3 ms·
My favorite radioactive contamination story is the truck in Juarez that was unknowingly contaminated with Cobalt-60 pellets. The truck died (for unrelated reaso
by kens 6y ago
My favorite radioactive contamination story is the truck in Juarez that was unknowingly contaminated with Cobalt-60 pellets. The truck died (for unrelated reason) and was scrapped and melted down in an iron foundry. The contamination was only discovered by accident when a truckload of rebar made a wrong turn in Los Alamos National Laboratories and set off a radiation alarm. They managed to track down the truck, find the source of the radiation, and get rid of the contaminated metal. Fortunately, nobody died.
https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/accidents/juarez.htm https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/accidents/juarez.htm
- qbaqbaqba 6y agoI live near an aluminum foundry and everything going in goes through a radiation detector.
- m4rtink 6y agoSame with waste incineration plants, for the same resons - apparently it is sensitive enough to detect even diapers with radio contrast therapy residue inside a full garbage truck.
- sandworm101 6y agoSome airports got these post-911. They were called "granny detectors" because rather than finding dirty bombs they always found the old person who just underwent a scan using radioactive tracer. They reality is that many medical procedures irradiate patients. Many dead bodies, if they were not human, would be radioactive enough to be considered hazardous.
- scruple 6y ago> Many dead bodies, if they were not human, would be radioactive enough to be considered hazardous. I'm curious, can they be (safely) cremated?
- sandworm101 6y agoWell... they are. A more interesting question is whether such people should be allowed out of hospital. For all the people afraid of letting thier kids play near cellphone towers, perhaps they shouldn't hug grandma for a while after such procedures.