[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Tokaimura doses -- a retry of an earlier posting
I never said that public response would be rational. If the same thing had
happened in the US I think the Facility Manager would have been lynched and
ALL food produced within 50 miles would have been dumped on the company
president's lawn. The Japanese have reacted quite calmly IMHO.
As for activated yen . . . Was there any measurable dose coming off the
coins? I am assuming the dose levels you refer to are neutron dose rates
when the mix flashed and not continuous dose rates now. Also were the
coins compared to coins from outside the area?
I don't want to argue over trivialities here. The accident was stupid and
the repercussions will continue to plague us for some time. This is a
fact, but lets keep some perspective. We all know, as nuclear
professionals, that public perception of our field is in the toilet. We
have ourselves to blame. I travelled all over the country to over a dozen
nuclear facilities and the ones with effective public education and
outreach programs numbered two. Fabrication and research facilities I can
only assume have similar ratios. I've never worked DOE (just DOD) so I
can't say for sure, but since I haven't heard of many in over 20 years in
the field what other conclusion can I make. I'm sure I'll get flamed for
this but, instead of fighting over who did what and what camp is
over-regulated, why don't we as health physics professionals try to push
the issue of education to the regulators. If the public has good
information, a good grasp of the real science behind our field and HONEST,
TRUTHFUL information when something does go wrong, we will all benefit.
The press may think that people don't want to be board with the facts and
that they won't understand the details, but I think the public is quite a
bit more savvy than that. Post-WWII and Cold War paranoia have done more
harm to the nuclear industry than any number of Chernobyl's or TMI's. Wake
up folks! If you want to have public support, educate and communicate.
OK, I've preached enough and my soap box just broke.
Opinions expressed are mine and do not reflect official policies or
positions of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
"Dukelow, James S
Jr" To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
<jim.dukelow@pnl.g cc:
ov> Subject: Tokaimura doses -- a retry of an earlier posting
Sent by:
radsafe@romulus.eh
s.uiuc.edu
08/29/2000 12:32
Please respond to
radsafe
Apparently the RADSAFE listserver has quality control aspirations. It
seems to
ignore every other message I attempt to post.
Trying again:
PBarring wrote:
------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 09:21:09 -0500
> From: PBarring@kdhe.state.ks.us
> To: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
> Subject: Re: Gov't to mediate on Tokaimura nuke compensation claim
> WOW! I thought the US had a corner on the "Stupid Lawsuits" market.
Last
> I heard there was NO significant contamination released from that
accident.
> If the product was removed from the shelves 'immediately after the
> accident' I think the company should look to the government or the
> merchants for compensation. There was no reason why current stock should
> have been removed. ANI, take notice!
> "My opinions, not the states"
> P
====================
Jim Dukelow comments:
This may be a "stupid lawsuit", although the fermented soybean maker is
trying
to recover continuing losses arising from public reaction to their location
10
km from Tokaimura. The public reaction may not be rational, but it is
apparently real.
Regarding "no significant contamination", I was of the same opinion myself.
However, the 17 August 2000 issue of Nature has a Brief Communication
"Neutron
dose estimates from 5-yen coins" by Masuchika Kohno and Yoshinobu Koizumu
of the
Department of
Nuclear Engineering at Kyoto University.
They collected 5-yen coins (with 37% zinc content) from various
locations around the Tokaimura facility and measured the Zn-65 resulting
from neutron irradiation of the coins. Inferred neutron doses to the
coins were calculated using the transport codes DOT and MORSE and
converted to ambient dose equivalents (mSv) of 220mSv at 100 meters, 6
mSv at 350 meters, and 1.8 mSv at 550m.
Now, I'm not so sure that doses and contamination were trivial.
Best regards.
Jim Dukelow
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland, WA
jim.dukelow@pnl.gov
These comments are mine and have not been reviewed and or approved by my
management or by the U.S. Department of Energy.
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html