Radioactive Container Truck Spewing Gamma Rays Into Traffic on I-270 in Saint Louis, Missouri

Originally posted by SelfSustainedLoner
Uh. Gamma Ray's? Any idiot knows you can't make gamma ray's unless you have a supernova...

Before you call people idiots you should get your facts straight

yes GAMMA RAYS

The back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, mostly spent fuel rods, contains fission products that emit beta and gamma radiation, and actinides that emit alpha particles, such as uranium-234, neptunium-237, plutonium-238 and americium-241, and even sometimes some neutron emitters such as californium (Cf). These isotopes are formed in nuclear reactors.

Radioactive medical waste tends to contain beta particle and gamma ray emitters. It can be divided into two main classes. In diagnostic nuclear medicine a number of short-lived gamma emitters such as technetium-99m are used. Many of these can be disposed of by leaving it to decay for a short time before disposal as normal waste. Other isotopes used in medicine, with half-lives in parentheses, include:

Also the smoke detectors in your house contain Americium...Americium is a gamma emitter

Certain radioactive elements (such as plutonium-239) in “spent” fuel will remain hazardous to humans and other creatures for hundreds of thousands of years. Other radioisotopes remain hazardous for millions of years.

Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine. Radioactive waste is hazardous to human health and the environment, and is regulated by government agencies in order to protect human health and the environment.

Radioactivity diminishes over time, so waste is typically isolated and stored for a period of time until it no longer poses a hazard. The period of time waste must be stored depends on the type of waste. Low-level waste with low levels of radioactivity per mass or volume (such as some common medical or industrial radioactive wastes) may need to be stored for only hours, days, or months, while high-level wastes (such as spent nuclear fuel or by-products of nuclear reprocessing) must be stored for thousands of years. Current major approaches to managing radioactive waste have been segregation and storage for short-lived wastes, near-surface disposal for low and some intermediate level wastes, and deep burial or transmutation for the long-lived, high-level wastes.

en.wikipedia.org...

Here are two more gamma emitters

For instance iodine-131 is a short-lived beta and gamma emitter, but because it concentrates in the thyroid gland, it is more able to cause injury than caesium-137 which, being water soluble, is rapidly excreted in urine.

Iodine 131 and Cesium 137 have been spewing out continuously for months at the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan and are spreading around the globe. While they do have short half lives, it is a continuous stream

But hey no worries radiation is good for you right?

Wtf? So, it's okay as long as you post a sign on the vehicle...
This thing should've been escorted to keep everyone safe.

reply to post by karen61057

Who has a gieger counter? Anyone on ATS keep this particular piece of equipment in their glovebox? Nah me either.

Have one at home - got after 9/11. Am member of Fire Department . Interstate highway runs through town

Need to get checked and recalibrated

Just an FYI update on Japan's nuke problem

A roadmap toward decommissioning of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant indicates that the removal of melted nuclear fuel rods at the plant may begin in 10 years.

The work is considered to be the most important phase in the decommissioning process. The roadmap indicates that removal will start in 2021 if technology essential for the work has been developed before that.

www3.nhk.or.jp...

I guess I won't be visiting Japan anytime soon after all

Germany has already begun shutting down their nuke plants

Now this
Japan May Be Nuclear Free by May 2012 as Tests Delay Restarts

Japan may have no nuclear reactors running by May next year should the round of tests announced by the government this week cause further delays to restarting units idled for maintenance, a Bloomberg survey shows. Shikoku Electric Power Co. today said it delayed starting a reactor that was due to resume in two days. About two-thirds of Japan’s 54 reactors have been shut down by the March earthquake and tsunami or because of regular checks, leading to power- saving measures in parts of the country.

www.bloomberg.com...

On the home front...

