Re: Danger from Am-241 compared to other everyday products

[Chuck Cooper <ccc@pp.pdx.edu>]

Franz Schoenhofer wrote:



 >

 >

 >Why are people - especially radiation protection professionals - always so

 >eager to point out the very outstanding and special hazard of radioactive

 >material? Why is its use in everyday products so severely regulated though

 >everyday products which can easily kill people if used in excess 

quantities

 >are sold everywhere without restriction? We are surrounded by dangers 

- car

 >accidents, pollutants, chemicals - also outside supermarkets, but what

 >obviously counts are scenarios like the "dirty bomb".

 >

 >Can anybody enlighten me, what the difference is, that makes smoke 

detectors

 >more hazardous than insecticides, pesticides etc.?

 >

 >Regards,

 >

 >Franz

 >

 >

It's because of the A-bomb and the long cold MAD dance with imminent

destruction that most of the living population has come to associate

with anything nuclear.



It's because the threat is uncommon and unfamiliar to most people, you

can't see it or feel it but it can make you sick.



It's because there is the apparent lack of personal ability to control

the risk.



It's because politicians and political causes have abused (or lack)

knowledge and used fear to control resources.



It's because it's sexy to be anti nuke.



It's because science education in the US is poor (IMHO).



But it's not just Nuclear it's also Hydrogen.......



From:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2002/06/20/fuelcel.DTL



Excerpt:

"The interest in extracting hydrogen from other fuels, rather than just

using tanks of pure hydrogen, is partially related to safety concerns

stemming from hydrogen's explosive nature. For example, a small hydrogen

fuel-cell battery powering a cell phone, were it to explode, could take

off the heads of everyone in the vicinity. Likewise, an exploding

car-size tank of pure hydrogen might level a city block or more."



It's because reality is not as exciting as fantasy.



Chuck Cooper

Dir. EH&S

Portland State University





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