No Subject

[jack_topper@CCMAIL.lbl.gov]

     Mark,
     
     I saw your post on RADSAFE this morning.  Your comment about Sydney 
     and reactors jogged my memory a bit.  Some - actually, 25 - years ago, 
     our ship was denied access to Australian ports, if I remember 
     correctly, because we were nuclear powered.  Did/does Australia have a 
     "no nukes" policy?  If so, to what extent?  Just curious about that.
     
     Anyway, some examples of disaster preparedness issues might be:
     
     Loss of control of medical treatment irradiators - such as the one 
     donated some years ago to a hospital in Mexico, which was subsequently 
     sold to the scrap yard, dis-mantled and melted down;  it resulted in 
     Co-60 pellets scattered all over the place, significant radiation 
     injury to a some folks and a couple of deaths, if memory serves;
     
     or responding to lost sources from industrial X-ray devices;  some of 
     the worst accidents in the history of radiation emitting devices are 
     caused by the use/mis-use of these devices;
     
     or fires occuring in hospitals or research laboratories where sealed 
     and/or unsealed isotopes are used;
     
     or transportation accidents involving radioactive materials shipments;
     
     or unplanned re-entry of nuclear powered satellites such as the one 
     that landed in Canada or the recent near miss you experienced down 
     under which, unless I miss my guess, is what drove your RADSAFE post.
     
     Of course, none of these examples is likely to have far-reaching or 
     truly disastrous results for you folks, but without any reactors, you 
     just don't have all that much to work with.
     
     Then again, you could always get ready for World War III...<grin>
     
     Standard disclaimers.
     
     
     Jack Topper
     Radiation Assessment Group
     Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
     jdtopper@lbl.gov