This got me thinking

[engguy]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... i_21200692

I'm sure alot of warbirds have been exposed to this. And lots of radial engines too, since they probably flew through clouds and upper atmosphere down wind of tests in the 50's. Any one know if it is something to worry about?
Any stories????

[Glyn]

I can't believe they really want to use radioactive materials like that - or can I? The processors will benefit from reduced standards, but nobody else will. This is not a scare story from hysterical tree-huggers. Some of the most informed scientists in the world have been quoted.

[tom d. friedman]

i'll chuck my microwave oven & heat my food with a radioactive fork. i'll save a $$$ on my electric bill each month.

[BigGrey]

I was in New Mexico in the early to mid 80's when a truckload of re-bar set off the detectors at Los Alamos Labs. It turned out that the steel mill in Mexico had been contaminated with hot stuff from a medical device that had been taken apart at a local scrap yard. The pellets from the device were like steel marbles. They checked the route the truck had driven and found the pellets had lodged in the truck tires and kicked out along the route. Kids living near the scrap yard played with the metal marbles and ended up losing limbs or dying.
The whole episode was a pretty big deal at the time. There is a good reason to scan the scrap for radiation as some people don't care about public safety if they can make a buck.

Les

[GARY HILTON]

I used to drive for a major salvage/scrap metals company in Ok in the late 80's to early 90's....A lot of the scrap we'd haul in was old oil field pipe, which proved to turn radio active after being in the ground for 80+ years...A lot of this came from the Drumwright, Cushing, Oilton, Stillwater area...We were soon issued gieger counters to check for hot pipes before accepting the load.

It was funny, as the wicks that you'd buy at Wal-Mart, for the Coleman lanterns would peg the gieger counters!