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RE: Disposal of Decontamination Waste post RDD
I haven't found FAS to be a source of much that could be described as
"information" on this issue. Might as well call Greenpeace.
What distresses me most about this matter, is our national inability to
engage in rational war-planning. We are at war, right? At least the
president has declared us to be at war on terrorism. (The fact that only
congress can declare war doesn't seem to bother many people, so I'll pass
over that. But if congress is going to intercede on anything that's where
they need to start.) So if we are at war, how can we allow ourselves to be
so tied up in knots about dirty bombs? We all know that no one is going to
die from the radiological impact of a dirty bomb. In war lots of people
die. Those that survive long enough to develop cancer are actually
fortunate. Maybe someone will receive an intake that will elevate the
probability of developing a cancer from 30.0% to 30.1% - so what? That's
why groups like FAS refer to these things as "weapons of mass disruption"
(catchy). But of course, any panic and disruption that might follow from
deployment of such a device would be wholly self-inflicted. Can a nation at
war afford to be so squeamishly self-indulgent? By proclaiming to the world
that a dirty bomb will create billions of dollars of economic disruption, we
are essentially promising our enemies that we will soil our pants whenever
they decide to yell "BANG!" What kind of a way is that to run a war? How
could the citizens of London have held out under the blitz if Churchill had
run around wringing his hands about the economic disruption the Nazi bombs
were causing? Shouldn't someone be exhorting the American people to rise to
the challenge facing them: courage, perseverance and sacrifice (blood, sweat
and tears.)
As radiation professionals, we should be doing our utmost to diffuse the
scare mongering about dirty bombs - that includes those of us working for
the NRC and other government agencies involved in planning for radiological
incidents. Yes, a dirty bomb will make a mess - but that's more like
vandalism than terrorism. We should discourage the notion that dirty bombs
pose a meaningful threat to our national security, and allow the
war-planning apparatus to focus on real dangers.
Clayton J. Bradt, CHP
Principal Radiophysicist
NYS Dept. of Labor
Radiological Health Unit
voice: (518) 457-1202
fax: (518) 485-7406
e-mail: Clayton.Bradt@labor.state.ny.us
-----Original Message-----
From: Gerry Blackwood [mailto:gpblackwood@justice.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 6:15 PM
To: WBrunkowConsult@AOL.COM
Cc: lboing@ANL.GOV; Clayton.Bradt@LABOR.STATE.NY.US;
radsafe-digest@list.vanderbilt.edu; Timothy.ake@framatome-anp.com;
c.p.pietsch@att.net; Ragovers@cs.com; WesProctor@AOL.COM;
Rahim_Ghanooni@YMP.GOV; bjmannpe@AOL.COM; nochar@in.net
Subject: Re: Disposal of Decontamination Waste post RDD
Again, Congress would have to interceed and curtail the
current EPA Cleanup criteria otherwise the about of
debrie we are talking about would be enormous. Moreover
instead of wait for the event to happen. Congress needs
to enact new regulations concerning this now otherwise
we will have a debate after the event in which would
not help anyone.
This link is an excellent source of information
http://www.fas.org/faspir/2002/v55n2/v55n2.pdf
Gerry Blackwood Ph.D
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