Workers at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson, Miss., last Thursday released a large amount of radioactive tritium directly into the Mississippi River, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and experts are currently trying to sort out the situation. An investigation is currently underway to determine why the tritium was even present in standing water found in an abandoned unit of the plant, as well as how much of this dangerous nuclear byproduct ended up getting dumped into the river. Many also want to know why workers released the toxic tritium before conducting proper tests.

Nuclear Accident at Plant in Mississippi USA gets Totally Ignored!!! Why?
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Nuke Plant Inspections Find Flaws in Disaster Readiness
www.scientificamerican.com...


AT RISK: The Fort Calhoun nuclear reactor in Nebraska was surrounded by Mississippi floodwaters in June. Image: US Army Corps of Engineers

Three Browns Ferry Reactors Lose External Power, Shut Down Following Storms
Apr 29 2011

Wednesday night’s extreme winds in the southern U.S. cut power to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry nuclear plant, causing all three units to shut down.

Two units were operating at full power and another at reduced power when the outage tripped the plant’s safety systems at 4:36 p.m., according to a TVA release. Seven of eight backup diesel generators ensured cooling systems continued operation, and crews worked Thursday to bring online the eighth generator, which was down for maintenance.

Unit 3 achieved cold shutdown at 2:43 a.m., Thursday, followed by unit 2 three hours later. Unit 1 was still being cooled as of late Thursday morning.

Station blackouts are among the safety topics currently under evaluation by the NRC in response to the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan. In a briefing on the NRC’s efforts, Chairman Gregory Jaczko said Thursday in a prepared statement:

"Severe storms in the South last night provided a stark reminder that we are not immune to the effects of natural events. Last night, Browns Ferry nuclear power plant experienced a loss of nearly all offsite power to the three units, resulting in shutdown. All safety functions performed as designed. All available emergency diesel generators started and loaded and emergency core cooling systems are operating normally. Spent fuel pool cooling is currently in service. The plants’ conditions are stable and are being placed in a cooled-down condition."

nuclearstreet.com... t-down-following-storms042901.aspx

Funny how main stream media is ignoring all these incidents

Keep a stock of iodine pills and a dosimeter around... times are changing and all these nuke plants are getting old

When I talked to this women from the company.

She told me "They haul medical waste and other special cargo".

Don't they have Hazardous Cargo Routes everywhere?

This should at least be verified with a manifest.

Also Zorgon, since they were just driving by and got a spike,

The actual object could be a lot higher.

I admit to knowing virtually nothing about radiation.

I do know, with all the cancer around...I don't need any extra...

reply to post by Heyyo_yoyo

Would make CIA sense though, throwing in a few gamma ray leaks in densely populated areas to kill off a few hundred thousand more...

Would require extremely high level source gamma emmitter, ie Cobalt 60/Cesium 137. Again radiation
dosage is dependent on time so unless going to sit next to it for few hours would not be enough exposure
to be dangerous .

Couple years ago staged a "dirty bomb" drill in my town - used small amount of radioactive meterial to be realistic

Worked one summer at industrial laundry which cleaned uniforms from nuclear plants - had to run through
industrial dry cleaning machine then scan for excessive levels radiation.

Anything failed would be double bagged and sent to dump site

Biggest problem was pelling off yards of duct tape - those dudes used to tape and retape all the openings
front zipper, nexk where hood attached, wrists where gloves attached. feet where booties attached

real Pain in the ass getting duct tape off before cleaning as tape would gum up machines

It's just another example of how corporations can make tons of money and we the people take all the risks.

You can't downplay that callous attitude by saying "oh it's not much exposure", when in fact they are admitting it is unlawful exposure in the first place. We are actually being exposed quite often from many sources at once.

Now use your brain and add it all up. This isn't just one random exposure in our lifetimes.

We are probably exposed to any various sources of radiation (man-made) unwittingly every week. Like pointed out before, even household items like fire detectors contain radioactive material and have warning symbols on them. Also, there are tritium Exit signs or wrist-watches all over the place these days, and they contain dangerous material as well. Eventually many of these things break or fall into disrepair.

