Re: Plutonium toxicity

[cooperc@teleport.com (Chuck Cooper)]

>Search a little harder -- try the US Transuranium and Uranium Registries
>Home page at www.beta.tricity.WSU.edu.

 That home page is actually www.tricity.wsu.edu/htmls/ustur.

But a REALLY REALLY great article on plutonium toxicity co-authored
by one of the members of this list and avalable online is:

http://www.llnl.gov/csts/publications/sutcliffe/
=================================================================
UCRL-JC-118825

A Perspective on the Dangers of
Plutonium

W. G. Sutcliffe, R. H. Condit, W. G. Mansfield, D. S. Myers, D. W. Layton, and
P. W. Murphy

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

April 14, 1995

Abstract

Following the seizure of 10 ounces of plutonium at the Munich airport in August
1994, some press accounts stated that terrorists could kill "hundreds of
thousands
of people" by introducing plutonium into a municipal water supply. In
response to
such incorrect and misleading statements, we describe the acute and long-term
health effects that can arise from ingesting or inhaling various amounts of
plutonium. Our estimates indicate that plutonium introduced into drinking water
supplies would produce a radiation dose much less than normal background, and
could kill only a very few people (by inducing cancers that might take years to
appear). We also estimate the (considerably greater) risks associated with the
inhalation of plutonium, clarifying press claims that "a tiny speck ... can
cause
lung cancer." We estimate the number of people that might die of cancer if
terrorists were to introduce plutonium into the atmosphere in a large city. This
paper provides a scientific perspective for evaluating possible terrorist
threats.
==================Snip===========Snip===============================

This is the article that ABC news should read IMHO and an excellent
example of web publishing. It should be viewed via a browser as the
mathmatical portions are inline gifs.




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