“Dangerous” Levels of Radiation Found in Washington, DC
Aside from the incredible content, one of the things I have always liked about JunkScience.Com is Steve Milloy’s ability to see the amusing side of things and put a humorous twist to his debunking of junk science. He’s in the news this week for his efforts to tweak supporters of absurdly strict radiation requirements for Yucca Mountain, the controversial proposed depository for U.S. nuclear waste.
At the beginning of April, Milloy issued a press release on his site, Radiation ‘hazards’ found at U.S. Capitol, Library of Congress buildings, announcing that tests he commissioned found that, “radiation levels up to 65 times higher than U.S. Environmental Protection Agency safety standards were measured at the U.S. Capitol building and Library of Congress.” The press release goes on to note that,
The measured radiation dose rate is: (1) up to 550 percent higher than the dose rate from a nuclear power plant; (2) about 13,000 times higher than the average annual radiation dose from worldwide nuclear energy production; and (3)about 13,000 times higher than ongoing worldwide radiation exposures from the Chernobyl accident, according to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).
Should you be afraid to visit the Capitol or Library of Congress? Of course not. As noted in a recent Roll Call story about Milloy’s study, the reason such “high” radiation levels were found is that the Capitol has numerous statues. The stone in the statues gives off relatively higher than, say, concrete.
But the Roll Call story also misses the point as a spokesman for Sen. Harvey Reid (D-Nevada), a supporter of the excessively rigid nuclear radiation requirements for Yucca Mountain. While radiation limits obviously have to be set, it is ridiculous to argue that the wastes stored in an enormous geologically stable cavern should give off less radiation than the average statue.
Or as Milloy told Roll Call, “In the case of Harry Reid, the bad science is the notion that low levels of radiation are dangerous and the agenda is to keep Yucca Mountain from opening up. I just think the standards are absurdly low and Senator Reid is being ridiculous.”
Sources:
Architect Deals With Fallout: Site Posts Misleading Report on Capitol Radiation. Lauren W. Whittington, Roll Call, April 16, 2001.
Radiation ‘hazards’ found at U.S. Capitol, Library of Congress buildings. Steve Milloy, Junkscience.Com, April 1, 2001.
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