Also if you check around you will realize that there are many accidents and malfunctions with "medical equipment", which is a nice way to say machine with radioactive material contained within it.

Yeah guys, it's just a little bit of radiation exposure, nothing to worry about.

You would have to be exposed to it off and on weekly to actually suffer big time from it, and it would probably take 15-20 years for that off-on exposure to gradually cripple your regenerative ability.

Oh wait? Isn't that what's actually happening right now?

And look at how naive we the public are. It took us until 2011 to start getting some real journalistic scoop on just how widespread radioactive contamination is in our everyday lives.

Many of us have come to the conclusion this reality explains perfectly why we have such a 'cancer epidemic' worldwide these days.

Originally posted by thedman
real Pain in the ass getting duct tape off before cleaning as tape would gum up machines

Tell them to use gaffers tape... same strength as duct tape, but not the issue with the glue. We use it in convention work. Costs more... but hey... try using duct tape in 110 degree weather

Here is a perfect example of how I view the pitiful " it's not that much exposure" excuse:

Consider this analogy.
Someone shot a bullet at me. But it missed.

Hey I didn't get hit did I? So I shouldn't complain, care, or bother calling the cops.
Right???

Originally posted by samlf3rd
Wtf? So, it's okay as long as you post a sign on the vehicle...
This thing should've been escorted to keep everyone safe.

Yeah, you would expect that reasonable intelligent folks would set up a lead vehicle with lights, and a tail vehicle with lights; keeping a nice distance from the truck and everything else.

Also a hazmat truck following and taking measurements would be a good precaution.

Although this may seem incredibly silly, it's about the best we can do with current technology sadly.

A viable alternative is underground high speed rail network. Many of us believe a decent sized network exists already connecting many military bases, so this could be utilized for the purpose of transporting nuclear waste to the Yucca storage site.

I agree to the proposition to rounding up our nuclear waste and stockpiling it in limited locations in order to better manage it thus avoiding a myriad of problems.

But we need to focus on creating long term solutions, like transmuting the materials into safer materials, or finding a cheap safe way to put the material on a space ship and drop it into the sun.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
We are probably exposed to any various sources of radiation (man-made) unwittingly every week. Like pointed out before, even household items like fire detectors contain radioactive material and have warning symbols on them. Also, there are tritium Exit signs or wrist-watches all over the place these days, and they contain dangerous material as well. Eventually many of these things break or fall into disrepair.

Micro waves... from TV and radio towers, from the cell phone you hold to your ear that has been proven to kill brain cells from longer exposure (so if you talk on the phone a lot ... )

Older microwave ovens leak, yet people stand in front of them

X-Ray machines... every dentist and medical facility has them. The techs leave the room and have you wear lead shielding... but those gamma rays leave the building and go somewhere

The new Airport X-ray scanners... DHS says its safe with a yearly dose limit. But they forget to include all the other rays you get and what about the accumulation in frequent fliers? The airlines are killing off their best customers first

Radon gas.. comes from buried waste at land fills or just naturally from the ground created by decay of radioactive minerals (the stuff we mine for Uranium). This gas can travel a long way. You can buy test kits to see if your house gets any... especially good idea if your house is on or near a land fill.

Depression Glass that pretty green, pink or blue antique collectors glassware from the depression era. The green is also known as uranium glass because that beautiful green color that glows under UV light is created by uranium salts. The blue is cobalt, forget what the oink was but its not as 'hot'


Cake plate


Under UV light

Uranium glass is glass which has had uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added to a glass mix prior to melting. The proportion usually varies from trace levels to about 2% by weight uranium, although some 19th-century pieces were made with up to 25% uranium.

en.wikipedia.org...

Living at high altitude... or flying in a plane... gamma rays from space...

