STAR at work

["D. Kosloff" <dkosloff@ncweb.com>]

"STAR" is working on a new project now that Brookhaven is shut down.  Please
see below.

Don Kosloff mailto:dkosloff@ncweb.com
Perry OH

Please sign on to this hopefully precident setting letter no matter where in
the country or world you live. Spread this message/sign-on as far & wide as
possible and respond to at: scot-@noradiation.org  Not to anyone else!
Thanks.

-Bill Smirnow

Alert: please sign-on to the following letter to NY Attorney General Elliot
Spitzer urging him to prevent the flow of radioactive scrap metal into New
York commerce. Mr. Spitzer could be a national leader on this important
issue, please sign on by January 28, by email or call (631) 324-0655. Please
include your name, organization, address and phone number, thanks Scott
Cullen


January 28, 2000


Attorney General Eliot Spitzer


Office of the Attorney General


120 Broadway


New York, NY




Re: Recycled radioactive metals


Dear Mr. Spitzer:


We the undersigned [x] environmental, health and community organizations are
writing to urge you to take a leadership role on a very important health
issue. Presently, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in the process
of legalizing the "release" or "clearance" of radioactive materials from
licensed, regulated control into raw materials, building supplies and any
other items that are sold to New York consumers. We are opposed to the
introduction of radioactive scrap metal into commerce and the lack of any
consumer notification and urge you to take action to keep these products out
of New York markets.


Background:


As nuclear power reactors are maintained and decommissioned, contaminated
parts, concrete rubble, and soil could be let go. The Department of Energy
is currently sending radioactively contaminated metals from nuclear weapons
sites to regular scrap yards to mix with clean metal for unrestricted public
use. Some states, primarily Tennessee, are licensing and permitting private
companies to process and "release" into commerce radioactive materials,
including metals, lead and asphalt, usually with no public hearings,
notification, or warning.


These radioactive elements result from every part of the nuclear fuel chain
(mining, milling, conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, nuclear power
production, plutonium and weapons production, reprocessing, decommissioning
and waste management). Companies wanting to save money on clean-up costs are
being exempted from regulatory controls and allowed to use contaminated
materials as if they were not radioactive.


Simply put, the makers of radioactive waste would much rather sell their
contaminated metal to scrap dealers and specialty steel companies, or to
other sources for reuse, than to pay to isolate it from the environment and
the public for as long as it remains radioactive, in some cases centuries or
millenia.


Why is this Dangerous?


There is no safe level of exposure to ionizing radiation, so it makes sense
to prevent all unnecessary exposures. Some scientists have shown that risks
from routine low doses may actually cause more cell damage (per unit dose)
than single high dose exposures.


Exposure to ionizing radiation increases the risks of cancer, leukemia,
genetic defects, illnesses resulting from reduced immunity and other
non-cancerous illnesses. The developing embryo and fetus, young children,
the elderly and those with already impaired health face the greatest risk.


The public could be exposed to radiation from many different contaminated
consumer products, ie; strollers, braces and toasters, etc. The risks add up
and are multiplied when we are exposed to more radiation and other
carcinogens in our lives. These involuntary health threats are being imposed
without notification and against our will, so the nuclear industry can save
money.


The role of New York:


The current methods of releasing radioactive wastes from commercial
licensees and weapons facilities must immediately cease.Using radioactive
wastes in consumer products poses unnecessary, avoidable, involuntary,
uninformed risks. The consumers, the producers, the raw materials industries
don't want these radioactive wastes or risks. Therefore, we believe that
your office should take steps to oppose the recycling of radioactive scrap
metal and ensure that they do not end up in commerce.


We commend you for your strong and innovative actions on behalf of our
health and safety and hope that you will help us in this effort. We would be
happy to send representatives to discuss this with you further. Should you
require further contact please call STAR Counsel Scott Cullen at (631)
324-0655 or P.O. Box 4206 East Hampton, NY, 11937.


Sincerely,


Scott Cullen
Counsel  Standing for Truth About Radiation (STAR) East Hampton, NY 11937
scot-@noradiation.org <mailto:scot-@noradiation.org
http://www.noradiation.org <http://www.noradiation.org  >
516 324-0655 fax; 2203


----- Original Message -----
From: Al Tschaeche <antatnsu@pacbell.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2000 7:54 PM
Subject: ANL 92/23


> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> --------------EEC24A014FA5B7281C80FE96
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> I recently ran across an excellent publication that I think all
> RADSAFERS might like to read.  It is ANL-92/23, "Is There a Large Risk
> of Radiation? A Critical Review of Pessimistic Claims," by Adnan
> shihab-Eldin, Alexander Shlyakhter, and Richard Wilson.  A short version
> of the report was published in Environment international, Bol. 18
> (1992).
>
> The Abstract is: "A number of situations where it has been claimed that
> moderate radiation doses cause leukemia or other cancers are carefully
> reviewed.  We look at cases in the United States, Great Britain, and the
> Soviet Union.
>
> "Usually it can be demonstrated that there is an alternative, more
> probable, explanation for the effect seen.  In several cases the authors
> of the papers have fallen into statistical traps.  The most frequent is
> a posteriori selection of cohort boundaries in both space and time: a
> trap illustrated dramatically by Feynman.  The next most common trap is
> to arbitrarily select one out of many ways of looking at the data,
> against which we were warned by Tippett.
>
> "Several cohorts are compared with respect to the number of persons at
> risk, average dose, and the number of cancers expected.  Of these, only
> the cohort of A-bomb survivors in Japan and the recently unclassified
> data on the vary large occupational doses for early Soviet nuclear
> workers at Chelyabinsk provide evidence of clearly visible excess
> cancers."
>
> The authors, IMHO, have done an excellent job of examining much data in
> numerous studies such as the work by Sternglass about infant mortality;
> leukemia clusters in the UK and near Plymouth, Mass.; Chernobyl and US
> mortality; the Portsmouth shipyard problem; leukemia among the Hanford
> workers; plutonium from Rocky Flats causing cancer; cancers near TMI;
> cancers in Utah from weapons test fallout; the Chelyabinsk cohort;
> cancer from natural background; cancer among airline personnel; cancer
> from diagnostic x-rays; cancer among medical technicians; cancer in the
> nuclear industry (BNFL); cancer from Chernobyl; and a complete dismissal
> of all of Goffman's claims.  It is a paper well worth reading.
>
> The Discussion and Conclusion states: "Any discussion and review of the
> effects of radiation on health is necessarily incomplete.  It has been
> estimated that there are over 100,000 references on the subject (in
> 1992).  In making this review, we have only begun to address many of the
> claims and have only read a fraction of the papers.  However, we hope,
> and believe that we show how to address the main issues."
>
> BEIR VII has a lot of papers to read.  Al Tschaeche antatnsu@pacbell.net
>
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> org:Nuclear Standards Unlimited
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> email;internet:antatnsu@postoffice.pacbell.net
> title:CEO
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> fn:Al Tschaeche
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> information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
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information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html