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Comment by jiggawatts | Hacker News Reader

It may help alleviate your concerns somewhat to know that these scientists weren’t completely irresponsible: Cesium 137 is a gamma emitter, which means that it doesn’t make things around it radioactive (unlike most fissionable elements such as Uranium or Plutonium).

This was mentioned in one of the articles you linked!

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And you are proposing that none of the Cesium 137 escaped into the ambient environment during the 19 year exposure period? That is statistically impossible. The source had ha mechanical shutter that allowed it to be directly exposed to the environment for almost 20 years, with no human to maintain it. Corrosion, spalling, and release of radioactive material though freeze-thaw cycles are all ways that bits of the source can become liberated.

Are you also proposing that this was the only experiment that released radionuclides into the environment at BNL? I certainly remember the furor of them getting caught pissing tritium into the groundwater. I am sure there are many, many things they did which were not detected.

https://www.gao.gov/products/rced-98-26

It is well know and well documented that the defense industry has taken a cavalier approach to public nuclear safety from it’s very inception. And make no mistake, BNL exists primarily as a national defense asset.

Gamma rays will cheerfully go right through centimetres (an inch) or so of solid metal, there’s no need to directly expose the Caesium to the environment!

These radiation sources are usually very solid metal containers with their lids welded permanently shut.

Not to mention that these sources usually contain water-soluble salts of caesium. Hence, hermetically sealing the sources is essential, especially for outdoors use.

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