4 ms·
> I was once prevented from leaving a neutron-science facility at Los Alamos after the seat of my pants set off a radiation alarm on exit. This was odd because
by afterburner 3y ago
> I was once prevented from leaving a neutron-science facility at Los Alamos after the seat of my pants set off a radiation alarm on exit. This was odd because the neutron beam had been off for weeks. It was a Saturday, so the radiation safety technician on call didn't arrive for half an hour — at which point I was clean, so the detective questions began. I had spent the day sitting on a plastic step stool. The tech looked at it, said that radon's decay products are concentrated by static electricity, and told me that I needed to get a real chair.
Hilarious
- tpmx 3y agoAlso: That competence (the radiation safety technician).
- dylan604 3y agoI would hope that at some place like Los Alamos the technicians are a little more qualified than your run of the mill techs.
- tpmx 3y agoI suppose the downside of all that secrecy is balanced with the upside of having lots of competent and smart colleagues. In my experience that is worth even more than a very high salary for your quality of life. (That 1958 article morkalork dug up and presented below, seems historically interesting at least. Thanks for making an effort to show it.)
- morkalork 3y agoYou might lose your mind a bit if you're surrounded by them 247 though. >Although the town is trim and neat, With cozy houses on every street, Though saying so is indiscreet, >I hate it. From: https://web.archive.org/web/20201126185123/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1958/9/13/deep-river-almost-the-perfect-place-to-live https://web.archive.org/web/20201126185123/https://archive.m...
- Eumenes 3y agoNational labs have alot of smart people, but alot of paper pushers too
- jupp0r 3y agoDo you think they would be paid more?
- zamnos 3y agoNope. Government salaries are public information, and are reported all over the usual sites (levels.fyi, glassdoor, indeed, etc) More importantly though, the government doesn't give out stock options with a vesting schedule. Meanwhile, techs who were at Tesla and got a small grant when it was at $20 are likely pretty happy with the stock being at $170. (Tech's that got grants at $400, less so.)
- roywiggins 3y agoYou'd hope so, but... https://www.science.org/content/article/near-disaster-federal-nuclear-weapons-laboratory-takes-hidden-toll-america-s-arsenal https://www.science.org/content/article/near-disaster-federa...
- bitL 3y agoI presume that the technician had at least one PhD. I had a colleague who worked at Los Alamos with a top PhD and he was basically driving around placing and collecting data from some sensors all day long.
- thedanbob 3y agoI appreciated his tl;dr in the comments: > ONE TIME I GOT RADON ON MY BUTT
- dylan604 3y agoI know that red tape is a thing with gov't procurement, but come on!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- eastbound 3y ago> I had spent the day sitting on a plastic step stool So, if it attracts radon, does it raise the risk profile of the person? Should I ban sitting on static-electricity objects in radon-sensitive areas?
- duskwuff 3y agoNot really. If there's that much radon in the air, it's a risk to health with or without the static electricity. (Los Alamos doesn't have dangerous concentrations of radon; they just have very sensitive detectors.)
- yummypaint 3y agoThey also make you take off synthetic jackets for the same reason. Apparently alot of people have had to do extra paperwork over the years because of their patagonia grabbing radon.