[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Side of a volcano



At 10:21 05.08.1998 -0500, you wrote:
>Scott seems to have a point.
>
>The eruption of Mount St. Helens ejected ~4 cubic kilometers of ash and
>volatilized material, including ~3 million curies of radon, ~60000 curies
>of K-40, and ~3000 curies of Ra-226 into the atmosphere.
>~~~~~
>
---------------------------------------------------

I do not have the numbers at hand, but as far as I remember the emissions
from Chernobyl were higher by many orders of magnitude, and they were not
of the harmless kind like radon and K-40. Ra-226 is of course another
question, because this is by far more radiotoxic than any radionuclide
emitted from any nuclear power plant. I do not think that this reasoning
could be applied for a comparison. 

I do not know the actual situation and my comment is therefore only
directed to the comparison of emission from NPP and Mount St. Helen. 

Franz


Franz Schoenhofer
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1-495 53 08
Fax.: same number
mobile phone: +43-664-338 0 333
e-mail: schoenho@via.at

Office:
Federal Institute for Food Control and Research
Department of Radiochemistry
Kinderspitalg. 15
A-1095 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1-40 491 520
Fax.: +43-1-40 491 540
e-mail: schoenhofer@baluf.via.at
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html