RE: Sydney research reactor

["Johannes Strydom" <fritz.strydom@ors.gatech.edu>]

Jim,

I agree with everything you said except for the reason why the reactor was
de-fueled.  It's true, we were planning on converting from HEU to LEU.
However, we were moved up in the schedule in order to remove the fuel before
the Olympics to allay some of the fears.  I think it would have been a
couple years later before we would have actually switched over to LEU fuel.
I wasn't trying to implicate your group as part of the bureaucracy.  You
guys are pretty good about dealing with things in a rational and sensible
manner.

I wasn't going to bring specific politicians into it, but since you
mentioned them, Zell Miller and  Al Gore played an integral part in the
pre-Olympic chaos.  In fact, we were told that Mr. Gore wanted ALL
radioactive materials removed from campus.  This coming from a man who
claims to be such an intellectual.  After we objected and got the  DOE and
some other organizations (maybe yours) involved, it was made clear that the
removal of all radioactive materials from campus was not only impossible,
but unnecessary as well.  We did, however, suspend the ordering of new
radioactive materials during the Olympic games.

---------------------------------
Johannes "Fritz" Strydom
Health Physicist
Georgia Institute of Technology
(404) 894-3605
(404) 894-9325 fax
fritz.strydom@ors.gatech.edu


************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html