Re: No, We're not (definition of nuclear)

["Les & Shirley Aldrich" <laldrich@gte.net>]

Bjorn Cedervall said:

"Semantics: This may depend on the definition of "nuclear facility" (some
people may think that for instance the production and industrial use of
radium fall under this head) and "accident" (what were the dial painting
events if not accidents?). I don't mean to join hysteria - the exact wording
may however be important to avoid misinterpretations. The key word seems to
be "nuclear" - to me nuclear is much more than NPPs and atom bombs."

That's easy enough to fix.

Accident. An unplanned sequence of events that results in undesirable
consequences.
(Dial painting, a planned event, does not fit in this category.)

Nuclear facility. A facility whose operations involve radioactive materials
in such form and quantity that a significant nuclear hazard potentially
exists to the employees or the general public. Included are facilities that:
(1) produce, process, or store radioactive liquid or solid waste,
fissionable materials, or tritium; (2) conduct separations operations;
(3)conduct irradiated materials inspection, fuel fabrication,
decontamination, or recovery operations; or, (4) conduct fuel enrichment
operations. Accelerators and reactors and their operations are included.
Incidental use of radioactive materials in a facility operation (e.g., check
sources, radioactive sources, and X-ray machines) does not necessarily
require the facility to be included in this definition. Not included are
dial painting shops and houses with radon in the basement.

Again, just my opinion (but most of the words are someone else's).

Les Aldrich
laldrich@gte.net

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