Radioactive find in Putnam shed causes a stir (Florida)

[Jeanette in FL]

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/052406/met_21951072.shtml

A couple saw the words "depleted uranium" and "started calling people."


By DANA TREEN, The Times-Union


An odd lump of metal at the bottom of a box turned Tuesday topsy-turvy for a Putnam County couple accustomed to rural solitude.

It was just a big chunk of rust and when we cleaned it up it was, 'Oh my God,'" said Susan Greninger, whose husband scraped enough of the small cylinder of metal to read a "depleted uranium" notice on top.

"We freaked out and we started calling people," Greninger said.

The couple called NASA because they'd bought the box near the Kennedy Space Center, said Maj. Keith Riddick of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office. Volunteer firefighters, county emergency service personnel and the Palatka Fire Department -- which has a hazardous materials team -- were dispatched.

More at link. I wonder where this came from or what it is used for?

[soup]

1. another short article

Couple finds Uranium in an old NASA tool box

Crescent City, Florida (AP) — A Putnam County couple got a startling surprise when they found a piece of depleted uranium at the bottom of a box of tools.

Susan and Lance Greninger called NASA because they had bought the box at an auction near the Kennedy Space Center. A Hazmat team from the fire department examined the metal and said it was a solid piece of depleted uranium about the size of a child's fist.

>snip<

The state Bureau of Radiation Control retrieved the cylinder. They said the piece is toxic, but does not pose a health hazard to the community. They did say that if the couple had walked around the house with the uranium in their pocket, they would get radiation sickness.

Authorities said the piece may have been part of a tool. Depleted uranium can be used as a radiation shield and is sometimes used as a ballast in commercial airliners and ships.
http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=31886

strange and scary. Hope they'll be o.k.

[sandnsea]

2. Now isn't that just something

First, quite peculiar that they don't mention that this is the stuff on our warheads and armor, that our troops are walking around with on a daily basis.

And more importantly, if it's potentially dangerous to this couple, then it's dangerous to the populations that have been bombed to hell with the stuff. Did they just accidentally admit DU really is a problem??

[acmejack]

5. I would have to say you are correct Sandnsea

That is exactly what they just fessed up to. If it is harmful to American civilians it sure as hell is just as harmful to foreign civilians and US troops. I am not real smart, but even I can figure that out.

When are we going to put an end to this? When, in the name of decency? In humanities sake?

[UpInArms]

6. US to use depleted uranium (now confesses to poisoning world?)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/2860759.stm

Tuesday, 18 March, 2003

A United States defence official has said moves to ban depleted uranium ammunition are just an attempt by America's enemies to blunt its military might.

Colonel James Naughton of US Army Materiel Command said Iraqi complaints about depleted uranium (DU) shells had no medical basis.

"They want it to go away because we kicked the crap out of them," he told a Pentagon briefing.

If war starts, tonnes of depleted uranium (DU) weapons are likely to be used by British and American tanks and by ground attack aircraft.

...more...

Remains of toxic bullets litter Iraq

May 15, 2003

BAGHDAD - At a roadside produce stand on the outskirts of Baghdad, business is brisk for Latifa Khalaf Hamid. Iraqi drivers pull up and snap up fresh bunches of parsley, mint leaves, dill, and onion stalks.

But Ms. Hamid's stand is just four paces away from a burnt-out Iraqi tank, destroyed by - and contaminated with - controversial American depleted-uranium (DU) bullets. Local children play "throughout the day" on the tank, Hamid says, and on another one across the road.

No one has warned the vendor in the faded, threadbare black gown to keep the toxic and radioactive dust off her produce. The children haven't been told not to play with the radioactive debris. They gather around as a Geiger counter carried by a visiting reporter starts singing when it nears a DU bullet fragment no bigger than a pencil eraser. It registers nearly 1,000 times normal background radiation levels on the digital readout.

The Monitor visited four sites in the city - including two randomly chosen destroyed Iraqi armored vehicles, a clutch of burned American ammunition trucks, and the downtown planning ministry - and found significant levels of radioactive contamination from the US battle for Baghdad.

...more...

(edited to fix link)

[SlavesandBulldozers]

12. "They want it to go away because we kicked the crap out of them," he told

uhh. I thought we liberated them because we care about them? Jesus at least get your fucking lies straight you fascist.

[uppityperson]

9. Yup, wonder if any news will make that point?

I crack myself up sometimes. sandnsea, re-reading before posting and notice you write "admit DU really is a problem" which I read the first time as democraticunderground.

I wish this would get picked up more by news media. sigh.

[sandnsea]

10. I know

I've done that in other threads myself. I thought of it when I wrote it, but decided it was a good funny too. I bet some in our government really would think D-U is a "bigger problem" than depleted uranium. :)

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Good thing the piece was stamped?

Otherwise it might have been turned into a paperweight.

[greekspeak]

4. Heckuva Job Brownie-Clone!

I wonder which WH-appointee oversaw this, and how much depleted uranium the idiot has sold to the public?

[UpInArms]

7. kicking this back up for the morning readers

:kick:

[Ravenseye]

8. Finally we found some evidence of WMD!!!

They just happened to be in Florida.

[noonwitch]

11. It sounds like something that would have come ashore on Gilligan's Island

Like the radioactive vegetable seeds, or the mine.