Re: Article from Union Tribune

[Franz Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 09:52 03.09.1998 -0500, you wrote:
>Ok, ok, ok,
>So its not as balanced as perhaps I made it out to be.  But it isn't the
>grossly anti-nuke trash I'm used to.  It's not perfect by any means (the
>original article misspelled San in San Francisco as Sen for that matter)
>but it is a start.  We've recently been round and round about the media and
>deception, at least this reporter came to one of us for information as
>opposed to, say Caldicot, no? 
---------------------------------------------------------

I read the article and I can tell you, that I would be very happy if such a
report would appear in any Austrian newspaper. It is true that no numbers
were given and therefore no estimation of hazard is possible, but one
should keep in mind that the radionuclides of the uranium decay chain -
including Ra-226, Pb-210 and Po-210 - are extremely toxic and it is an
"open secret" at least to health physicists that their toxicity is higher
by some orders of magnitude than that of Pu-239. Moreover toxic heavy
metals can be a danger for both wildlife and human beings - maybe more than
the radionuclides.

But the whole story is remarkable also from another point of view: it is
the question of whether companies may exploit natural resources and after
having stopped the exploitation leave all the rubbish and s..t behind. Then
the government (i.e. the taxpayers) should pay for clean up. There must be
something wrong with a legislation which permits this. This is not only
applicable to questions of radioactive material, but as well to copper
mines etc. 

How should people who are possibly affected by these practices be convinced
that they should believe beforehand that everything is o.k.? I have not
found any data both in the article and in the comments on RADSAFE. It is
therefore not appropriate to critizise the article, without providing the
data which show that the "fear" induced to the population is not justified. 

It is a nice coincidence that I will fly next week to Utah and I sure will
return to the places mentioned where I had been before two times - can
anybody tell me the exact location of this pile?

I really do hope that I have not offended anybody, because it seems that
criticism of another ones opinion is at RADSAFE often regarded as an offence.

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
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