From: dpe@inel.gov (Don Palmrose)
Subject: Re: Notch another one up for the Greennazis
Organization: INEL EG&G Idaho
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 14:57:50 GMT

In article <51643@seismo.CSS.GOV>, stead@skadi.CSS.GOV (Richard Stead) writes:
>  
> I agree on most things here, and I agree that Uranium needs some
> respect.  But I don't think people should be afraid of Uranium.  It
> really is _everywhere_.  It is often at least ppm quanities in most all
> rocks, and it is found in small traces in many plants as well.  It is a
> relatively common element, moreso than other heavy metals like the
> platinum group, rare earths, etc.  So it is all around us all the
> time.  

It is often in forms and at concentrations that would make it difficult for
people to digest enough to pose a problem

> Now, anything we might do that concentrates it in our bodies is
> truly dangerous, but you would have to try, or be exposed to it in
> concentrated non-natural forms (such as metal U, UF6 gas, soluble U
> compounds, or U-rich powders).  

That's my point!  Also those are the forms that are handled by nuclear fuel
manufacturers and their workers.

> As I said, I have handled pounds of U
> in the form of natural minerals, and my kidneys are fine.  I handled
> them with my "bare hands" and without masks.  (I did make sure that the
> specimens in the mineral collection where I was an undergrad were
> wrapped in lead foil - I had a job were part of my responsibilities
> included the collection.  It made sense to be a bit cautious.  It
> didn't scare me nearly as much as the crocidolite.) I have been in
> abandoned quarreys and adits oozing U.  It really is safe so long as
> you are reasonably cautious. (Of course, one should be reasonably
> cautious with most ore materials - the vast majority are toxic to some
> degree). 

Again, that is the point I was making on U, one should be cautious.

> Pu is something one never comes across naturally.  Naturally
> occurring Pu has been found - at barely detectable trace amounts less
> than 1 ppb - in the ore from the natural nuclear reactors.
> 

Right again.

> Another source of U contact - modern warfare.  Our modern ammunition
> can be depleted U tipped.  This is just for the density of it - it is
> only a little less dense the the densest materials - Ir and Os, but
> megabucks cheaper.  The stuff rips through inches of steel plate as if
> it were just a nuisance.  After the Gulf war, U was all over the
> battlefield.  But it was chemical and biological agents they were
> worried about, and an insect bite that caused the worst problems,
> the U was no big deal.

Some people expressed a concern about that in either this group or 
sci.military.  The conclusion there was as long as you are not rubbing your
hands in the stuff and then eating right afterwards (without washing your
hands) you should be fine.

Also, when military personnel are handling the depleted uranium, they take
proper precautions such as wearing gloves and using monitoring equipment.

> 
> Use caution, but don't fear U.  Think of it more along the lines of Pb, not 
> Pu.
>

No problem there.  I find it very strange that you are keeping up this thread
on U when I dropped it long ago.  My point I made and I will continually state
is that in the area of nuclear energy and health physics, most people (from
the ones I talk to and some of them have quite a bit of experience in the
industry) feel that it is easier and more likely to get U-poisoning than it is
to get  Pu-poisoned.   This also is supported from the material I have read.  
Richard, if causes you heart-ache so be it.  

> --
> Richard Stead
> Center for Seismic Studies
> Arlington, VA
> stead@seismo.css.gov
> 
> 

Don Palmrose





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