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Re: Where the Deer and LNT-lope play?



Bill,

    Just curious--- doesn't the degree of contamination have anything to do

with it?

Do you share the apparent NRC/EPA view that there is no such thing as de

minimis,

BRC, insignificant, etc., and that any level of "contamination"  too much?





----- Original Message -----

From: William V Lipton <liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM>

To: Vincent A King/KINGVA/CC01/INEEL/US <KINGVA@INEL.GOV>

Cc: <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 11:14 AM

Subject: Re: Where the Deer and LNT-lope play?





> So what you're saying is that it's  acceptable to operate so as to produce

> contaminated soil, and then to let that contamination remain long enough

to

> enter the food chain.

>

> Of course it's acceptable, NOT!!!

>

> I hope that other potential environmental pathways, eg. reentrainment as

> airborne contamination, have been evaluated and remediated, as

appropriate.

>

> The opinions expressed are strictly mine.

> It's not about dose, it's about trust.

> Let's look at the real problem for a change.

>

> Bill Lipton

> liptonw@dteenergy.com

>

>

> Vincent A King/KINGVA/CC01/INEEL/US wrote:

>

> > Contaminated sites are fenced and posted to keep out people who can read

> > the signs.  Having animals fly/crawl/burrow/leap under, over, and around

> > these fences is not an indication of a "serious programmatic failure."

It

> > is inevitable.

> >

> > Furthermore, if these sites are posted and fenced because of surface

> > contamination, then detecting those materials in the environment

(including

> > the four-legged, antlered part of it) is not surprising, it is expected.

> > Those familiar with environmental science, which environmental activists

> > typically are NOT, know this.

> >

> > Failure to detect the transport to the environment (if it is at

measureable

> > levels) would be a programmatic failure.  That obviously did not occur

> > here.  Failure to model transport of environmental contaminants to human

> > exposure would be another, but I'll wager that such modeling is

extensively

> > documented for this site as well.  Failure to recognize anomalies and

> > investigate the cause of the variance would be yet another programmatic

> > failure (but again, that is not indicated in this case).

> >

> > I guess one could post armed guards to shoot the next deer that tries to

> > jump the fence, but that seems somewhat extreme, especially considering

> > that the radioactive material and concentration being discussed will

have

> > zero health impact on them.  Deer don't worry too much about

hypothetical,

> > one-in-a-million chances of cancer based on LNT models since they will

die

> > from more "natural" causes (like our "deerly departed", two year old

> > road-killed fawn) long before the latent period for postulated cancer

onset

> > is reached.  (Personally, I'd choose to stay inside the fence if I were

a

> > deer...I'd live longer!)

> >

> > In short, programs that detect and track movement of contaminants in the

> > environment and that are forthright about reporting their results do not

> > qualify, in my opinion, as experiencing "serious" failures.

> >

> > Vincent King,

> > Idaho Falls

> >

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