They knew the hazard, but chose to ignore it.
When will we ever learn!
Posted on 01/30/2006 9:32:08 AM PST by STARWISE
Following up .. prayers for all .. they mentioned Unison Industries.
I was injected with radioactive material so I could have my bones scanned.
I guess we have lots of uses for radioactive materials.
X-ray techs stand behind a protective wall.
I'm not a physicist (but I play one on the Internet!) but I think beta particles are their own separate kind of subatomic particle, released during certain kinds of nuclear decay. (there are alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays, as well as X rays IIRC).
At any rate, like all radiation, in moderation it's not harmful no. But of course, if not in moderation, beta particles can be harmful. IIRC, beta particles aren't stopped by the skin barrier like alpha particles. And in fact, if one tries to sheild oneself with lead against beta particles, one will actually be subjected to gamma radiation (as the beta particles cause lead to emitt gamma radation). The best way to stop beta particles is with a plexiglass shield.
I'm sure if I'm wrong, another FReeper will correct the record. hehe
HOPE EVERYBODY'S OKAY.
Even glow-in-the-dark decals are slightly radioactive themselves. one or two are harmless, but if you had a whole bucket of them, that is a different story.
Beta particles are electrons.
Sometimes the soft metal plating for electrical switches need to be hardened. The additive to harden the metal is a radioactive material unless the manufacturer has other technology.
This appears to be an industrial accident.
They knew the hazard, but chose to ignore it.
When will we ever learn!
Yeah, when I saw that this company manufactured aircraft parts, my first thought was that they had an accident with tritium for glow-in-the-dark dials.
I see you have only been with us since last December. That is FR talk for this story is Huge, and Serious. An inside joke is you will.
Thank God that it appears this was an accidental industrial accident. Hopefully, all who were contaminated will recover and be fine. One day ... if al Zawahiri has his druthers .. it may not be such a benign breaking news event, and quick notification will be a godsend. God bless America.
Ping to my last post .. and thanks.
Someone did explain that to me, thanks. Yes, it takes awhile to learn the language around here. :)
85Kr emits primarily beta particles. It has a gamma emission at 514 KeV with a gamma abundance of 0.00434, which means that for every 100,000 decays of 85Kr, 434 gamma photons of this energy are emitted. So it is a low-abundance gamma emitter. It's half-life is a little less than 11 years.
Krypton is a noble gas and therefore does not readily react chemically with most materials. It does not accumulate in the body. It produces a submersion dose, which means that any accumulated dose is a simply a function of concentration and exposure time.
BTW, for the KI pill pushers you see crawl out of the woodwork whenever these threads are posted, that will do absolutely no good for this kind of exposure. KI is a thyroid blocker, and only prevents uptake of thyroid-seeking forms, which means radioiodine. It does absolutely nothing for 85Kr exposure, or much of anything else, for that matter. The risk of allergic reaction to KI may in fact be greater than any radiologic exposure.
I would have taken more time to explain Freeper talk to you, but my beeber was going off and I had to take a shower.
That's impressive. I've never been SO busy that I needed a beeper to tell me when to take a shower. ;-D
That's BEEBER, not beeper...are you a troll?
;o)
thanks for the pings & further info.
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