It's clear to me that excessive handling of nuclear materials has risks beyond what the public finds acceptable, regardless of the protestations of the self-interested industry and government types.
I.e., if you want to have nuclear fun, go somewhere that it doesn't risk others, or pay to make the risk acceptable. Instead, Congress is paid to fool the American people by underwriting risks with Americans' own money.
That said, a friend of mine at Los Alamos has a co-worker who basically inhaled Pu-244 directly, 10 years ago! And still is healthy, no cancer, as is predicted by others who warn a few micrograms guarantee it. That may be the stat for Pu-238, however.
Fun stuff, radionuclides, but too risky for deployment, as we are seeing in today's headlines:
Maybe someday we'll know enough about human nature, avoiding terrorism, and avoiding accidents, to go crazy and have nuclear cars, watches and household generators. Until then, common sense. |
