RE: Intentional Misuse

["Vernig, Peter G." <Peter.Vernig@med.va.gov>]

Group,

When the NRC looked at things in the wake of the NIH and MIT incidents I
believe they found that such incidents were fairly common.  Meaning they had
records of one or two a year for the prior decade, at least.  When you look
at the overall impact, I have to side with the laissez faire segment.  It
seems like some of you are saying, "Don't bury your head in the sand, fix
it!"  or  "Don't wait for the NRC to mess things up, mess them up yourself!"
might be another way to put it.  I know that sounds sarcastic, please accept
my assurance that I am not attacking anyone.  But the level of real impact
is minimal in all 5 of these incidents and IMO do not warrant much response.
The latest incident should not merit much response after all of the sound
and fury that went into the after math of the NIH and MIT incidents. 

IMO what really got the NRC going, besides the temporal proximity of the NIH
and MIT events was that there was no body to be punished.  The NRC and
authority in general, appeared to be impotent, because they couldn't do
anything.  So they did something very visible, annoying and futile.  These
types of incidents are in some way like a bomb threat, they stir things up a
whole lot, are relatively easy to do.

The NRC's approach to NIH and MIT was to cite licensees for any failure to
guard every atom.  IMO that was pretty silly, as all of the incidents then
known, involved by the NRC's own estimation, knowledgeable people
[authorized workers] so even if the radioactive materials were guarded like
the gold in Fort Knox, the incidents probably still would have happened.

I just did a brief presentation [AKA refresher training] as part of a
semi-annual research safety meeting.  I gave information on the sentencing
of the Brown University [deportation & 15 years probation] and UC Irvine
incidents [120 days and 3 years probation].  I am hoping that because the
culprits appear to be known and action to prevent a reoccurrence will be
easy [dismissing the student or excluding him from licensed activity] that
the NRC will not be provoked into a knee jerk and unproductive attempt to
fix it.  That kind of sums up my likely response.  I keep telling my
research personnel to lock labs when they leave and challenge strangers and
emphasize the penalties imposed on people who mess up like that.

Let's all go out get a half life!
 

Any opinions expressed are mine alone and do not necessarily represent those
of the Denver VA Medical Center, The Department of Veterans Affairs, or the
U.S. Government.

Peter G. Vernig                
Radiation Safety Officer, VA Medical Center, 1055 Clermont St. Denver, CO
80220, ATTN; RSO MS 115
303-399-8020 ext. 2447, peter.vernig@med.va.gov [alternate
vernig.peter@forum.va.gov] Fax 303-393-5026 [8 - 4:30 MT service] Alternate
Fax 303-377-5686

"...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is found to be
excellent or praiseworthy, let your mind dwell on these things."    Paul

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