RE: What to do ? ? ?

["Dukelow, James S Jr" <jim.dukelow@PNL.GOV>]

Richard Hess wrote:

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

From: Richard L. Hess [mailto:lists@richardhess.com]

Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2002 4:12 PM

To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: What to do ? ? ?



   <snip>



I cannot imagine that ALL of the material in "Killing our Own" by Wasseman 

and Solomon is made up of whole cloth. (the text to this book is available 

online at http://www.ratical.org/radiation/KillingOurOwn/ ) Isn't there 

some background truth to this--even if it's exaggerated by a sensationalist 

press?



Take for example, the Windscale nuclear disaster in 1957 in England. 

Wasseman's book states "But several months later British officials conceded 

to a United Nations conference at Geneva that nearly seven hundred curies 

of cesium and strontium had been released, plus twenty thousand curies of 

I-131....A study of health data in downwind European countries later 

indicated a clear impact of the accident on infant-mortality rates."



I am especially interested in this as two girls, ages 11 and 9, were likely 

playing outside (probably with horses) downwind of this disaster. The one 

who was 9 at the time died from Oligodendroglioma in 1999, and both 

exhibited thyroid problems. The one who was 11 is a good friend of mine. Is 

this a mere coincidence? Yes, it can be brushed away as "anecdotal." When 

does "anecdotal" become real, especially when controlled experiments are 

unethical?



   <snip>



I drove to Waterton/Glacier Park (and beyond) a few weeks ago, and when I 

showed a friend of mine (a native of Montana) the route I was taking (I-15 

to I-90) he said, "I wouldn't drive that route without a Geiger counter." 

So I went and got an Aware RM-70 unit and connected it to my HP 100LX palm 

top and took a constant log of the radiation exposure on essentially the 

entire trip.



Although the device I purchased is sensitive to alpha, beta, and gamma, it 

was installed inside the vehicle (and inside the center console or glove 

compartment as well) which provided complete shielding to alpha (one would 

assume) as well as probably substantial shielding for beta. The normal 

background radiation ran between 9-12 µR/hour for the entire trip. The 

highest peak was about 24 µR/hour recorded at the lip of the Berkeley Pit 

abandoned Anaconda Copper mine in the city of Butte.



With this, I convinced myself that the problem might be perceived to be 

worse than it is (24µR/hr is not frightening to me). It's good to know, 

however, that at least this route, although perceived risky by a friend, 

seemed safe, at least at this time.



To state the subject of this message in another way, where is the line 

between prudence and paranoia?



At this point I have a stockpile of KI tablets (I'm not planning on taking 

them any time soon), fiber dust masks (probably useless, but if wet MIGHT 

plate out heavier alpha particles to avoid them getting into your lungs and 

decaying in there for a while), and two CDV-700 Geiger counters plus the 

Aware unit.



Since we live in earthquake country, we keep about a month's supply of food 

and water around our house.



Any other suggestions?



Cheers,



Richard



==================



Richard,



With all due respect, regarding the RATICAL book, I encourage you to work on

improving your imagination.  I read the "People died at TMI" chapter of the

book.  For starters, anything that treats Ernest Sternglass as a credible

source of information about radiation and health, is itself not credible.

The sources for the chapter are mostly secondary (i.e., media) or interviews

of individuals with the authors.  The epidemiological data is presented

without the full range of information that would be required to understand

whether the conclusions drawn by Wasserman et al. are credible.



The standard numbers for releases of radionuclides at TMI are 15 curies of

I-131 and about a million and a half curies of nobel gases.  Doses to

individuals from the noble gases are small, because, being noble gases, they

do not react with anything in the body, so the duration of exposure is quite

short.  Doses to individual from the I-131 were small because the releases

were small.



There have been a number of more or less careful epidemiological studies of

the sort of releases that occurred at TMI.  Three relevant studies have been

conducted on populations in and around the Hanford reservation in

South-central Washington State.



One study by ATSDR looked at fetal death, neonatal death, and low birth

weight in children conceived in eight counties surrounding the Hanford site

from roughly 1940-52, which includes a time period 1944-47 when something on

the order of 500,000 curies of I-131 was released to the atmosphere.  While

the eight counties showed large variations in fetal and neonatal outcomes,

none were related to radiation exposure.



There have been ongoing studies of Hanford worker populations, who are

exposed to both radiation and a variety of industrial chemicals.  These

populations are consistently healthier than the general population.  The

same is true of the dozens of epidemiological studies of DOE worker

populations at other sites.



Finally, CDC/ATSDR and the Fred Hutchinson Hospital in Seattle, recently

completed a study of more than 3000 children born in counties around the

Hanford reservation during the period of highest releases of I-131.  It

found no detectable increase in a variety of thyroid diseases that could be

attributed to the exposures of that population to I-131.



Since you are resident in Southern California, I think you would be

well-advised to concentrate your worrying and your preparation on

earthquakes.  Even tidal waves and trampling by buffalo are likely to be

greater risks than an airplane into the San Onofre plant or a dirty bomb.

Pacific Basin tidal waves have killed thousands in the last few years.  I am

just back from a visit to Yellowstone where I watched an old bull bison

amble through a knot of tourists lining the road and taking pictures.



You didn't mention whether you detoured off I-15 into Yellowstone on your

way to Waterton/Glacier, but the Yellowstone caldera, with the Yellowstone

Hot Spot magma chamber a couple of miles down is probably the "hottest" spot

in the U.S. with respect to terrestrial radiation dose rate.



Best regards.



Jim Dukelow

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Richland, WA

jim.dukelow@pnl.gov



These comments are mine and have not been removed and/or approved by my

management and/or the U.S. Department of Energy.

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