[ RadSafe ] questions of honesty (was Re: WISE Uranium....)

[James Salsman]

> [Has everyone else] missed the blindingly obvious that you, with 
> limited amount of time to study via the internet and the library, 
> have managed to identify?

The taking up of oxygen by U3O8, "is not infrequently ignored."
(Gmelin Handbook, vol. U-C1 (1977), page 98.)

> I thought that [the ICRP and NRC] provided advice on the
> restriction of exposure to radiation - period.

42 U.S.C. 2114(a)(1) gives the NRC authority over both the
"radiological and non-radiological hazards" associated with
processing, possession, and transfer of depleted uranium:
http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sec_42_00002114----000-.html

> Can you tell me why you are lambasting the health physics
> profession for failing to regulate a non-radiological risk.

Sure, because it's a risk (often the largest) from the
materials that the health physics community has been placed
in charge of regulating.

I'm glad I'm not the only one worried about the tendency
to focus on radiological risks while ignoring larger
nonradiological risks.

> Also who insures the other 75% of nuclear power plants in
> use around the world?

Good question.

Sincerely,
James Salsman