Posted on 12/14/2006 12:50:10 AM PST by Schnucki
The United Nations atomic watchdog is undertaking a review of its relatively safe classification of polonium 210 following the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence officer.
Until now the radioactive isotope responsible for Litvinenko's death was deemed "unlikely to be dangerous" and placed in category 4 of a five-category classification of radioactive sources, where category 1 is the most dangerous.
The definitions were not designed to deal with cases where people had ingested significant amounts of the substances. But a spokesman for the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said it was "definitely something we need to look at again".
According to diplomats and officials in Vienna, the disruption caused by the incident had sharpened international concern about the use of radiation sources as a terrorist weapon. "One can assume that there are people with less than generous intentions who have already discerned the impact of this small nuclear event," said one.
The agency has a broad responsibility to encourage the safe handling of radioactive sources, but acknowledges that - particularly for material not usable in nuclear weapons - they are often not well managed.
IAEA officials said the incident had prompted inquiries from some of the agency's member governments, and the agency had requested information from the UK government. So far the UK had not responded, possibly because of the sensitivity of the investigation.
An internal IAEA discussion paper documents 15 confirmed cases involving polonium that have been reported to the agency's illicit trafficking database between the start of 2004 and late 2006. Three cases were in the US. It also cites an unconfirmed incident that involved an effort to smuggle containers of polonium from Russia into Ukraine.
The containers were reportedly seized.
But it finds no previously reported incident in which polonium has been used as a murder weapon. However, other radioactive sources have been used as attempted murder weapons occasionally in the last six years in countries as far apart as Germany and Japan. It cites, among others, an incident in Minsk, Belarus, where a man killed his neighbour's family with a radiation source hidden in the back of a chair.
The agency said it might be technically possible to identify the source of the polonium by examining impurities. But the agency's database is unlikely to contain sufficient information to provide assistance.
IAEA scientists have described polonium 210 as 250bn times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide. A cube of the isotope, measuring 0.35mm square and weighing 400 micrograms, which would sit on the full stop at the end of this sentence, would contain 3,400 lethal doses.
The internal report also describes the medical effects of the isotope. Its half-life - the time required for half the mass of a radioactive substance to decay - is 138 days. But the effective half life in the body is 30 to 50 days, because the body expels a proportion of the material. It attacks first the spleen, then kidneys and liver, bone marrow, lymph nodes and the respiratory tract.
"IAEA scientists have described polonium 210 as 250bn times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide. A cube of the isotope, measuring 0.35mm square and weighing 400 micrograms, which would sit on the full stop at the end of this sentence, would contain 3,400 lethal doses. The internal report also describes the medical effects of the isotope. Its half-life - the time required for half the mass of a radioactive substance to decay - is 138 days. But the effective half life in the body is 30 to 50 days, because the body expels a proportion of the material. It attacks first the spleen, then kidneys and liver, bone marrow, lymph nodes and the respiratory tract."
Ping.
Source - Murder spy hotel staff poisoned by dishwasher by TAHIRA YAQOOB Daily Mail
Police inquiries suggest they were contaminated by the dishwasher that cleaned Mr Litvinenko's tea cup.
The HPA has also spoken to Thames Water about the possibility of the local water supply being contaminated by water from the dishwasher.
Yep, that is more than highly disturbing.
Thanks for the info.
Do the Brits recycle their sewage water? Yuck!!!!
In England and Wales, two thirds of drinking water comes from surface water, including reservoirs, lakes and rivers, and the rest from ground waters.
Water treated for sewage gets dumped back into nearby natural water sources once it has been treated for sewage. They probably do not filter out radioactive particles. The cleaned water then goes back out into the natural water supply. So on one hand you have contamination of the natural water environment. Then England pulls water from the natural water supply, for purifying and then drinking and washing. Just guessing here. So water that is brought in for purification probably comes from the same natural sources. England is a big Island after all. More excerpts from the same web site describing treatment of natural water supply.
Clarification
Clarification is a complex process that removes silt, algae, colour, manganese and aluminium, and various other matter that may be present in the raw water. A chemical called a coagulant, which is usually an iron or aluminium salt, is added to the raw water and combines the material that has to be removed into larger particles. These are removed either by settling them out (sedimentation) or by using air to float them to the surface (flotation). Clarification also removes about 90 per cent of pathogens from the raw water.
