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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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