[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re[2]: Industry Event
I agree totally. My opinion had more to do about "what" is not
included in a press release than the fact that the incident might have
no consequence at all. While I understand that no press release will
contain all the scientific information to facilitate a thorough
understanding of an event, it would be prudent for the report to
include the extent of and how much of what is being discussed, to be
reported. Your point Ron, that the contamination might be Pu is pretty
much what I was referring to. Was the contamination Pu, which we would
expect not to be the case, or was it Co-58, Co-60, etc. That
information is needed to determine potential consequences. Was it
fixed or removable contamination would be of interest as well.
So, I believe we both agree. Any contaminated materials do not belong
outside of a protected and controlled environment. The fact that
something does get out has more to do with the monitoring program and
the controls in place to ensure that contaminated materials are not
free-released. The fact that it does get released can not
automatically be correlated to a significant risk. That is determined
based on the particulars of the contamination.
Sandy Perle
Supervisor Health Physics
Florida Power and Light Company
Nuclear Division
(407) 694-4219 Office
(407) 694-3706 Fax
sandy_perle@email.fpl.com
HomePage: http://www.lookup.com/homepages/54398/home.html
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Industry Event
Author: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu at Internet-Mail
Date: 3/20/96 10:22 PM
Sandy --
It's all in how you look at things; presumably you mean 1000 dpm/100 square
cm. Let me ask the question: would you want your children (or newly
pregnant wife, for that matter) playing in an area with that level of
contamination (especially if it's Pu -- I know, I know, power plants are
concerned with beta activity!)? That level of contamination over a wide
area might be of concern; if confined to a small area might be
insignificant. The problem is somewhat more complex, I think, than you suggest.
Cheers,
Ron Kathren