Filtration
Any particles remaining after clarification are removed at the filtration stage. Filtration is also used to remove iron and manganese from ground water sources. There are a number of types of filter, the most common being rapid gravity filters. The water passes through a bed of sand or other suitable media, where the particles become trapped. After a given period of time the flow through the filter is reversed in order to clean the sand. It is very important to remove as many particles as possible at the filtration stage for the final disinfection stage to be effective.
Membrane filtration is used in special applications, such as the removal of Cryptosporidium oocysts (see question two in the frequently asked questions section at the back of this leaflet for more information on Cryptosporidium).
Disinfection
In this country the most common method of disinfection is the use of chlorine (occasionally you may notice a slight smell of chlorine in your tap water). It is a method that has been used extensively for over 70 years. The disinfecting process is essential to eliminate any bacteria in the water. Water companies have to ensure that enough chlorine remains in the water after it leaves the treatment works to help keep the water safe on its journey to the tap.
Other disinfectants include ozone and ultra violet light, but these do not remain in the water during distribution, so in both cases a small amount of chlorine is added before water goes into distribution.
Chlorine can react with some natural organic matter present in the water to produce trace amounts of other chemicals, some of which are potentially toxic. These are known as disinfection by-products (DBPs). However, the risks associated with DBPs are small, and far outweighed by the benefits of disinfection. Without it waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery and typhoid could rapidly re-establish themselves. DWI has a leaflet available free of charge called Chlorine, Smell, Taste.
Disinfection is not very effective against parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia (which can cause illnesses with severe diarrhoea lasting a number of weeks). If there is a risk of these being present they must be removed during the filtration stage of treatment.
Some waters require more specialised treatment, such as:
Ion exchange
This process is used to remove nitrate from ground water, and also in some cases to soften water. Ion exchange is very similar to the process used in domestic water softeners, where water is passed through a bed of special resin particles.
Activated carbon and ozone
Activated carbon, often in association with ozone, is used to remove organic substances. Some of these occur naturally and others are contaminants that occur because of man’s activities, such as pesticides. The ozone breaks down the organics, which are then adsorbed on the surface of the carbon.
We do, too. The post above by justa-hairyape outlines the process. It doesn't just go straight back into the tapwater supply, though.
Maybe so. I used to work for a company that designed systems of this sort. It was interesting to see how they did what they did. I wasn't an engineer, so my understanding of it was limited- but it seemed to be a highly sophisticated process.
Actually I am an industrial water treatment technician. So I can say with a little confidence that their water treatment systems will more than likely remove the Polonium. All of my following comments are from general knowledge as I am not specifically familiar with Polonium. It is not a common contaminant in water.
If they use an Iron Salt in their Coagulator it may remove it as most heavy metals are attracted to iron.
Ion exchange may also remove Polonium. Especially if the Ion exchange bed is new.
Activated carbon may also remove the Polonium. Many impurities that are not removed by ion exchange would be removed by carbon.
The addition of Chlorine and ozone are not likely to be helpful as they are typically added at the end of the treatment process. A remote possibility is that the Polonium might react with the chlorine and become more chemically reactive with iron and bond with the iron water pipes long enough to decay to a non-radioactive isotope.
Justa-hairyape’s comment;
I have seen the following statement somewhere in the past. 'Dilution is the Solution'. Do not remember where I saw it though. Perhaps someones trademark ?
Is a sarcastic slogan made up by the Environmental and anti-nuke activist back in their haydays of the 70’s. It referred to Nuclear Power Plants discharging radioactive contaminated water to the environment. In the early days of Nuke Power dilution was the primary means of making waste less harmful.
Actually dilution in this case is probably going to be the primary means of rendering the material safe. London’s treated waste water is probably discharged in to the Thames and London being not far from the mouth of the Thames it is unlikely that there are intakes for drinking water lower on the Thames than London’s discharge before the Thames dumps in to the Atlantic. With Polonium 210’s half life of 138 days and dilution of un-told trillions to one I would doubt any trace of it would be found in the water treatment plant in a year (if you could find it now).
A stone is not inherently dangerous, but if one bangs in on one's head for a day or so in may be reclassified. A wall is also pretty safe unless one bangs one's head against in for a while.
Nothing is foolproof when fools are so clever.
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