RE: LD50/30

[Joel Baumbaugh <baumbaug@nosc.mil>]

         Bjorn's comment below made me laugh as it reminded me of a 
"situation" that happened at a University I once worked for.  I was 
surveying around the outside of our RADWASTE facility (with a Ludlum-3 
[with CPM/mR/hr face] and a Pancake G.M.) when all of a sudden, the meter 
showed a LOT of activity (tens of thousands of DPM at waist height.  I went 
back into the facility to see what could be causing the exposure/activity 
rates to be so high (coming through the wall), but couldn't find a likely 
source as everything was well shielded/contained.  Outside once again - and 
looking more carefully at the ground (looking for ANYTHING that might be 
causing the activity), I noticed a trail of ants leaving the facility.  It 
ended up that they had gotten into some tissue (in a freezer) which was 
"heavily" labeled with P-32 and were "sharing" their new-found wealth with 
the rest of the nest.  After some consultation with "upper management" (who 
had to be shown the trail of ants to believe the exposure/activity rates) 
we decided to seal off the compound against further egress (of/to the ants) 
and just let them decay on-site" as the whole area was fenced and 
restricted to outside personnel.  The high rate of exposure to the P-32 
betas didn't "seem" to harm the ants at all as the nest survived/thrived 
until a larger building was built on the site.

         I "hope" that this wasn't too much of a "deviation" off the topic,

         Joel Baumbaugh (baumbaug@nosc.mil)
         SSC-SD


Roaches must be tolerant to much
>higher doses than humans. There is a reference about roaches load with
>phosphorous 32 in some lab - probably Health Physics from around 1980 - I
>don't think that the doses were estimated however but they were doing fine.

Joel T. Baumbaugh
Joel T. Baumbaugh, MPH, MHP
baumbaug@nosc.mil
Radiation Safety Officer
SSC-San Diego, CA, USA


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