LNT&Sv summary

["H.Wade Patterson" <hwade@talltown.com>]

Radsafe Group:

Here's my summary of the recent threads on the LNT and the SV.

1. Many people believe that the risk of deleterious effects from
exposure to small doses of radiation is mythical *. For example, the
Health Physics Society's position is that, " Below 10 rem (which
includes occupational and environmental exposures), risks of health
effects are either too small to be observed or are non-existent."
Further, in Judge Sylvia Rambo's decision of summary judgment against
the plaintiffs (for the defense) in the TMI class action lawsuit she
dismissed expert testimony of the plaintiffs because they could not
demonstrate harm at levels below 10 rem.

2. If the risks are mythical, then the units used to quantify and
estimate them are also mythical.

3. Thus, Sv are mythical units, used to measure mythical effects, and
the unit should be abandoned.

4. Neither the Sv (nor the Gy) can be measured without either, a
physical measurement to determine, or foreknowledge of, the components
of the radiation field. Further, it is patently absurd to define both
the Sv and the Gy to be equal to 1 joule/kilogram.

5. To estimate and quantify radiation effects, for purposes of radiation
protection, one should only use physical units such as the flux
(fluence) and the energy spectrum.

* fabricated, invented, or imagined in a consciously arbitrary way or
ignorantly and willfully without facts or in defiance of facts.


-- 
H.Wade Patterson
1116 Linda Lane
Lakeview OR 97630
ph 541 947-4974