RE: Radiation from an A-bomb

[Jack_Earley@RL.GOV]

I responded to Kai off-list with actual (limited) experiential information.

But for the record, Kai's e-mail address could have been used by anybody, as

could any of ours. If you've been a recipient of classified information in

the past, assume it still is unless you know otherwise and that you have the

same responsibility now that you had when you received it.



Jack Earley

Radiological Engineer





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

From: William Stewart [mailto:william.stewart@usask.ca]

Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 6:32 AM

To: 'Kai Kaletsch'; RadSafe

Subject: RE: Radiation from an A-bomb





I can vouch for Kai.  I worked with Kai for three years with Cogema 

Resources Inc. and he has been an active presenter and participant with the 

CRPA.  I find it interesting that we were able to have a three week 

discussion about the proper and most effective ways to detonate a dirty 

bomb but are unsupportive to someone who is looking to develop 

instrumentation to help prevent the same.



2 cents or less depending on dollar values today. :-)



William Stewart

Radiation Safety Manager

University of Saskatchewan

306-966-8494



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

From:	Kai Kaletsch [SMTP:info@eic.nu]

Sent:	Friday, August 16, 2002 10:14 AM

To:	RadSafe

Subject:	Re: Radiation from an A-bomb



Thank you to those that have replied.



I have also gotten a few replies off list. One off-list responder suggested 

that I was an al Queda operative preparing for some kind of attack and my 

email address is a meaningless indicator of my location. Perhaps a 

clarification is in order:



I have to admit that, compared to the above scenario, I live a fairly 

boring life. I am an instrument manufacturer and distributor, located in 

Canada. My Email address and our website ends in .nu, because when we 

incorporated Environmental Instruments Canada (EIC) all the good .com names 

were already taken and, at the time, you had to jump through a lot of hoops 

to get a .ca name (they have changed that system since). Getting a .nu name 

(the top level domain for Niue) has the added benefit that I can tell 

people the nu stands for nuclear.



This morning I got a phone call from someone who said he was from the 

coastguard  (would have been the east coast, judging by the time of day he 

called) and wanted to know if the GammaMaster, which is a product that we 

distribute but do not manufacture (see http://www.gammawatch.com ), would 

detect "weapons grade material". Being quite possibly the world's worst 

salesman, I said "no". Afterwards, I was going to calculate the dose rate, 

but it would require a bunch of assumptions: amount of Pu, impurities, age 

of the material and I figured that someone would have measurements.



If I really was an al Queda operative in possession of an A-bomb, why would 

I not just measure the dose rate, rather than posting the question on a 

list? The last time I checked, it was the A-bomb which is the restricted 

material, not the Geiger counter.



I think it is a bad idea to consider the dose rate from a controlled 

substance as top secret. How are companies, airports etc supposed to decide 

what instrumentation they should get to protect themselves from the 

controlled substance?



Kai

http://www.eic.nu

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

  From: Kai Kaletsch

  To: RadSafe

  Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 6:46 AM

  Subject: Radiation from an A-bomb





  Friends,



  Does anyone have measurements of gamma and neutron fields associated with 

an (unexploded) A-bomb?



  Will your average Geiger counter detect a "suitcase bomb"? What should be 

used to detect one?



  [Got a call this morning about this and couldn't answer it.]



  Thanks,

  Kai

  http://www.eic.nu

 << File: ATT00008.html >> 



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