Spanish emission of cesium 137

["Tony LaMastra" <alamastra@enter.net>]

I have been away, but remember seeing some initial postings about
detectable levels of cesium 137 in several European countries that appeared
to have originated in Spain.   The initial conjecture was that it was from
a steel plant that melted a source.   Has anything more been discovered?  
Has anyone tried to calculate the initial activity that would be needed to
create detectable air concentrations throughout  Europe?   Not knowing the
concentrations found, I have not tried to do any calculations, but it seems
that the initial activity would have to be in the hundreds to kilocurie
range.   Also, most steel plants in the more advanced countries have pretty
decent pollution control systems.   I have a difficult time imagining that
there was no dust collection system in place.   It is possible that it was
bypassed.   However, if one was in place and operating, it would mean that
there is several thousand pounds of highly contaminated dust - even if the
system was only 50% efficient (modern ones have a much higher collection
efficiency).   This would present a serious personnel hazard from both
external exposure and potential internal deposition to plant workers.  If
it was a kilocurie source, it would have likely been in an irradiator or
other large source housing.   It is inconceivable to believe a steel plant
would have charged an intact irradiator or other very large source housing,
unless the shielding was steel.   If the shielding was non-ferromagnetic
(lead, tungsten), covered in a steel shell, the surface area for the mass
would not have been sufficient to allow a magnet to pick the source housing
up.   If a grapple was used, I would think the mass for the volume would
have caused suspicion that the object was not totally steel.   If the
source capsule was out of its shielding, there are people who have been
irradiated to some high doses.   This could be of the same magnitude as the
Goiana incident.   Something doesn't seem right!   


Tony LaMastra
alamastra@enter.net