Re: What to do ? ? ?

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 8/11/2002 5:51:33 PM Mountain Daylight Time, 

lists@richardhess.com writes:



<< I joined this list within the last few months to try and learn more about 

 protecting myself--and more importantly my two boys ages (almost) 8 and 

 9--in case we were near a "dirty bomb" or someone dove a plane into San 

 Onofre and ruptured the containment vessel(s).



An airplane -- even an engine -- wouldn't penetrate a containment.  A friend 

of mine put ththe probability of this being tried very well:  "If the Sept. 

11 terrorists had wanted to target a nuclear plant, they would have targeted 

a nuclear plant.



The "dirty bomb" would most likely require cleanup, but it is hard to see how 

it would actually cause any health effects.  All of these putative health 

effects are based on the theory that there is no threshold for radiation 

damage, and that the cancer induced is derectly proportional to the radiation 

dose.  This theory has never nbeen verified experimentally, but the existence 

of thresholds is being seen more and more.  In other words, we don't know 

that there would be any health effects.

 



 I understand the difference between controlled, scientific testing and 

 journalistic sensationalism, but I also believe at least to some degree, 

 "where there's smoke there's fire."

Why?  

 

 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.

 

Neither I-5 nor I-90 go anywhere near Hanford or INEEL, if that's what the 

concern is.  I have driven that route many times, and I see no basis for the 

suggestion.



 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



Not surprising.  I would be surprised if you would get above background on 

the public highway that goes right through the Hanford reservation.    We 

couldn't get readings 10 meters from a known hot source.

 

 I realize the question is asked in good faith, but I will leave further 

responses to others.



RuthF. Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com

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