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And, to tie back to the original article, accidents like this one prompted the creation of a new warning symbol for enclosed radiation sources, which is designe

And, to tie back to the original article, accidents like this one prompted the creation of a new warning symbol for enclosed radiation sources, which is designed to to rely of people being able to read any particular language or being familiar with the "radiation" trefoil. https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/new-symbol-launched-warn-public-about-radiation-dangers-0 https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/new-symbol-launched-war...

YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
The assumption that is made however is that whoever approaches a radioactive source will be able to understand the new sign. Another assumption is that this person will believe the sign- for instance, Egyptian Pharaohs went to great lengths to ward people off their buried treasures but their tombs were robbed anyway, by grave robbers who simply figured out it was all to keep them away from the goods. This concern was big in the mind of Gregory Benford and his team who designed the thorn fields etc- that a sign telling you to keep off may just be read as "here be treasure". Finally, the dearth of knowledge among the majority of the population on nuclear physics should not be underestimated. In the Goiania accident, and other similar cases, people realised that the radioactive sources they had found were important and potentially valuable, because they exhibited uncommon properties, like glowing in the dark or emitting heat (in Lia, Georgia, a 90Sr source with an activity of 1295 TBq was used as a heater by folks gathering wood in the forest). So they kept those sources, putting them in pockets and taking them home, to show their families and then probably looking for a way to cash in on them, until they were taken to hospital with strange illnesses. These actually seem to be pretty clear patterns of human activity and they don't seem to be deterred by simple signage, which is often present on medical equipment etc.
- vilhelm_s 9y ago
  Sure, but in Goiania (and in the similar accident in Samut Prakan), the people involved didn't disregard any warnings, it just didn't occur to them at all that the source might be dangerous. This also led to a delayed response, because people were getting sick but had no idea what might be causing it it. Putting an extra red sticker on the dangerous goods will not in itself keep spent nuclear reactor fuel safe for 10,000 years, but it's at least a good start. :)

YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago

The assumption that is made however is that whoever approaches a radioactive source will be able to understand the new sign. Another assumption is that this person will believe the sign- for instance, Egyptian Pharaohs went to great lengths to ward people off their buried treasures but their tombs were robbed anyway, by grave robbers who simply figured out it was all to keep them away from the goods. This concern was big in the mind of Gregory Benford and his team who designed the thorn fields etc- that a sign telling you to keep off may just be read as "here be treasure". Finally, the dearth of knowledge among the majority of the population on nuclear physics should not be underestimated. In the Goiania accident, and other similar cases, people realised that the radioactive sources they had found were important and potentially valuable, because they exhibited uncommon properties, like glowing in the dark or emitting heat (in Lia, Georgia, a 90Sr source with an activity of 1295 TBq was used as a heater by folks gathering wood in the forest). So they kept those sources, putting them in pockets and taking them home, to show their families and then probably looking for a way to cash in on them, until they were taken to hospital with strange illnesses. These actually seem to be pretty clear patterns of human activity and they don't seem to be deterred by simple signage, which is often present on medical equipment etc.

vilhelm_s 9y ago
Sure, but in Goiania (and in the similar accident in Samut Prakan), the people involved didn't disregard any warnings, it just didn't occur to them at all that the source might be dangerous. This also led to a delayed response, because people were getting sick but had no idea what might be causing it it. Putting an extra red sticker on the dangerous goods will not in itself keep spent nuclear reactor fuel safe for 10,000 years, but it's at least a good start. :)