Posted on 07/25/2013 10:31:27 PM PDT by informavoracious
MIAMI — Part of the Opa-locka Executive Airport in South Florida had to be temporarily evacuated after a 55-gallon drum containing depleted uranium aircraft parts was found.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Arnold Piedrahita Jr. reports that the unsealed drum was found Thursday near a dismantled plane at the airport. A hazmat team from Miami International Airport went to the site, but only minimal levels of radiation were detected.
Officials initially cleared a 150-foot perimeter around the drum, but that circle was later reduced to 5 feet.
Airport spokesman Marc Henderson said no flights were disrupted and the airport never closed.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocala.com ...
Frequency of radiation more importantly, but also intensity and length of exposure. Ordinary light is of course harmless while ordinary gamma rays can turn you into a quivering puddle of melting flesh. Eating something radioactive just gets whatever extra protection the epidermis gives us out of the way.
Used in the 30mm Cannon on the A10. Got one as a souvenir...
“but that circle was later reduced to 5 feet. “
A company I worked for trained a hazardous material response team. I had a bit of trepidation about this as they had no materials stronger than what I had in my kitchen. A woman had an unexpected period and spilled a couple of drops of blood on the floor. Suddenly there was a portable flashing light, yellow cones, Do-not-cross yellow and black tape and men wearing ultra strength gloves. The wipes they used were placed in hazardous material containers and the trash went to a hazardous waste handler. The total cost of this response was probably $2,000. I would have used some toilet paper and flushed it. The lady was so embarrassed that she left the company as soon as she could find another job. (Hard to establish the cost of losing all that experience.)
Heavy. . .
A sufficient dose of radiation to kill “in a few seconds” does not exist. It may do its’ damage in a few seconds, but death takes, depending on dose, hours to weeks. . .
I think we might be able to create one, but it's going to be accompanied by a shock and energy wave that will make it moot.
So much for FAA, local FL authorities, DHS, TSA, FBI and all the rest. They’re on the job protecting us.
That 55 gallon drum might as well have been a 55 gallon suitcase nuqe. These people are worthless.
As to the radiation hazard, almost zero though even depleted uranium has some life left in it. It's just not lethal.
Exactly. A VERY high gamma pulse will heat things to instantly combust, but it’s not the RADIATION that kills, it’s the conflagration. . .
It’s the normal material for the long-rod penetrator rounds used to defeat armor, any caliber. Unlike tungsten, DU burns as it goes through an armored vehicle, igniting fuel and ammo.
Indeed.
Astounding idiots at work here.
As a former A-10 fighter pilot, having sat in my cockpit located atop of our ammo drum that held depleted uranium rounds, by now I should be glowing in the dark (according to alarmist know-it-all reporters) and setting off alarms all over the place. . .but I’m not. . .though glowing in the dark might be useful sometimes.
No, I’m talking stupid from the standpoint of the multi-thousand dollar dog and pony show to “deal with it”.
It’s as bad as the $5000+ dollar responses to expiration date past jelly leaking out of garbage trucks (Been there, done that).
A LOT or ordinary gamma rays that is. Nuclear density gauges have a gamma source in them, and the one I use hasn’t melted me yet...
OTOH, a bomb pumped laser...
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