Atomic Reindeer

["Mike Bohan" <mike.bohan@yale.edu>]

Hi RadSafers:

Since we've been having a lot of talk regarding Atomic Animals, I would like to bring to your attention a piece which ran on PBS last week on January 21st.  

PBS runs a show called "Scientific American Frontiers" which featured a number of Nordic Sagas.  The primary piece among about 3 or 4 stories was about the radioactive reindeer of Norway.  The host of the show is Alan Alda and he visited a family who depend upon the reindeer harvest for their livelihood.  They reiterated the Chornobyl accident and showed how the plume traveled towards Norway.  They showed them roping the reindeer to brand the new members and surveying the reindeer to see how radioactive they were.  They also showed a large truck which periodically pulls up to perform whole body surveys of the populace.  They counted Mr. Alda who made a lot of typical nervous radiation quips and then assured him that he had no trace of Cs-137.  They then surveyed a little girl who was born just before Chernobyl and said they found some evidence of Cs-137 but that it was very low.  The piece concluded that while radioactive contamination was present, the effects were not a bad as was originally feared.

I was cringing, waiting for the usual hyped conclusion, but was pleasantly surprised by the balanced conclusion.  PBS has a short movie clip on their web site at http://www.pbs.org/saf/1_season/1583_803mov.html.  Although, I didn't have the right plugin to view it.

Cheers,
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Michael J. Bohan, RSO   |  e-mail: mike.bohan@yale.edu
Yale-New Haven Hospital |    Tele: (203) 785-2950
Radiological Physics    |     FAX: (203) 737-4252
20 York St. - WWW 204   |    As usual, everything I say may be plausibly
New Haven, CT    06504  |    denied at my employer's convenience ...
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