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RE: AW: AW: Food Irradiation Alert - Sierra Club of Canada
Radsafers:
A couple of experimental shipboard irradiators were made by Brookhaven back in the '60's. One now resides at the U of Nebraska-Lincoln, and I believe the other is in South America. Designed to test the efficacy of shipboard irradiation, the irradiator chambers were small - only two fish at a time. It weighs about 26,000 lbs. and was initially loaded with 28,000 Ci of Co-60. I have a picture of it that I could scan if anyone is interested.
I worked on a commercial fishing boat in Alaska, and I know the problems associated with getting the fish to market quickly and/or freshly (I also learned that it is too dangerous a job for my liking). When I happened upon the shipboard irradiator at Nebraska, I was fascinated and researched its history. Adding to my fascination was the coincidence that I knew the ship which carried the irradiator - a U of Washington research vessel. The ship was moored about 500 yards from my father's boat. From the studies I read, the irradiator worked quite well to preserve fish.
Incidentally, the U of Washington Fisheries Department was experimenting with low dose irradiation of fish (salmon) eggs about the same time. The studies from these experiments indicated a positive effect on the number of hatchlings and size of fish returning to spawning grounds.
An irradiator on a ship? Yes. Understand that they would not put an irradiator on every fishing boat. They would put it on the tender boat, which collects fish from many fishing boats. Today's tender boats are often processing plants as well as storage/transport vehicles. They are huge ships, and could accept an irradiator without any trouble - at least in respect to weight. Of course there are radiological considerations for the crew, but that's another discourse.
The curious question that I have is: would fish irradiation increase, decrease, or make no difference to the total number of fish caught? As fishing grounds are being over-fished, this question is vital. Irradiation may be a small solution or could add to the problem of over-fishing.
Larry Grimm, Senior HP
UCLA EH&S/ Radiation Safety Division
* lgrimm@admin.ucla.edu Phone:310/206-0712 Fax: 310/206-9051
Cell: 310/863-5556 Pager:1-800-233-7231ext93569
* On Campus: 501 Westwood Plaza, 4th Floor, MS 951605
* Off Campus: UCLA Radiation Safety Div, 501 Westwood Plaza 4th
Fl, Box 951605, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1605
* If this email is not RSD business, the opinions are mine, not
UCLA's.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ted de Castro [mailto:tdc@XRAYTED.COM]
Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 9:40 AM
To: BERNARD L COHEN
Cc: Franz Schoenhofer; Richard L. Hess; BLHamrick@AOL.COM;
RuthWeiner@AOL.COM; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: Re: AW: AW: Food Irradiation Alert - Sierra Club of Canada
BERNARD L COHEN wrote:
> --Fishing boats could remain at sea much longer if they would
> avoid spoilage of their catch by irradiation.
>
I don't think very large sources on fishing boats is such a good idea
and I don't think they have the power for an accelerator and the
shielding weight would lessen the amount of fish they could carry
safely. Not to mention the ease if hijacking a boat with a large source
on the open seas!
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