Re: Scientific responsibility

[BLHamrick@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 6/19/2003 6:41:13 AM Eastern Standard Time, liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM writes:



<< You mention the case of radwaste in a landfill.  To me, the reason for making the licensee recover the waste is as much to deter future mishaps and promote good practices as to minimize the risk from that incident.  Your argument is equivalent to saying that you shouldn't get a citation for running a 

red light, since there was no accident. >>



Just FYI - it is rarely "the licensee" that recovers wastes sent to a landfill.  In California, the vast majority of landfill alarms result from patient waste generated in the private residence of a patient that has recently undergone iodine therapy, though even technetium contaminated items have set alarms off on occasion.  There is usually no practical way to trace the "generator" (i.e., the patient).  Realistically, these wastes should simply be buried, once identified as a nuclear medicine isotope, without having to dig through the waste, but that practice is not universally accepted.



Barbara

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