Re: Contaminated Crates?

[Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 12:31 20.02.1997 -0600, you wrote:
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>A  citizen who moved here from Ukraine 5 years ago has a concern. Seems she 
>has discovered the wooden crates she used to ship her personal belongings in 
>were made from trees harvested from the areas close to Chernobyl. I'm not 
>sure how she knows this but she seems pretty sure.
>
>Her question is should she be concerned about continuing to use these 
>crates. I'd be interested to hear what everyone thinks about this. Also, if 
>anyone can recommend any studies/articles related to this specific topic 
>(not Chernobyl in general) I'd be grateful. Thanks
>
>Dwayne Gardner
>CT DEP
>dwayne.gardner@po.state.ct.us
>Fax: 860-424-4065
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I do not take into account the question of radiophobia, though I think I
should. 
Even if these crates would be contaminated by Cs-137 to an incredible
concentration, the question still is, what happens to the things contained
in the crates. They would only be sterilized (sorry, now my sarcasm breaks
through). 

Take a dose rate meter to find out about the dose rates at different
distances from the crates. Put the crates or part of it on your germanium
detectors to determine the concentration of Cs-137.

To my experience persons putting forward these concerns lost their fears,
when they were informed about the costs of these analyses.

Franz
Schoenhofer
Habichergasse 31/7
A-1160 WIEN
AUSTRIA/EUROPE
Tel./Fax:	+43-1-4955308
Tel.:		+43-664-3380333
e-mail:		schoenho@via.at