Re: again DU and fire

[Kim Merritt <merritt9@llnl.gov>]

>Hallo to you all.
>I'm having again problems with DU used in civil aircraft as tailplane.
>The question post by the firemen is:
>what happens in case of a fire? what do the firemen risk in case
>of extinguishing the fire of such an airplane? What about contamination
>or inhalation?
>
>Has anybody already faced this problem?
>Thanks for suggestions.
>
>Mauro.
>

Let's see, how about the risk of being burned to a crisp by thousands of
pounds of jet fuel?  Or the risk of picking up a blood borne disease during
rescue operations?  Seriously, solid uranium is hard to ignite and burns
slowly.  Firemen wear respiratory protection and fire fighting apparel,
which is as good if not better at preventing skin contamination as regular
protective clothing.  If they are _really_ concerned about it, have them
get some meters and teach them to survey themselves after a fire.  The best
thing though, is to get them to understand the relative risk of some small
amount of uranium compared to the more common and severe risks that they
readily accept.

This is not an uncommon fear among rescuers. I participated in an exercise
once were an ambulance service would not commit a vehicle to transport
contaminated, injured people because they were afraid that their vehicle
would get contaminated.


| | | |    Kim Merritt, RRPT
| | | |__  Physics Safety Support Officer
| | \___/  Lawrence Livermore National Labs
| \___/    merritt9@llnl.gov
\___/      Voice: (925)423-9668   Fax: (925)422-7160
	   "When the only tool you have is a hammer,
	   every problem begins to resemble a nail."
	   -Abraham Maslow
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