Forum Index > Full Moon Saloon > Grand Canyon visitor facility exposed visitors to radiation from uranium ore?
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MtnGoat
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MtnGoat
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PostMon Feb 18, 2019 5:58 pm 
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For nearly two decades at the Grand Canyon, tourists, employees, and children on tours passed by three paint buckets stored in the National Park's museum collection building, unaware that they were being exposed to radiation. Although federal officials learned last year that the five-gallon containers were brimming with uranium ore, then removed the radioactive specimens, the park's safety director alleges nothing was done to warn park workers or the public that they might have been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation. In a rogue email sent to all Park Service employees on Feb. 4, Elston "Swede" Stephenson — the safety, health and wellness manager — described the alleged cover-up as "a top management failure" and warned of possible health consequences. "If you were in the Museum Collections Building (2C) between the year 2000 and June 18, 2018, you were 'exposed' to uranium by OSHA's definition," Stephenson wrote. "The radiation readings, at first blush, exceeds (sic) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's safe limits. … Identifying who was exposed, and your exposure level, gets tricky and is our next important task."
What a screw up...

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock. - Will Rogers
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Malachai Constant
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PostMon Feb 18, 2019 7:18 pm 
Concerning but probably not too dangerous. Uranium undergoes beta decay with an extremely long half life. To my mind what could well be more dangerous would be the Radon gas generated which can concentrate in closed areas and lodge in lungs and generate extremely dangerous daughters.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Badger
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Badger
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PostMon Feb 18, 2019 7:55 pm 
Meh. On the upside I no longer need flashlights.

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MyFootHurts
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PostTue Feb 19, 2019 9:18 am 
The report indicated radiation levels at "13.9 mR/hr" where the buckets were stored, and "800 mR/hr on contact with the ore. Just 5 feet from the buckets, there was a zero reading. " Sticking your head in the bucket is about the equivalent dose of getting an x-ray at the doctor's office.

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treeswarper
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treeswarper
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PostTue Feb 19, 2019 9:54 am 
We must keep the buckets away from Conconully.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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