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Re: Surviving a Dirty Bomb
One of the paragraphs quoted by Dr. Gawarecki stated:
"Just imagine if Timothy McVeigh had put five pounds of radioactive
material and blew that up in Oklahoma. . . . No more people would have
probably died than did."
Apparently some experts still have some difficulties with radioactive
material quantities and related quantities. After hearing another "expert"
last fall discuss the horrific consequences if one of the Sept. 11 hijackers
had carried on board a "shoebox containing 10 pounds of Cs-137", I did a
rough calculation of one's life expectancy in proximity to 10 pounds (about
300,000 curies) of Cs-137 and came up with a few seconds . It didn't get
much longer with shoebox shielding either.
The educational effort obviously still has a long way to go. I think that
all "experts" contributing to the public debate on this issue should be
asked a few basic questions - like, "What's a half-life?" - before they are
allowed to speak.
[The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.]
Don Jordan
RAM Services, Inc.
ramservices@lsol.net
Tel.: +1-920-686-3889
Fax: +1-920-686-3899
510 County Highway V
Two Rivers, WI 54241 U.S.A.
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