Posted on 06/22/2014 12:31:43 PM PDT by steve86
Full Title: Safety in steel: Hanford workers' health monitored in room made from battleship
RICHLAND -- For 25 years, the hull of the battleship USS Indiana has helped protect the health of Hanford workers.
Before that, it played a role in saving the life of Hanford's Atomic Man, Harold McCluskey, who took in life-threatening amounts of radioactive material in a Hanford accident.
The pre-Atomic Age steel from the battleship's hull now is at work in a low, nondescript building in Richland on the corner of Goethals and Knight streets, with a small sign labeling it the In Vivo Radiobioassay and Research Facility.
The steel has been made into a 12-foot-long, 8-foot-wide, 8-foot-high chamber called the Palmer Room. The 12-inch-thick battleship armor plate is lined with layers of lead, cadmium and finally burnished copper that give the small room a rich glow.
When its 10-ton door is swung closed, it creates a chamber as free of radiation as possible in an Atomic Age world.
The Department of Energy and Mission Support Alliance use it as one of five rooms in the radiobioassay and research facility to monitor employees who work around radioactive materials or waste from past weapons plutonium production at Hanford.
(Excerpt) Read more at tri-cityherald.com ...
Retiree Earl Palmer stands in the room named after him at the In Vivo Radiobioassay & Research Facility in Richland. The specially designed room, constructed with 12-inch-thick hardened steel from the battleship USS Indiana, is used to perform whole body measurements for radioactivity. The room is celebrating its 25th year. BOB BRAWDY — Tri-City Herald
Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2014/06/21/3031440/safety-in-steel-hanford-workers.html?sp=/99/177/&ihp=1#storylink=cpy
ping
Not worth posting here anymore if these articles get no replies.
A few years ago we would have had an active technical discussion of alpha, beta, gamma radiation and civilian/military nuclear topics.
Thats because nuclear energy is BAD, EVIL, and black majic.
The barbarians are taking over.
Reply: please don’t stop posting these articles.
A lot of people have been banned since then, and even more intimidated by the thought that showing some knowledge of things technical will be viewed very dimly by the NSA and their masters.
I haven’t heard of THAT much mischief yet.
A heavily radiation shielded room would be quite helpful for detecting minute quantities of human body burden radiation that could otherwise be confused with background. People who have been working with radioactive material in either civilian or military contexts might benefit from such monitoring. I don’t know what’s to parse here.
And, I would expect, sometimes feeble forms of radiation might help identify exactly what a particular contaminant is. Therefore the room. Nuclear handling accidents do happen. It’s well known. It’s no government secret that they do.
Having donated a couple of dollars in the 8th grade (1960) to campaign to try to buy the USS Indiana as a museum ship for the State of Indiana, it is good to know that some of her is still doing honorable duty to the nation.
Thanks for the post and the ping. I wonder if this facility is being used to test possible radiation on our Pacific coast from Fujishima.
Late post
Too bad that the St Lawrence Seaway locks are too narrow to have got Indiana to the Great Lakes. Length and reduced draft would have been doable but the ship had too much beam.
Rockpile, I did not know that.
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