RE: Nova - Dirty Bombs - Who is their expert - FYI

[Doug Aitken <daitken@sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com>]

At 09:34 AM 2/26/2003 -0800, you wrote:

> I
>
> have problems with several points made or that were omitted from the NOVA
>
> show.


A direct inaccuracy I picked up was their comparison of the

"Subway scenario" with the Goiânia incident. The scenario was

using a source from a commercial densitometer (typically much less than

one curie of cesium: the strongest fluid densitometer used in

Schlumberger is a 200 millicurie source - 7.4 GBq), and mixing the

radioactive material with a small firework and setting it off in a

subway, where the trains and forced ventilation would cause contamination

of a similar order to that in Brazil. They claimed the contamination and

healthe effects would be about the same as the "sources were about

the same strength (I think my memory is right, as i jumped when I heard

it!)


As the cesium source in the Goiânia incident was over 1300 curies (28 g

of cesium chloride and 65 g of inert material, giving ~2000 Ci when

fabricated, estimated at 19 gm cesium left at the time of the

incident...), there is obviously an enormous difference of scale!


It is a shame that the program tended to skew the perspective towards the

"uncontrollable disaster" side of the argument. But that is

what makes news........





Doug

Aitken

     

        

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