Radiation Exp. on Aircraft

[rcmannix <rcmannix@uci.edu>]

There is an interesting story on the CNN Home Page (cnn.com) 
today (Sunday, 6/22).

Apparently, passengers aboard a KLM flight were exposed to "excessive 
amounts of nuclear radiation". The KLM plane was transporting technetium 
generators. Upon landing in London, an inspector from the National 
Radiological Protection Board found that one of the packaged generators 
read beyond the maximum of 10 mSv/hr.

"Government investigators" said that individuals seated in rows 6 and 7 
of the aircraft may have received a dose of 1 mSv -- "an acceptable 
annual dose".

A KLM spokesman indicated that the passengers "...were exposed to no 
higher than the radiation from a routine x-ray in the hospital". The 
spokesman was speaking with the "customary anonymity".

Rick Mannix
Univ. of Cal., Irvine
rcmannix@uci.edu