Radioactivity - biofuels, peat.../"zero Bqs"

["Björn Cedervall" <bjorn_cedervall@hotmail.com>]

>Elis Holm and his collaborators from Lund have many years ago already
>published work done on the enrichment of Cs-137 in the paper and pulp
>industry due to the Chernobyl accident.
Elis Holm may be a coauthor on some of Robert's papers (or even
Robert's science advisor) - I am not sure but Robert Hedvall studied 
down there (Lund = university town in southern Sweden) previously.

>I remember, but cannot give details, that in some Scandinavian
>Country
>restrictions were laid on import of wood from certain former Sovjet
>countries, because of the high Cs-137 content.
Can't give details on that. Major concerns here have been reindeer meat 
and certain mushrooms. Some countries came up with a "zero Bq" limit 
(foods) after the Chernobyl accident. One green party politician in 
northern Sweden went at least 200 kilometers (120 miles) by car to buy 
"becquerel free milk" for her six children. She said in one interview 
(around 1987 - I still have it somewhere) that we must move away from 
nuclear power and switch of to clean forms of energy such
as sun, wind and electricity. Some people left the Chernobyl fallout 
areas north of Stockholm and moved to areas with high background 
(radon/gamma) radiation instead (that is - they increased their 
exposure).

Risk communication (that failed): In May 1986 I was testing some
whole-body counting chamber at Ringhals power plant (western Sweden)
-because a claustrophobian had refused to have the door closed on
a previous measurement. Now, some 400 Bq cesium (134 and 137) were found 
on me. I had made the mistake of keeping my jeans on. So I
took them off and we measured again - obtaining zero Bq cesium. Then
I communicated this to my mother (language teacher - she is usually
quite reasonable about facts and logic) and told her that if I kept
the jeans on day and night for a whole year - I would run a risk
that probably was similar to that of a few puffs on a cigarette.
She immediately called my girlfriend by that time and said "Bjorn
told me he had 400 whatever they were in his trousers" - and then the 
jeans went to a separate laundry washing. I had not even considered that 
(ALARA) - just realized that being a botany freak down on the ground to 
take pictures of flowering plants (in fallout areas north
of Stockholm) - it wasn't surprising. The major communication mistake in 
this case was probably to mention a number.

Clearly my own ideas that may not coincide with those of others.

bjorn_cedervall@hotmail.com

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