RE: Radiation Leaks at Russian Research Center

["Jim F. Herrold" <Herrold@UWyo.Edu>]

Even the Laramie Daily Boomerang (our local paper) carried a front-page
blurb about this from the AP service. It said a Russian Physicist was
struck by a beam of "radioactive neutrons." I had to chuckle. My wife
didn't know what was so funny, so I had to go into the explanation
"...well, neutrons are a form of radiation, but the particles themselves
aren't 'radioactive.'...You see, radioactivity is the spontaneous
disintegration of unstable atoms... oh, never mind."

No wonder Health Physicists have a communication problem.

>----------
>From: 	Sandy Perle[SMTP:sandyfl@ix.netcom.com]
>Sent: 	Tuesday, June 17, 1997 9:08 PM
>To: 	Multiple recipients of list
>Subject: 	Radiation Leaks at Russian Research Center
>
>I normally do NOT post these news articles anymore, posting them to 
>my news distribution list. However, I feel this is an informative 
>article, and, am posting it to the forum.
>
>--------------------------
>Tuesday June 17 10:50 AM EDT 
>
>Radiation Leaks at Russian Research Center
>
>MOSCOW (Reuter) - A radiation leak at a Russian research center that
>makes nuclear weapons badly injured a worker Tuesday, the Nuclear
>Energy ministry said. 
>
>The Communist Party said its leader Gennady Zyuganov had been touring
>the center at the time and had to cut short his visit. 
>
>The ministry denied anyone had been evacuated apart from the victim
>and said radiation levels outside the room where he was working were
>normal, but a spokeswoman for the emergencies ministry said the area
>nearby had been cleared. 
>
>"At 10:50 on June 17, a serious violation of regulations in one of the
>pieces of equipment in section number eight of Arzamas-16, caused an
>irregular radiation situation involving the emission of neutron rays,"
>it said in a statement. 
>
>"One man who worked there, he was taken to the local clinic," ministry
>spokesman Vitaly Nosonov said by telephone. "He's not in a good way.
>He received a pretty big dose, a high dose and a high dose is 600
>roentgen." 
>
>"As for the rest, given that there is a certain level of radiation in
>the room, they are now de-contaminating it and a commission has left
>(Moscow) which will deal with this issue," Nosonov added, saying he
>did not know what caused the incident. 
>
>The statement said radiation levels outside the room and in the town,
>which is about 30 miles from Nizhny Novgorod on the Volga River, were
>normal. 
>
>A spokeswoman for the authorities in Nizhny Novgorod said she had not
>heard about the incident. 
>
>At Communist Party headquarters in Moscow, an official said Zyuganov
>had been campaigning at Arzamas on behalf of a local candidate for a
>June 29 gubernatorial election in Nizhny Novgorod, 220 miles from
>Moscow. 
>
>"He was in Arzamas-16, not far from the site of the incident and he
>was asked to leave the town, cutting off his visit, which he did," he
>said. 
>
>An official working for State Atomic Inspectorate said the plant was
>not under its control since it was a mainly military research center,
>one of two in Russia which designs and builds nuclear weapons. 
>
>The town, closed to foreigners, has a population of about 80,000.
>"There was no evacuation of the city as a whole, there was a partial
>evacuation of the center itself," the emergencies ministry spokeswoman
>said. 
>
>------------------
>Sandy Perle
>Technical Director
>ICN Dosimetry Division
>Costa Mesa, CA 92626
>Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
>Fax:    (714) 668-3149
>  
>mailto:sandyfl@ix.netcom.com
>mailto:sperle@icnpharm.com
>
>Personal Homepages:
>http://www.netcom.com/~sandyfl/home.html (primary)
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>
>"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
>the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
>              - G. K. Chesterton -
>