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RE: Baltimore Tunnel Incident Comment
Not far outside the Berkeley, CA "Nuclear Free Zone" (which contains several
hospitals with N.M. Departments), is the Caldicott Tunnel. Years back, a
gasoline tanker crashed in it at rush hour and 'smelted' quite a few cars
along with their contents.
The result is that such transports are now allowed to pass through only in
the wee hours of the morning. Selective paranoia indeed.
Dave Neil neildm@id.doe.gov
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - And most
fools do. --- Dale Carnegie
-----Original Message-----
From: Landes, Claude W [mailto:CWLandes@MAIL.BHI-ERC.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 9:25 AM
To: 'radsafe'
Subject: RE: Baltimore Tunnel Incident Comment
I've conducted a little personal experiment with this "selective paranoia"
over the years. I pick persons who do not work in the nuclear industry and
start out by setting up a scenario for them:
"You're driving down the highway and you suddenly find yourself in a
situation where you have to make a snap decision, you are going to have a
collision with one of two trucks, your only choice is which one you're going
to hit. One truck is a Gasoline Tanker, the other is carrying Radioactive
Material."
Then I ask them "Quick, which one do you chose?".
9 times out of 10 they choose... the Gasoline Tanker!
I then ask them to explain why they chose almost certain death over the
"unknown" of the Radioactive Material. They are usually at a loss for words,
think for a minute, then ask if they can change their answer...
I've been posing this question to different people for over 15 years, in 6
different states across the country. I'm still not sure what to make of the
results, but it has been interesting.
Claude W Landes, RRPT
Radiological Controls Technician, Lead
ERC Radiological Counting Facility
Eberline Services Hanford Inc.
cwlandes@bhi-erc.com
Phone: (509)373-6005/ 373-2547
Fax: (509)373-1224
-----Original Message-----
From: Lavera, Ron [mailto:RLavera@ENTERGY.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 5:13 AM
To: 'radsafe'
Subject: Baltimore Tunnel Incident Comment
The following is in regards to the recent Baltimore tunnel fire.
We transport thousands of tank cars of dangerous chemicals like chlorine
gas, hydrochloric acid and a host of other chemicals that are either strong
carcinogens or will rot out your lungs, and yet the concern is about
radioactive material.
I have difficulty understanding the selective paranoia.
Mine and mine alone.
Ron LaVera
rlavera@entergy.com
Proposed by Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, the assistant majority
leader, the measure would require the Transportation Department and
the General Accounting Office to determine whether the U.S. rail and
highway networks were adequate to handle dangerous cargo.
"That tunnel is 100 years old," Reid said in a floor speech about
last week's accident in Baltimore. "So that tunnel was dug through
that area about 1900" and "has had almost nothing done to it since
then."
Reid said the volume of hazardous chemical transport increased by
more than one third in the last 25 years. He said approximately
261,000 people were evacuated nationwide because of rail-related
accidents from 1978-95.
Evacuations linked to rail accidents are often ordered because of a
toxic chemical threat.
"During that period industry reported eight transportation accidents
involving small volumes of high-level radioactive waste transported,"
Reid said.
He said a witness at a Senate hearing earlier in the day testified
that 70 percent of the bridges in America did not meet basic safety
standards.
Ron LaVera
RLaVera@entergy.com
914-736-8433
914-736-8419 FAX
Entergy Nuclear Northeast
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
Indian Point 3 NPP
P.O. Box 308
Buchanan, NY 10511
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