Re: Lochbaum's bio - yo susan g

[Steven Dapra <sjd@swcp.com>]

Feb. 23



Norm:



	Can you tell us anything about 'inherent danger' and the Chernobyl

"reactor cloud"?



	Did you read Jim Hoerner's posting that landed on RADSAFE early Sunday

morning (the 23rd)?  A portion of it is between the dashes.



-------------



	New fuel rods, about 12 feet long and about the same diameter as pencil 

erasers, are not radioactive in the same way as used fuel. Holding them 

would result in a mild sunburn, said David A. Lochbaum, a nuclear

safety engineer for the Union of Concerned Scientists.



[ False.  The dose rate at the surface of a UO2 assembly is on the

order of 0.25 millirem/hr (1).  It takes on the order of 300 Rem

*acute* dose to cause erythema (2).  Not to mention that nuclear plant

workers are limited to 5 REM per year unless they are protecting life

or property.



--------------



	If -- as Lochbaum's UCS biography claims -- he is a nuclear "safety"

engineer, why doesn't he know the degree of safety that is entailed in

holding a fuel rod?



	Come on, Norm, something is out of whack here.  That should be obvious by

now.



Steven Dapra

sjd@swcp.com





************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/