|
Norm,
There may very well be some higher levels of Cs-137
in soils at BNL. However, the levels cited in the article are not high and
in fact don't make a lot of sense. When I ran an environmental lab in
Maine we periodically got venison from local hunters and the levels were
between 3 and 30 pCi/gram. We traced the source to fallot suspended
in lichens (the green weeds that grow in the bark of trees). We summized
the reasons were that 1) lichens accumulate heavy metals in the environment
because they are in convenient locations to filter the rain traveling down the
sides of trees, and 2) because the deer eat the lichens when there is little
other greenery around.
I'm sure there are other accumulation mechanisms at
work but the fact is that the article is seriously flawed and does not indicate
a problem.
Tom O'Dou, CHP, RRPT
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2002 2:46
PM
Subject: Re: the article about the
contaminated fawn at Brookhaven lab
Hi John,
I'm confused. Does this mean that
everything at Brookhaven was hunky-dory? You don't consider this report, even
with the reporter's lack of scientific precision, serious?
Norm
AndrewsJP@AOL.COM wrote:
This story
by TAMER EL-GHOBASHY contains a number of missing elements. 1) The
fawn was contaminated with RADIOACTIVITY, not RADIATION. The reporter
should know the difference. 2) The radioactive material was not
identified, so no hazard judgement can be made of this information.
The reporter should determine what the radioactive material(s) is/are and
report that as part of the report. 3) The units of radioactivity are
incomplete not giving the unit of mass associated with the radioactivity in
picocuries. Such a number indicates that the activity, only a few
disentegrations per minute is the total in the carcass, not per gram or
kilogram. It takes trillions of picocuries to be significant. Update
the story to clarify this report.
The report has been widely
circulated on the internet.
John Andrews
Knoxville,
Tennessee
--
Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321
Barr Ave., Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8537 or 609-601-8583 (8583: fax, answer
machine); ncohen12@home.com UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE: http://www.unplugsalem.org/
COALITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE WEBSITE: http:/www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org
The Coalition for Peace and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action.
"First
they ignore you; Then they laugh at you; Then they fight you; Then you win.
(Gandhi) "Why walk when you can fly?" (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
|