Re: Anyone know about this?

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@yahoo.com>]

Would you consider this comparable to the rise of

detector systems at landfills about 10 years ago?  I

have not heard of any waste incidents recent.  Of

course, the public was not as concerned about medical

waste going into landfills as they are in terrorists

having nuclear weapons.





--- BLHamrick@aol.com wrote:



>  

> In a message dated 1/27/2005 7:27:52 A.M. Pacific

> Standard Time,  

> Jim_Hardeman@dnr.state.ga.us writes:

> 

> Sorry, I  don't buy the argument that this is OK,

> and that we couldn't have 

> done any  better. If we can't figure out a way to

> determine what's significant 

> and  what's not, we're going to run ourselves ragged

> chasing Tc-99m at 

> landfills  and causing large scale evacuations (and

> imposing financial burdens) for 

> "no  never mind" incidents ... essentially playing

> into the hands of those who  

> would use the general public's ignorance of all

> things radioactive as a 

> weapon  against us.

> 

> 

> 

> I agree.  This is an enormous problem for the

> radiation regulatory  

> community, and a significant expense for our federal

> and state taxpayers.   I am aware 

> of a number of "non-events" that have expended

> rather extraordinary  resources 

> in their wake, including the evacuation of a

> building in a major  

> metropolitan area, resulting from someone finding an

> exempt source, and other  similar 

> incidents.

>  

> If everyone and their brother is going to be issued

> radiation detection  

> instruments, then the national radiation protection

> community (including the  

> regulatory agencies) is (are) going to have to step

> up and set some standards  for 

> training people to use them correctly, training

> people to understand the  

> wide variety of sources that are being used legally

> and safely in the community,  

> and training people, most especially, on how to

> contact an "expert" to get 

> input  on whether or not there is really a hazard

> present.

>  

> We do not need to be calling out the FBI, DOE, NRC,

> EPA, and State  

> regulatory agencies every time a first responder

> with a new instrument discovers  that 

> radiation is all around us.

>  

> Barbara L. Hamrick

> 





=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"It doesn't matter whether you're riding an elephant or a donkey if you're going in the wrong direction."

Jesse Jackson





-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



__________________________________________________

Do You Yahoo!?

Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 

http://mail.yahoo.com 

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To

unsubscribe, send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the

text "unsubscribe radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail,

with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/