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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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