07-17-2007, 03:25 AM
This post was made on the DU-Watch mailing list following a tired old recommendation from a contributer everyone suspects is Robert Holloway. I found it very interesting.
Quote:
Okay, Robert Holloway, Lets Talk Dose--please read it all before your knee jerks. You will have to post on list as I do not accept email directly from you. It's public forum stuff.
For starts, this is not about aerosolized DU. There’s an enormous choir singing that song. It matters, but it's not all that matters.
I started on this rocky, quagmired, roadless path before I gave much thought to aerosolized DU. I did not know who ANY of the following were: Leuren Moret, Bob Nichols, Cathy Garger, Doug Rokke, Chris Busby, well it’s a long list, sorry folks I didn’t know ya’. I started thinking about a whole ‘nother aspect of the radioactivity associated with U-238.
This is about the smallest sizes of DU munitions in transport, stockpiles, ammo boxes, and caches [that’s a French word with an accent ague over the “e” so it sounds like a long “a”; your computer has a cache]. It’s about configuration, about what happens when a multitude of these serial killers are stacked together.
Don’t take my word for it. Read the attachment to the Decision Letter of May 18, 2005, from the Department of Transportation. It used to be posted on Docket 18576, but has been removed. You can find it in the files of du-watch@yahoo.com various other activists have saved copies of it, as well.
Simply put, when a whole bunch of the smaller sizes of DU ammo [20mm, 25mm, 30mm ] is gathered together in one place, the dynamics are such that gamma ray emissions [measured at Crane Army Ammunition Activity, IN & Blue Grass Army Depot] are excessive. [X-rays and neutrons (no measurements on these are available) must also be above what is allowed by industrial standards—my opinon based on physics of U-238.] You are the health physics guy, you get paid, I don't--you find the reference for this.
Some workers [drivers, material handlers, munitions guards, etc], both civilian and military, nationally and INTERNATIONALLY are at risk of being radiologically maxed-out for the year in only 100 hours! None of said workers know this and none wear industry-standard badges for measuring their exposure. I have communication regarding 17 USAF personnel who can confirm that their persons were never monitored for radiation exposure.
Here is the pertinent excerpt from the attachment to the decision letter mentioned above:
“Pallet contact radiation dose rates are generally twice, and in one case, over four times the regulatory limit for Limited Quantity materials. However, pallet and modal conveyance dose rates at one meter are generally a multiple of three to six time justifiable Limited Quantity classification, and for one sized round, six to eleven times. In the case of this latter round, inappropriate radiation exposures could occur to transport workers by being in the vicinity of the material for just 100 hours per year.”
Just 100 hours? What a hefty dose of gamma radiation. That’s what two weeks, three at most. No wonder this entry was removed from the Docket!!!
Please, Robert Holloway tell use you are an honest and reputable health physics worker/ CEO. Do your homework. Think about it and confirm that this is a serious unacceptable situation for workers involved. Maybe you can get a groups of health physicists to do a field trip to ascertain the x-ray and neutron emissions from: railcar, mil-van, and tractor-trailer loads of 25mm and 30mm DU munitions at Crane AAA, IN, or Blue Grass Army Depot, KY.
In terms of configuration, the 20mm size would be the worst emitter. Is that why the Navy stopped using them? Who wants to be confined to a ship with a constant source of massive amounts of gamma rays, x-rays [or photons if you want to call them that like NIOSH does] and neutron radiation available to everyone on board? Maybe you can find a stockpile of them to measure, as well.
Elaine Hunter, D.Sc.
For starts, this is not about aerosolized DU. There’s an enormous choir singing that song. It matters, but it's not all that matters.
I started on this rocky, quagmired, roadless path before I gave much thought to aerosolized DU. I did not know who ANY of the following were: Leuren Moret, Bob Nichols, Cathy Garger, Doug Rokke, Chris Busby, well it’s a long list, sorry folks I didn’t know ya’. I started thinking about a whole ‘nother aspect of the radioactivity associated with U-238.
This is about the smallest sizes of DU munitions in transport, stockpiles, ammo boxes, and caches [that’s a French word with an accent ague over the “e” so it sounds like a long “a”; your computer has a cache]. It’s about configuration, about what happens when a multitude of these serial killers are stacked together.
Don’t take my word for it. Read the attachment to the Decision Letter of May 18, 2005, from the Department of Transportation. It used to be posted on Docket 18576, but has been removed. You can find it in the files of du-watch@yahoo.com various other activists have saved copies of it, as well.
Simply put, when a whole bunch of the smaller sizes of DU ammo [20mm, 25mm, 30mm ] is gathered together in one place, the dynamics are such that gamma ray emissions [measured at Crane Army Ammunition Activity, IN & Blue Grass Army Depot] are excessive. [X-rays and neutrons (no measurements on these are available) must also be above what is allowed by industrial standards—my opinon based on physics of U-238.] You are the health physics guy, you get paid, I don't--you find the reference for this.
Some workers [drivers, material handlers, munitions guards, etc], both civilian and military, nationally and INTERNATIONALLY are at risk of being radiologically maxed-out for the year in only 100 hours! None of said workers know this and none wear industry-standard badges for measuring their exposure. I have communication regarding 17 USAF personnel who can confirm that their persons were never monitored for radiation exposure.
Here is the pertinent excerpt from the attachment to the decision letter mentioned above:
“Pallet contact radiation dose rates are generally twice, and in one case, over four times the regulatory limit for Limited Quantity materials. However, pallet and modal conveyance dose rates at one meter are generally a multiple of three to six time justifiable Limited Quantity classification, and for one sized round, six to eleven times. In the case of this latter round, inappropriate radiation exposures could occur to transport workers by being in the vicinity of the material for just 100 hours per year.”
Just 100 hours? What a hefty dose of gamma radiation. That’s what two weeks, three at most. No wonder this entry was removed from the Docket!!!
Please, Robert Holloway tell use you are an honest and reputable health physics worker/ CEO. Do your homework. Think about it and confirm that this is a serious unacceptable situation for workers involved. Maybe you can get a groups of health physicists to do a field trip to ascertain the x-ray and neutron emissions from: railcar, mil-van, and tractor-trailer loads of 25mm and 30mm DU munitions at Crane AAA, IN, or Blue Grass Army Depot, KY.
In terms of configuration, the 20mm size would be the worst emitter. Is that why the Navy stopped using them? Who wants to be confined to a ship with a constant source of massive amounts of gamma rays, x-rays [or photons if you want to call them that like NIOSH does] and neutron radiation available to everyone on board? Maybe you can find a stockpile of them to measure, as well.
Elaine Hunter, D.Sc.