[ RadSafe ] statements by Lockheed Martin Corporation's employee Don Mercado

[James Salsman]

Don Mercado, who works for Lockheed Martin Corporation, which
sells weapons systems that use PGU-14/B armor piercing incendiary
30mm ordnance, proves that he is willing to suggest that uranium
is not pyrophoric, and therefore that he is unfamiliar with the
weapons that his employer manufactures.  He writes:

>... since my U powder and DU doesn't burst into flames, I'd
> trust  the MSDS first.

The U.S. Department of Energy's technical standard handbook,
"Primer on Spontaneous Heating and Pyrophoricity," states:

"Uranium in finely divided form is readily ignitable, and uranium scrap 
from machining operations is subject to spontaneous ignition.... 
Grinding dust has been known to ignite even under water, and fires have 
occurred spontaneously in drums of coarser scrap after prolonged 
exposure to moist air.... The pyrophoric characteristics of uranium are 
similar to those of plutonium except that uranium forms do not ignite as 
easily as those of plutonium. Both form pyrophoric oxides and hydrides."

-- http://www.eh.doe.gov/techstds/standard/hdbk1081/hbk1081e.html

Please see also:  http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/pgu-14.htm

Does Mr. Mercado's unfamiliarity with his own company's weapons
systems, along with his eagerness to suggest that uranium is not
pyrophoric, even though that property has been established for
more than a century, mean that he is also unqualified to be a
health professional working with uranium hazards?

Does it prove that Lockheed Martin Corporation employs health
professional personnel who are willing to deceive others about
Lockheed Martin Corporation's weapons systems in order to downplay
their health risk?  I see no reason why that fact is not entirely
proven by example.  I have other emails from Mr. Mercado, dated on
or about 12 April 2005, claiming directly that uranium is not
pyrophoric, and his response to my reply proving that it is.

What have the standards of professionalism in the U.S. come to?

Sincerely,
James Salsman