Re: 1/2 kilo of Plutonium

["Ted Rockwell" <tedrock@cpcug.org>]

Long-time UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of
Atomic Radiation) member and former Chairman Zbigniew Jaworowski wrote an
excellent paper "Radiation Risk and Ethics" in Physics Today, Sept 99.  On
the third page of the paper, first column, he quotes from the Herald Tribune
"200 grams of plutonium could kill every human being on earth."  He then
debunks the statement, saying that the "the 541 atmospheric nuclear
[weapons] tests...injected 3 tons of plutonium into the atmosphere...and
somehow we are still alive."  In fact, there has never been a single death
attributable to Pu toxicity, although people have looked thoroughly for it.

J. goes on to make the interesting point that "At its cold war peak of
50,000 weapons, the global nuclear arsenal...was only 30 times larger than
the megatonnage already released into the atmosphere by all previous nuclear
tests" which he had already shown had negligible effect on human health.  So
the idea that the radiation from a nuclear war would wipe out all life on
earth is also debunked.

You might want to add that to your story, Cathy Lee.  Let me add that I am
also glad you raised the question.  Jump in on the discussion any time.

Ted Rockwell

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