RE: Nuclear Laundry

["Migliore, Charles W" <Charles.W.Migliore@nspco.com>]

I agree. The article is very enlightening about the mindset and objectives
of the anti- group. When they cried "contamination everywhere", the school
kids said "ok lets measure just how bad the contamination is". The
anti-group enthusiastically went along for the ride until the results did
not jibe with their pre-concieved ideas... then they started  trying to
prevent any further measurements, and actually succeeded preventing access
to a key site. The kids already had the data, though. After all that, the
city council refused to consider the data in its decision to enact the
ridiculous ordinance. (dont bother me with the facts, please.) 

The ordinance sounds utterly ridiculous. It outlaws the discharge of ANY
radionuclide with a long halflife, with no limits, automatically placing
everyone in town in violation (except medical facilities, I think, I dont
have the article in front of me.)

Some traces of Co-60 were found in the sludge field... 70 pCi per kg I
think. Because of this, the anti-group asked the school principal to stop
the project because the kids werent wearing protective clothing... And
actually used the "no pc's" as an argument to invalidate or discount the
data. Yeah, whatever.

The article is a good read.

Charles Migliore RRPT
charles.w.migliore@nspco.com 

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Erik F. Shores [SMTP:eshores@lanl.gov]
> Sent:	Monday, July 19, 1999 8:53 AM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	Nuclear Laundry
> 
> Radsafers,
> 
> I would like to point out an interesting article in the July 1999 issue of
> "Nuclear News" documenting the recent history of the Interstate Nuclear
> Services (INS) radiological laundry and the Santa Fe, NM City Council.
> INS
> operated a nuclear laundry facility that washed protective clothing from
> facilities such as Los Alamos National Laboratory.  Eventually, the Santa
> Fe City Council formulated and passed a discriminatory wastewater
> ordinance
> that essentially intended to put INS out of business within Santa Fe.
> Meanwhile, a local Santa Fe prep school, as part of a school project,
> performed radiation surveys and collected soil samples to find out whether
> widely publicized claims and counterclaims regarding contamination levels
> were true.  Their subsequent interaction with local anti-nuclear activists
> makes for interesting reading!
> 
> 	As the article states, "the city of Santa Fe is being sued in
> federal
> court by INS for, among other things, pre-empting state and federal
> authority to regulate radionuclides".  This article is not only well
> written, but clearly shows how public perception is often swayed by
> publicity. To cite an example, a letter published in a local newspaper
> referring to the science teacher in charge of the school project stated,
> "We need science teachers who will promote objective study and truth
> seeking, not blind obedience to the nuclear priesthood." I recommend the
> article.
> 
> Best Regards,
> erik 
> ________________________________________
> Erik F. Shores
> Los Alamos National Laboratory
> ESH-12, Radiological Engineering Team
> Mailto:eshores@lanl.gov
> 505.665.7643 (phone)
> 505.667.9726 (facsimile) 
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