[ RadSafe ] NRC depleted uranium pre-petition review conference impressions

[James Salsman]

My Nuclear Regulatory Commission 10 CFR 2.206 pre-petition review
board teleconference was today.  It went far better than I hoped.
Several NRC officials recognized the most serious problems, and a
few pointed out some that I had not mentioned previously.  The
military licensees were on the conference call, and none of them
raised any serious objections.  The transcript will be available
soon, and I will send the URL as soon as I have reviewed it.

Not only was I able to make what I think was a persuasive case,
but one of the Division of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards
health physicists asked me some very difficult questions about the
current NRC regulations for uranium, and I was able not only to
answer him (in email), but I uncovered several serious flaws in
the current NRC regulations for uranium limits.  Please see:
   http://www.bovik.org/du/du-petition.html#app-b
Apparently, the NRC inherited those regulations, and the problems
with them that I have pointed out, from the International Commission
on Radiological Protection (ICRP.)

I hope that the NRC, ICRP, the U.S. military, and related
authorities will soon base their standards of acceptable exposure
to uranium on reproductive toxicity instead of just acute kidney
failure.

Sincerely,
James Salsman