Nuclear power sources abandoned.

[Moontanman]

This video describes how the use of an RTG to keep warm in the wilderness resulted in their deaths. The harrowing thing is the number of orphaned sources just in the USSR state of Georgia... 300 were found and in the USA one source is lost everyday. Most people wouldn't know what was happening anymore than the three men who found this one. Radiological sources like this are used in hospitals to generate x-rays and other radiations. The number of people and the effort required to just pick and and remove this orphaned one source is incredible but the idea of how many such sources might be lying around, not just in junkyards or near military bases but left abandoned in the wild is super frightening.   How many of us would recognize the danger and how obvious would the danger be? In this case the steaming mud in the middle of winter should have been a clue that something wasn't right but the amount of radiation being emitted was enough to damage these men, for them to feel it the next day!  Death soon followed. 

 

 

Edited October 7, 2023 by Moontanman

[swansont]

!

Moderator Note

You need to post a summary

 

[Moontanman]

32 minutes ago, swansont said:

!

Moderator Note

You need to post a summary

 

I was coming back to explain further and I did but the danger of orphaned radiation sources is real, I just didn't realize just how common this is. 

[swansont]

17 minutes ago, Moontanman said:

I was coming back to explain further and I did but the danger of orphaned radiation sources is real, I just didn't realize just how common this is. 

You still haven’t posted a summary of the video, and no citations for your other claims,

[studiot]

26 minutes ago, Moontanman said:

I was coming back to explain further and I did but the danger of orphaned radiation sources is real, I just didn't realize just how common this is. 

So just exactly how common is it with references.

 

I would suggest distinguishing between how common in settled communities, like say Denmark and war zones like the setting for your video.

 

But fundamentally people need to take more responsibility for and care their own actions.

 

How does the frequency of this type of misadventure compare with say the frequency of an ordinary joe clearing the rubbish bins or alleys and receiving an unwanted 'needlestick injury' ?

[swansont]

And please compare these other cases with the scenario in the video, where they were unlabeled and poorly shielded. Same kind of radiation? Same activity?

[Moontanman]

Ok, I am an idiot, no sense in anyone else berating me, I withdraw my video. You can trash it. 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Moontanman

[TheVat]

I was curious, so looked at a few citations, starting with the EPA.

https://iwaste.epa.gov/guidance/radiological-nuclear/orphan-sources

Which provides basic definitions.  Then looked at a list of incidents on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_orphan_source_incidents

And this catalogue is used by professionals to help find orphaned sources.

https://www.iaea.org/resources/databases/international-catalogue-of-sealed-radioactive-sources-and-devices

One disturbing bit I found in my meandering was that a lot of orphaned source materials end up as scrap metal, which scrappers are often unaware of.

 

[swansont]

On 10/8/2023 at 11:59 AM, Moontanman said:

Ok, I am an idiot, no sense in anyone else berating me, I withdraw my video. You can trash it. 

The incident happened. What was requested was a brief summary (there’s a Wikipedia article on it, which would have sufficed) because that’s one of the rules, and for some support for other claims, like sources being lost as a daily occurrence in the US. That seems incredible, given the list of orphan sources TheVat provided averages about one incident a year, worldwide.

 

[StringJunky]

37 minutes ago, swansont said:

The incident happened. What was requested was a brief summary (there’s a Wikipedia article on it, which would have sufficed) because that’s one of the rules, and for some support for other claims, like sources being lost as a daily occurrence in the US. That seems incredible, given the list of orphan sources TheVat provided averages about one incident a year, worldwide.

 

The last one was that railway tester that fell off iirc.