Re: Nova - Dirty Bombs - London Scenario question

["High Plains Drifter" <magna1@jps.net>]

PS:  The Washington, DC metro scenario, failed to point out that the

resultant dispersal of Cs 137 would likely result in long term doses less

than those incurred by workers in the nations capitol building down the

street.



Dean Chaney, CHP





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

From: "Stewart Farber" <farbersa@optonline.net>

To: "High Plains Drifter" <magna1@jps.net>; "Radsafe"

<radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 2:19 PM

Subject: Re: Nova - Dirty Bombs - London Scenario question





> Hi all:

>

> I listened to the NOVA "special" last night and found it remarkable how

> sensationalistic it was. It seemed their intent was to maximize public

panic if

> and when anyone sets off a bomb involving any amount of radioactivity, no

matter

> how trivial. For example, a stick of dynamite in a bucket of woodash

obtained

> from Northern Florida would disperse 300,000 picoCuries of Cs-137 [10 kg

of ash

> at 30,000 pCi/kg] or a total of about 11,000 Bq of Cs-137. If this were

done,

> would the authorities want to tear down London or New York because some of

it is

> contaminated to "above background" levels? I'm not being facetious.

Thousands of

> tons of radioactive woodash [with greatly elevated Cs-137 levels of on the

order

> of 20,000 pCi/kg ash] from wood burning power plants in New England are

being

> mixed with manure today and spread on organic farming coop fields with no

> concern. Laughable actually as to the disconnect between organic gardening

use of

> Cs-137 laden woodash and the hysteria about a dirty bomb's impact on a

wide area.

>

> The scenario NOVA dramatized last night involved a whole lot more Cs-137,

or a

> source with 74,000 GBq of Cs-137 [2000 Ci] as I recall them mentioning.

For a

> point source of Cs-137 this equates to about 6.6E6 R/hr at 1 cm. If the

> terrorists spent 1 hour at say 2 feet from this unshielded source [??? a

wag

> assumption] in fabricating the bomb and transporting it they would receive

about

> 7,000 R whole body.

>

> Does anyone on the list have any feel for how quickly a person would be

> incapacitated by receiving 7,000 to 10,000 R whole body?

>

> The exposure to the hands and fingers of these terrorists fabricating such

a bomb

> would have been much higher --perhaps 500,000 R for 10 minutes of handling

in

> fabrication. Would these terrorists even have been able to drive a few

hours

> after handling a 2,000 Ci Cs-137 source for the time it would take to

fabricate a

> bomb and transport it to the point of use??

>

> Stewart Farber, MSPH

>

>

> =======================

> 2/26/03 8:08:14 AM, High Plains Drifter <magna1@jps.net> wrote:

> >

> >  I watched the NOVA "Dirty Bomb" program Tuesday night and came away

with the

> >  following thoughts:

> >

> >

> >   *Technical details about post bomb explosion risks were fragmented and

> >    interspersed with statistical mumbo jumbo that left one with the

feeling

> >    that any amount of radiation is hazardous.

> >  Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more

>

>

>



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