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Re: [cdn-nucl-l] Nuclear terrorism goes hand in hand with radiophobia,PBS feature stories - DIRTY BOMB - Feb. 25
Dear Jaro some comments:
"Experts have already learned from previous accidents about what to expect.
In Goianas, Brazil, in 1988, there was a radiation contamination incident
where a small quantity of radioactive cesium chloride brought in by scrap
metal merchants led to four deaths..."
a) Goianas, Brazil, in 1988 - Goiania, is Capital of State of Goias, 180 km
away from Brasilia, Capital of Brazil;
b) Accident happened in September 1987, not in 1988, see below comment;
c) Incident, we in Brazil follow the IAEA recommendation, so for us it was
an accident;
d) About to be a small quantity of radioactive cesium chloride, I think the
person was considering the mass and volume, not the activity:
Volume: 30 cubic cm; Mass: 93 g and Specific Activity 0.55 TBq/g (15.1 Ci/g)
See bellow comment about source's activity
"...and an enormous cleanup effort. Decontamination took six months and
generated an astonishing five thousand cubic meters of radioactive waste."
No, in fact decontamination took about 3 months since the early to the
recovery phases:
Time of the loss of control: 10 to 28 September - Notification was made to
Regulatory Authority by the Health Secretary of Goias State by 29, I
received such telephone call and two hours later was flying to Goiania for
evaluation and actions measures. Dawn 0.30h of September 30, I called the RA
Chairman asking to start urgent Mobilization.
Final Recovery Phase: November 13 to December 21
however, after the Accident a Group was transferred to Goiania to take care
of the Waste, and to create a Center for Control and Communication and
follow-up activities, as:
a) Monitoring the of the storage site and surroundings to demonstrate that
the safety was being maintained;
b) To stimulate research projects with universities and other with internal
scientific institutions;
I myself was designated to be in charge of this activity and I remain in
Goiania for about 4 years.
"and generated an astonishing five thousand cubic meters of radioactive wast
e."
The figure is 3,500 cubic meters of waste stored in more than 6,000
containers
During the last years, the waste from the accident was repackaged. Two
permanent repositories with an area of 1,600,000 m2 were built near the
temporary repository. The two repositories, in the form of two hills were
covered with grass, transformed into an environmental preservation was
reforested with typical species of the region and a laboratory of
radioecology and an information center on the accident and the repository
have been built. Today the Repository can be visited in programmed schedule.
"this is misleading. In fact the quantity of radioactive material was about
the largest any would-be terrorist could hope get their hands on."
Source's activity:
Above was commented the source's mass, and volume, now, in terms of
activity, at the time of the accident: 50.9 TBq (1375 Ci) of Cs-137
"Much worse than any "dirty bomb" attack."
I agree, I could give you many arguments -
a) The radiological Accident in Goiania was the most serious radiological
accident to have occurred to date;
b) The accident took the state by surprise and complete ignorance about
radiation
c) Through all the phases of the accident, including decontamination, 755
professionals (244 from CNEN –RA-) took part, this give you a dimension of
activities of all order, technical, medical, social and administrative
d) The radiological accident in Goiania ended 15 years ago, but many
technical, political, economic, social and psychological lessons still
remain to be analyzed and learned, lest any other similar accident take
place. (…and many have happened)
e) Goiania until now is the most important laboratory to learn and to
train, because it is a site where facts in fact had occurred and there until
now live there victims, personnel of press, … " it certainly did NOT "cost
billions, and potentially trillions, of dollars."
Of course no!!!
Last Remark:
Two important consideration in case of a source for a dirty bomb, as we can
observe
a) The small mass and volume of source;
b) The high activity
Jose Julio Rozental
joseroze@netvision.net.il
Israel
----- Original Message -----
From: Franta, Jaroslav
To: 'Jerry Cuttler' ; cdn-nucl-l (E-mail) ; ANS listserv (E-mail) ; Radsafe
(E-mail)
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 4:37 PM
Subject: RE: [cdn-nucl-l] Nuclear terrorism goes hand in hand with
radiophobia, PBS feature stories - DIRTY BOMB - Feb. 25
"Experts have already learned from previous accidents about what to expect.
In Goianas, Brazil, in 1988, there was a radiation contamination incident
where a small quantity of radioactive cesium chloride brought in by scrap
metal merchants led to four deaths and an enormous cleanup effort.
Decontamination took six months and generated an astonishing five thousand
cubic meters of radioactive waste."
....this is misleading. In fact the quantity of radioactive material was
about the largest any would-be terrorist could hope get their hands on.
Moreover, because there was no explosion and because of the ignorance of the
thieves in Goiania, the for deaths were simply the result of them
contaminating themselves severely with the pure substance, and not washing
off the contamination until it was discovered by others, days later. Much
worse than any "dirty bomb" attack.
Finally, while the Goiania decontamination work mentioned by NOVA may have
been "astonishing," it certainly did NOT "cost billions, and potentially
trillions, of dollars."
What we have here is "astonishing" propaganda !
Jaro
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