[CPEO-MEF] RADIATION: NIST plutonium spill, Boulder, CO

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

Moore: The plutonium spill at NIST: What's said and what's not

Opinion by LeRoy Moore
Daily Camera (CO)
July 7, 2008

The June 9 spill of plutonium at the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology in Boulder has been widely covered by the news media. The 
tale mainly has been a buildup of damning detail, capped by the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission's July 2 suspension of NIST's license to handle 
radioactive materials until NIST improves its procedures.

The public learned early on that the spilled plutonium, which was in 
powder form, was not, as initially reported, confined to the room in 
which the accident occurred. Some of it -- an amount "below the legal 
limits" -- went down a drain into Boulder's sewer system.

The phrase, "legal limits," refers to official standards that limit 
permitted exposure. Such standards should not be confused with safety. 
The National Academy of Sciences 2006 report on low-dose radiation 
exposure affirmed that any dose of radiation is potentially harmful. A 
British study concluded in 2004 that cancer risk from plutonium may be 
10 or more times more dangerous than allowed for by existing standards. 
Ulrich Beck says exposure standards may "prevent the very worst from 
happening, but they are at the same time 'blank checks' to poison nature 
and humankind a bit."

...

For the entire column, see
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/jul/07/the-plutonium-spill-at-nist-whats-said-and-whats/

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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