/work
> > 804-828-0594 office
> >
> > "A society grows great
> > when old men plant trees
> > whose shade they know
> > they shall never sit in."
> > -Old Greek proverb
> >
> > "You call this bad? I'll tell you what bad is....
> > Bad is passing test depth at 80 feet per second with a thirty degree
> > down bubble.
> > Compared to that, this is a walk in the park."
> > -Carlo Ciliberti
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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
> _______________________________________________
> 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
>