How would you like radioactive metal from nuclear weapons facilities to be recycled for use in consumer goods like silverware, pots and pans, eye glasses, zippers, kid’s braces, and even pacemakers and artificial hip joints? This practice was banned in 2000, but if the US Department of Energy gets its way, it will be reimplemented in the future (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show).
On the Who, What, Why website, Karen Charman writes: "The claim is that the radioactive elements will be at such a low level that they will be harmless, but what the DOE would rather we not understand is that dosage builds over time. Radiation, however, is a special kind of pollution. Because of the long-lived nature of many radionuclides, radioactive contamination can persist for a very long time.
"DOE seems to believe that as the contaminated metal gets mixed into the larger supply of scrap metal, which in 2012 totaled 59 million tons, the contamination would be diluted enough not to cause any problems.
"Perhaps an individual pot would be harmless, but if you live in a world that subjects you to an unending dose of low-level alpha and beta particles and gamma rays, you will be harmed.
Will our food soon be glowing, and if it is, will be STILL eat too much of it?
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