RE: Thorium lens and TMI

["Weiner, Ruth" <rfweine@sandia.gov>]

Dear Bill,

Your story is one more bit of evidence that no one is ever made safer by
mitigating a perceived (rather than a documented) risk.  However, perhaps if
your Pennsylvania lady (or her children, if she had any) had, while in high
school or middle school, a demonstration, with a survey meter, of the
radioactivity present in ordinary materials, her fears might have been
better allayed.  A wonderful high school teacher in Santa Fe, Jay Shelton,
does many such surveys with his students.  I would suggest that such a
demonstration be part of the high school "general science" curriculum.

Clearly only my own opinion

Ruth F. Weiner, Ph. D.
Sandia National Laboratories 
MS 0718, POB 5800
Albuquerque, NM 87185-0718
505-844-4791; fax 505-844-0244
rfweine@sandia.gov


-----Original Message-----
From: FIELDRW@aol.com [mailto:FIELDRW@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, February 15, 1999 12:57 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Thorium lens and TMI


Laura,

Thorium is often used in lenses to reduce the dispersion of light.

It reminds me of a time long past when I was sampling around TMI after the
accident.  I received a call from a women who was convinced her home was
contaminated from TMI radiation.  I was quite surprised by her fears since
she
lived 20 miles from TMI.  Nonetheless, I agreed to survey her house and car.
I found no contamination.  I could not understand the source of her fear.

She then said, "but look at my camera".  She had dropped her camera in the
soil across the river from TMI.  She took it home and monitored it with a
newly purchased survey meter.  Sure enough the camera was radioactive.
Logic
told her the camera must be radioactive, because it fell in the soil near
TMI.
She was sure she had then contaminated her car and home with soil that had
dropped off her camera.  I showed her there was no removable contamination
from her camera.  I pointed out that she had bought a camera with a lens
that
contains radioactive materials.  Within the month, she had sold her car.
Within in a year, she moved from her beautiful home to another state.   She
sent the camera to a researcher at a university somewhere in Philadelphia
(perhaps a radsafer).

Eventhough I managed to convince her that TMI was not the source of the
radiation on her camera, she never got over her fear that her home and car
may
be contaminated.  Risk perception is indeed an intersting area of study..

Regards, Bill Field
University of Iowa
bill-field@uiowa.edu   
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html