Re: Industry Event

["ALDEN N TSCHAECHE" <XAT@inel.gov>]

Hey Ron - Actually, all of us could be "playing" in 1000 dpm/100cm2
contamination right now and we'd never know it. The limit for total
contamination in the DOE family as stated in 10 CFR 835 and the Rad Con
Manual is 5000 dpm/100cm2. It is unlikely that the usual survey methods
generally used could even detect 1000 dpm/100cm2 total contamination on
items released for uncontrolled use. And no, I wouldn't mind if my
family lived, ate, played or whatever in such contamination for their
entire lives. From the health standpoint it wouldn't matter. Remember
the radium contaminated house in Pensylvania where millicuries of radium
was all over the porch where babies played? The babies suffered no ill
effects. Having said that, there are reasons other than health and
safety for not contaminating the world. Many industries wouldn't like
it. But it's NOT a health problem. We must stop putting radiation in a
special hazard class and  stop treating any radioactive atom as if it
really were deadly. Al Tschaeche xat@inel.gov

*** Reply to note of 03/20/96 21:29

From: ron kathren
To: RADSAFE --INELMAIL RADSAFE

Subject: Re: Industry Event
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

>     Haven't seen the article but have seen many like it before. The
>     problem with this nuclear hysteria is, that they never provide any
>     real information, such as, how much contamination, what was the extent
>     of the contamination, was anybody else contaminated due to having
>     contact with the tools, where was it found, how long was it in the
>     area before being identified as contaminated and was there any dose
>     associated with it. To put things in perspective from a nuclear power
>     plant perspective, an item is considered contaminated if there is 100
>     cpm above background, i.e., in our case, 1,000 dpm. While we don't
>     know the levels of contamination in this situation, 1,000 dpm is not
>     significant, becoming so only due to its association with a power
>     plant.
>
>     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
>
>
>