Fwd: RE: Do You Want Your Family Exposed to Products Made of Ra

[Ken Medlin <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

Subject:     RE: Do You Want Your Family Exposed to Products Made of 
Radioac
Sent:        11/29/19 10:43 AM
Received:    11/26/99 1:06 AM
From:        Tom von Alten, tva@pobox.com
To:          Smart Growth, smartgro@onenw.org  -- and Moscow-Pullman lists


=====  A message from the 'smartgro' discussion list  =====

Thank you for posting information about this action, Jo.  I was 
interested 
to find out more about the subject, and there are some good materials 
available on it.  Since the CMEP's action alert pointers were somewhat 
indirect (and the one given for comments was not correct), anyone 
interested may find the following of use:

The index for this proposed rulemaking, currently in the "request for 
comments" (RFC) stage:

   http://ruleforum.llnl.gov/cgi-bin/rulemake?source=SM_RFC

This includes links for background information, the rulemaking text and 
for submitting comments.

The most recent public hearing for which minutes are posted was in 
Maryland, on November 1-2.  Having looked through all three hearing 
summaries, this is probably the best one to start with for general 
understanding:
 http://ruleforum.llnl.gov/cgi-bin/downloader/SM_RFC_lib/515-0014.htm

The final public hearing is scheduled for Chicago, Dec. 7-8, and comments 
must be received by Dec. 22.

The status quo is that recycling of materials from facilities handling 
NRC-licensed materials is handled on a case-by-case basis, with a 1974 
guideline for a reference (but not a rule).  The question is whether to 
maintain this status quo, or to establish rules under which materials can 
be evaluated to determine proper disposition.

The most likely threshhold (which would correspond with what other 
countries that we trade with are doing) is 1 mrem/yr, 300 times lower 
than 
the US average background radiation.  This level is "broadly accepted as 
a 
trivial dose."  Not everyone agrees with this scientific assessment, 
however.  For example,

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/radmetal/TomPaine.htm
"The Big Picture - The Recycling of Radioactive Materials"
by Wenonah Hauter

"...Unsurprisingly, decades of research shows that exposure to radiation 
is a threat to human health. Any exposure to radiation, no matter how 
small, results in some health risk. Even diluting radiation through 
recycling cannot reduce the risk to society as a whole, because the total 
number of people exposed to radiation will increase as more and more 
products contain radiation...."

The fact is, a de minimis dose can only constitute a de minimis risk.  If 
you're concerned about 1 mrem/yr, do not use airline transportation!  1 
mrem is about the additional radiation you get in *one hour* at cruising 
altitude.

Regardless of your opinion, checking your home for radon is probably the 
most important thing you can do if you concerned about radiation effects 
on health; radon gas accounts for more than half of average background 
exposure.


If you're interested in more information about this issue, I'd be happy 
to 
respond to inquiries off-list, as two big postings on this subject are 
probably plenty for a topic tangential to SmartGrowth.
_____________
Tom von Alten                                       http://pobox.com/~tva
tva@pobox.com

>From slist  Thu Nov 25 12:15:59 1999


------------------------
William K. Medlin
Dev-plan associates
930 Kenneth Street
Moscow ID 83843
208/892-0148
dev-plan@moscow.com