Equivalent whole body dose (mSv/day)
Sea Level to 2,000 meters
Equator 0.00066 0.00110
50° Latitude 0.00075 0.00128

Altitude (m) Equator 55° Latitude
5,000 ½ 0.8
10,000 2 4
15,000 4 12
20,000 4 4½
25,000 4 15
30,000 3 14
40,000 12½
50,000 12

So... your getting cooked just sitting at home Maybe all that radiation is why we are getting longer lifespans in modern times?

That Fukushima radiation is already showing up in our food supplies (albeit in small amounts, but it is measurable) Chernoble's coffin is falling apart so that will be an issue soon, and flood waters and storms are already knocking at the door of our own nuke plants. Did you know that California has several old nuke plants sitting on top of fault zones just like in Japan?

And what do we do? Well we can do like Japan does... make a cartoon to tell kids radiation is good for you...

Originally posted by muzzleflash
But we need to focus on creating long term solutions, like transmuting the materials into safer materials, or finding a cheap safe way to put the material on a space ship and drop it into the sun.

We need to stop wasting the uranium to boil water (that is what a nuke plant does) We can use coal and GARBAGE to boil water. Just add a simple scrubber onto the chimney like they did on the smelters at Sudbury and Pittsburg

Until we can figure out how to use the radiation directly (like a solar cell collector) its a waste and all we do is create more toxic waste we don't know what to do with

Dr Paul Brown invented a nuclear 'battery' that could do just that.. unfortunately he was killed by a mysterious car crash and the government took over his company.

If you have been following the way TEPCO has been handling the nuke crisis in Japan... any sane person should scream out at private companies in control of such power. They only have the interest of shareholders at heart. But TEPCO will now pay the price for that arrogance. Unfortunately so will the people

Shut them all down... burn the trash...

It would be so simple to make a big incinerator and dump in all our trash. Add magnets to reclaim the iron, pickers to pull out glass and aluminum and the ash would make a great fertilizer. Solve our trash problem instead of filling up landfill sites or dumping it into the ocean like they do in New York

We really are stupid monkeys

As already pointed out numerous times, the idiots in the video are nothing more than fear mongering fools. Unfortunately, especially in this type of community, folks respond to idiotic things like this without knowing jack squat about anything.

For all you folks that are freaking out about this, please, for crying out loud, use google or simply re-read this thread.

Originally posted by SelfSustainedLoner
reply to post by camaro68ss

 

Uh. Gamma Ray's? # this thread.. Any idiot knows you can't make gamma ray's unless you have a supernova...Even if a tanker full of spent nuclear fuel can't produce gamma rays. Gamma rays travel faster then the speed of light for # sake. What the # kind of post is this???

edit on 9-7-2011 by SelfSustainedLoner because: (no reason given)

Although I started reading the thread from here today, so it's likely someone's already responded, allow me - a LOT of processes make gamma rays. From a natural source standpoint, it's pretty common for most sources to emit at least some gamma radiation, even if they're not primarily a gamma emitter, in order to balance the energy budget in the nucleus. Some isotopes are more gamma emissive than others, cobalt 60 comes to mind.

Spent nuclear fuel will definitely produce gammas. You can also make them in the lab with particle accelerators, or really high-energy x-ray sources, or by synchrotron radiation, or with a FEL, to name a few. It's not that tough to do. Fast neutron radiation will also create gamma radiation when the neutrons interact with matter. Really fast moving electrons create them when they whack into metals.

Gamma radiation does not travel faster than the speed of light - it IS a sort of light, just very very blue, if you want to look at it that way.

Originally posted by Bedlam
so it's likely someone's already responded,

yeah... like top of this page

Originally posted by die_another_day
reply to post by SelfSustainedLoner

 

Nothing travels faster than light. As far as we know.

Although some things can travel faster than the speed of light in a non-vacuum - if the particle doing that carries a charge, you get that pretty Cerenkov radiation blue glow, it's a sort of "sonic boom" as the particle exceeds the speed of light in that medium. Gamma radiation's not a candidate, though, because it's not charged, and other than the odd dispersion effect, is light and thus travels at light speed in any medium.

