RE: Contamination on WIPP waste container

["Reynolds, Harold" <harold.reynolds@rfets.gov>]

Correction -not lead 212 which is a beta emitter but bismuth 212.  Brain
burp!!

Harry
Harold.ReynoldsA RFETS.gov

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Reynolds, Harold [SMTP:Harold.Reynolds@exchange.rfets.gov]
> Sent:	Monday, June 28, 1999 4:11 PM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	RE: Contamination on WIPP waste container
> 
> My guess it that it is Pb-212 from coal plant emissions along the route.
> 
> Harry
> Harold.Reynolds@RFETS.gov
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Glen.Vickers%ucm.com@inet.rfets.gov
> > [SMTP:Glen.Vickers%ucm.com@inet.rfets.gov]
> > Sent:	Monday, June 28, 1999 2:33 PM
> > To:	Multiple recipients of list
> > Subject:	RE: Contamination on WIPP waste container
> > 
> > What are they surveying with?  Alpha proportional count of smears?  What
> > is
> > a "minute amount"?  How was the contamination reported?  I've never
> heard
> > naturally occurring alpha problems with commercial nuclear transport
> > casks.
> > Commercial casks probably travel 1E4 mi/yr with average distances of
> 600+
> > miles/trip.  I hope they're not looking for 1 dpm above a blank count.
> > 
> > Sincerely,
> > Glen Vickers
> > glen.vickers@ucm.com
> > 
> > 
> >  
> > 	-----Original Message-----
> > 	From:	Susan Gawarecki [SMTP:loc@icx.net]
> > 	Sent:	Monday, June 28, 1999 10:04 AM
> > 	To:	Multiple recipients of list
> > 	Subject:	Contamination on WIPP waste container
> > 
> > 	It seems to me that the anti-WIPP faction would like to make a big
> > deal
> > 	of something that is likely of natural origin and is far below any
> > 	levels of concern anyway.  Carlsbad, NM, received tens of millions
> > of
> > 	dollars to do background studies of the WIPP region and its people
> > 	(through environmental monitoring and the "lie down and be counted"
> > 	campaign), but they seem to have overlooked what might adhere to the
> > 	outside of containers.  Since the TRUPAKs have traveled all over the
> > 	country, you'd think they could have done some baseline scans on
> > them. 
> > 	I know that plastic hard hats and polyester/nylon clothing will
> > attract
> > 	radon; if the paint on the waste containers is a plastic-based
> > paint,
> > 	perhaps it too would be susceptible.  Has anyone else looked at this
> > 	possibility?  The degree of risk is so laughably small, it's a shame
> > to
> > 	waste resources on it, but the public perception factor gives it
> > undue
> > 	weight.
> > 
> > 	My own opinion,
> > 	Susan Gawarecki
> > 
> > 	>- (NEW MEXICO) -- DOE officials have revised their  explanation
> > 	>of how a minute amount of radioactive  contamination got on the
> > 	>outside of a nuclear waste  container that was sent to WIPP. DOE
> > 	>officials no  longer believe that a spot of radiation that
> > 	>showed up  last Wednesday was polonium-210... a radioactive 
> > 	>element that's a decay product of naturally occurring  radon
> > 	>gas. But DOE officials still maintain that the  source of
> > 	>contamination was naturally occurring  radiation, and not
> > 	>radioactive waste. 
> > 	-- 
> > 	==================================================
> > 	Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
> > 	Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, Inc.
> > 	136 South Illinois Avenue, Suite 208
> > 	Oak Ridge, Tennessee  37830
> > 	Phone (423) 483-1333; Fax (423) 482-6572; E-mail loc@icx.net
> > 	VISIT OUR UPDATED WEB SITE:  http://www.local-oversight.org
> > 	==================================================
> > 	
> > ************************************************************************
> > 	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
> ************************************************************************
> 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