Atomic Rocket Trivia

[VERNIG.PETER@FORUM.VA.GOV]

And I reall do mean trivia.
 
In about 1983 I worked for a consulting company that provided Safety,
HP, and IH Services to NASA's Ames REsearch Center in Mt. View Calif.
I was asked to survey and investigate a bunch [10-20] of big 
[say 20 by 100 ft] high presure tanks by the side of a runway.  SASA
Ames was colocated by Moffett Naval Air Station [I heard it was closed].
 
The story was that the tanks had been shipped from Nevada and the
"Atomic Rocket" program to be used for compressed air in one of the many
wind tunnels at NASA Ames.  In high pressure work you want to be real
confident about the quality of your componants.  The story that after
the tanks had arrived there was a discussion about there suitability and
it was decided not to use them.  It supposedly did not have to do with
the fact that they were radioactive, presumably from neutron activation
of the cobalt alloy componant.  Anyway they had been deposited by the side
of a runway.
 
I found that they were in fact, radioactive.  As I recall they gave off
as much as 1 or 2 mR/hr in spots, but were not at all uniform in radiation.
There was a discussion about whether they needed to be on Ames' materials
license [that may have precipitated the interest in them].  They had
been there for 10 or 12 years or more as I recall.  There was a common 
confussion over exempt status, that is they had been shipped as exempt
probably "Low Specific Activity" and many people seem to think exempt is
exempt.  But exemption from some shipping requirements does not mean from
NRC regulation, necessarilly.  I'm not sure what the result was.  They may
well have qualified for the low specific activity exemption in NRC regs.
I pressume they are sitting there today.
 
Peter G. Vernig, VA Medical Center, Denver
vernig.peter@forum.va.gov