And also, these "rays" aren't anything special. This means that waves from all kinds of sources that have sufficient energy can all be classified as Gamma rays.

Waves are waves, they just differ in frequency and orientation of propagation.

Well, no, in a larger sense. In a strict sense, yes, a wave is a progressive disturbance in a medium. In particular, though, an EM wave like a gamma ray is a transverse wave of electric and magnetic fields, while a sound wave is a longitudinal stress wave in an elastic medium. Both waves, and both can be at the same frequency, and not be alike in any way. Nor are they like a slinky wave, or a gravity wave in water, etc. The only similarity is etymological.

The radiation detected by the Geiger counter may be alpha, beta, or gamma. (all different levels of frequencies from different subatomic interactions and decays)

Not at all. Alpha rays are high speed helium particles. Beta rays are high speed electrons. Gamma rays are EM. They are fundamentally different.

Originally posted by die_another_day
Nothing travels faster than light.....

How about time?

What happens when a person, or terrorist group figure out how to explode a truck carrying nuclear waste?

Say with a RPG, or roadside IED... Inside the USA?

Or, if a trucking company that employs immigrants and may be sympathetic to Islamic terrorists gets involved in a plot to secure a large amount of radiological materials (nuclear fuel, waste etc.) and equips a container truck with it, and a large amount of explosives, and detonates it in a densely populated urban area?

The radioactive fallout from either scenario could potentially be far worse than from an atomic bomb.

But hey, that could never happen here... Right?

Originally posted by zorgon

Micro waves... from TV and radio towers, from the cell phone you hold to your ear that has been proven to kill brain cells from longer exposure (so if you talk on the phone a lot ...

)

Older microwave ovens leak, yet people stand in front of them

Microwaves are non-ionizing. Not the same thing at all.

X-Ray machines... every dentist and medical facility has them. The techs leave the room and have you wear lead shielding... but those gamma rays leave the building and go somewhere

If it's a medical x-ray machine, it's definitely not gamma radiation. And no, they don't leave the building and go somewhere.

The new Airport X-ray scanners... DHS says its safe with a yearly dose limit. But they forget to include all the other rays you get and what about the accumulation in frequent fliers?

The airlines are killing off their best customers first

Go over 30,000 feet, and you'll get about the same radiation as this truck was giving off. Maybe more at some times of the year.

Depression Glass that pretty green, pink or blue antique collectors glassware from the depression era. The green is also known as uranium glass because that beautiful green color that glows under UV light is created by uranium salts. The blue is cobalt, forget what the oink was but its not as 'hot'

Actually, unless it's cobalt 60, it's not hot at all. In fact, you have to have cobalt to live. It's called "B-12". If you want radioactive though, it's Navaho pottery with the pretty orange colors, or Mexican "Fiestaware" from the 60's.

So... your getting cooked just sitting at home

Maybe all that radiation is why we are getting longer lifespans in modern times?

Radiation comes naturally. Go eat a banana.

That Fukushima radiation is already showing up in our food supplies (albeit in small amounts, but it is measurable) Chernoble's coffin is falling apart so that will be an issue soon...

You ain't heard the worst from Fukushima yet. Give it some time, I expect TEPCO to screw the pooch again in a major way.

You guys are confirming my greedy suspicion - what you all need to do is buy the RadAlert 2000! For only $99.95 (or three easy payments of $40) you can own a wall mounted radiation detector, made by a gen-u-wine member of the military-industrial complex you've heard about on TV!

Forget the shmancy-fancy clicks, pops, and numbers, the RadAlert 2000 will let you know when it's time to run! Just like a smoke detector, when a problem with radiation like a shipment of waste, a leaky reactor, or bomb fallout reaches your home and begins to rise to dangerous levels, the RadAlert will let you know by beeping and flashing a warning light! It gives you time to get your family to safety, before the news comes on!

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