Re: Repost - Radwaste stored under school

["J. J. Rozental" <josrozen@netmedia.net.il>]

At 18.41 12-01-97 -0600, you wrote:
>It seems that my post earlier did not have the text part of the 
>article. I do not know why that happened. Here is the article I 
>"posted" earlier...
>
>HONG KONG, Jan. 12  - Hong Kong has put off plans to move a
>radioactive waste dump that sits below a school and a convalescent
>home for tuberculosis patients. 
> The South China Morning Post reports Sunday it will take at least
>another 18 months to move the low-level radioactive waste to a new
>facility being built on a nearby deserted island. 
> Currently the radioactive materials are sitting in a tunnel that was
> built during World War II as an air raid shelter. The tunnel is
>located in Hong Kong's downtown Wan Chai (``WAHN CHIGH'') district,
>directly below both the Wah Yan College and the Freni Memorial
>Convalescent Home. 
> It is filled with metal drums containing radioactive waste from the
>manufacture of luminous watch dials, smoke detectors and other
>low-level waste. 
> The city's Civil Engineering Department ruled the site unsafe in 1992
>  and ordered it relined. Meanwhile, construction delays have hit the
>new $8-million radioactive waste dump being built on Siu A Chau
>(``SHOO-ah- CHOW'') island. 
> Officials say it will be at least another year and a half before the
> new facility is opened. 
>
>Sandy Perle
>Director, Technical Operations
>ICN Dosimetry Division
>Office: (800) 548-5100 Ext. 2306 
>Fax: (714) 668-3149
>
>E-Mail: sandyfl@ix.netcom.com    
>
>Personal Homepages:
>
>http://www.netcom.com/~sandyfl/home.html
>http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1205
>
>

======================

Probably the radwaste is from  Ra-226?...Until the late 1940s no
radionuclide other than radium was available. When particle accelators and
research reactors became widely available, during the 1950s, sources with
many different radiation characteristics could be produced....considering
the location: directly below both the Wah Yan College and the Freni Memorial
Convalescent Home,  the solution is not so ease... 

J.J. Rozental <josrozen@netmedia.net.il>
Consultant, Radiation Safety & Regulation
For developing countries
Israel