Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: arf@chinet.chi.il.us (Jack Schmidling)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Shielding Nukes
Keywords: not much help
Message-ID: <8530@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 24 Jul 89 05:14:04 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: Chinet - Chicago, Ill.
Lines: 58
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: arf@chinet.chi.il.us (Jack Schmidling)

ashielding722/e4 
 
Kirby says: 
 
> When eqipped with the right instruments, you can locate Fermilab (near  
Chicago) without knowing quite where it is.  
 
ARF says: 
 
I don't believe the dosimeters worn by workers in the nuclear industry would  
detect Fermilab from very far away.  If the conclusion is that it requires a  
detector capable of detecting Fermilab from orbit, to detect a nuke at close  
range, then the case is closed. 
 
Spencer says: 
 
>Sigh.  Warheads are not reactors.   You probably wouldn't want to spend ten  
years sleeping in the same room with them if you could avoid it, but the odds  
that normal occupational exposure would harm you are slim. 
 
ARF says: 
 
Watches with illuminous dials are not reactors either but lots of women died  
very horrible deaths from painting the dials.  Frankly, I wouldn't sleep with  
a watch, much less a nuke. 
 
Norton says: 
 
>No radiation is released by the warheads become "hot to the touch", i.e.  
100+ deg F. 
 
ARF says: 
 
This whole discussion got started because the original poster, John Ralls   
said "As for finding nukes, that's easy.  Warheads aren't shielded because of  
the weight, so you just point a radiation detector at it." 
  
However, I detect {pun} a "don't worry, be happy" attitude.  It reminds me of  
the standard statement from the management of a power station whenever they  
get caught releasing radiation... 
 
     "a radiation release, which is now under control, 
      poses no serious threat to public health". 
 
 Let's try to put it into the proper perspective.  Can anyone asign some  
numbers here?   Like... how many milirems, at one meter from a nuke?... would  
be a good place to start.  Then, we could let the consumer be the judge. 
 
It would be a pity if I had to move this off to sci.physics to get a hard  
answer. 
 
The Amateur Radio Forum (arf)