Re: Dirty Bomb - Greg's scenario

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 5/21/02 9:22:24 AM Mountain Daylight Time, KINGVA@INEL.GOV writes:



> So what happens if you punch a hole in the cask?  You have a hole in the
>
> cask and most of the radioactive material still inside.   If it is spent
>
> fuel shipment, you have essentially ALL the radioactive material still
>
> inside (ceramic pellets in steel rods, remember?  - these don't "spew" out
>
> the hole very well). 


Spent fuel contains gas (e.g., Kr-85) and volatile substances (e.g., Cs-137, Ru-106).  Release fractions for these substances, from the rod and from any breach at the cask seals, are orders of magnitude larger than release fractions for solid particulate matter.  Moreover,  PWR spent fuel is pressurized.  If a rod is damaged or burst-ruptures in a fire, the overpressure can force material out of any hole or breach (this can happen in ordinary accidents too).  I refer you to a very good discussion in Chapter 7 of NUREG/CR-6672 (Sprung, et al, 2000).





 Greg forgets to mention how disrupting the cask


> integrity gets a significant amount of material from the inside to the
>
> outside of the container.  I might not want to stand within a few dozen
>
> yards of the hole, but then who is standing around that close while this is
>
> going on?  I would suggest the intended victims are long gone by this time.
>
>
>
> Gases and particles fine enough to get out of the cask can be dispersed over quite a wide area.  Investigators in germany have done quite a bit of work on particle size distribution and dispersal of radioactive cask contents.
>
>
> Nothwithstanding the ridiculousness of Greg's scenario, let's not go overboard with denials.



Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com