Tuesday, November 3, 2009
??!! / Books / Retail Has Walmart Gained Nuclear Capability?
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 2:34 PM
Holy shit. Daily Finance brings disturbing news to us:
On Oct. 28, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission cited Walmart (WMT) for improperly disposing of nuclear material. The items in question were exit signs that contained tritium, a hydrogen isotope, and Walmart had apparently been lax in its removal of 2,979 of them. The massive retailer also neglected to hire someone to keep track of its radioactive signage, in direct contravention of the NRC's requirements.The NRC could, if it wished, levy a $369,300 fine on Walmart; however, it chose to waive the fee because the chain quickly responded to the citation. Walmart tallied the tritium-based signs at its stores, cleaned up radioactive spills created by its broken signs, and eventually decided to switch from tritium-based signs to more conventional — and nonradioactive — signs.
I know (thanks to this delightful, informative photo book that I have been dipping into for the last week and a half) that radioactive material is a lot more common than you might think. But still: The idea of Walmart being responsible for cleaning up nuclear spills is sphincter-tighteningly worrisome.
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1
Check in the book's index for Tritium; it's mentioned twice, under Hydrogen & under Promethium. It not such a scary substance. Walmart is scarier for other reasons.
3
It's in a gas form in these signs. If one breaks, how are they supposed to clean it up? Run around with a plastic bag? Besides that, "it is incapable of penetrating through glass containers or even intact human skin". See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium_ill…
I carry around a tube of this in my pocket in the form of a glowing keychain. Your blurb is even more scare-mongering than the article you've linked to.
I carry around a tube of this in my pocket in the form of a glowing keychain. Your blurb is even more scare-mongering than the article you've linked to.
4
They're fucking exit signs, Paul. Which are everywhere. Everywhere would include Wal-Mart.
If you're going to make a fool of yourself acting silly because you read a scary phrase like "nuclear material" why not wig out because Wal-Mart sells bullets? Or paint remover? Jesus.
If you're going to make a fool of yourself acting silly because you read a scary phrase like "nuclear material" why not wig out because Wal-Mart sells bullets? Or paint remover? Jesus.
5
Timex Indiglo, anyone? Stuff's everywhere. Replace every occurrence of "Walmart" with "Fred Meyer" and see how scared you are.
9
Indiglo actually doesn't use tritium--it's an electroluminescent technology.
Radioactive materials, different types and energies of emitted particles, etc. is confusing shit and not to be dismissed out of hand. Tritium, while emitting particles that can't penetrate so much as a piece of paper, is nevertheless easily absorbed by the body if ingested or inhaled because tritium is a hydrogen isotope, and H is in almost every biologically active molecule. At the cellular level and molecular distances, tritium quite readily causes macromolecular damage including DNA mutations, and it has a relatively long half-life. Its presence can't be detected by the usual hand-held instruments ("Geiger counters").
So dumping hundreds of thousands of tritium-containing exit signs in landfills, for example, where they are likely to contaminate groundwater, is not a trivial issue.
Radioactive materials, different types and energies of emitted particles, etc. is confusing shit and not to be dismissed out of hand. Tritium, while emitting particles that can't penetrate so much as a piece of paper, is nevertheless easily absorbed by the body if ingested or inhaled because tritium is a hydrogen isotope, and H is in almost every biologically active molecule. At the cellular level and molecular distances, tritium quite readily causes macromolecular damage including DNA mutations, and it has a relatively long half-life. Its presence can't be detected by the usual hand-held instruments ("Geiger counters").
So dumping hundreds of thousands of tritium-containing exit signs in landfills, for example, where they are likely to contaminate groundwater, is not a trivial issue.
10
OK, sorry, not Indiglo. But Luminox watches do.
Now explain why it's bad news for Walmart especially to use (and eventually discard) tritium-lit exit signs but not Target, K-Mart, Fred Meyer, Costco, Safeway, or Piggly Wiggly?
Now explain why it's bad news for Walmart especially to use (and eventually discard) tritium-lit exit signs but not Target, K-Mart, Fred Meyer, Costco, Safeway, or Piggly Wiggly?
11
@10, I'm guessing it's based on sheer numbers. But actually (I have some experience here as a gun-to-my-head lab-safety manager and building-remodeling staff liaison), the vast majority of the red- or green-lit exit signs you see in buildings are ordinary LED- or incandescent-illuminated types. The tritium-powered ones have an extremely dim greenish-white glow and are typically used in staff-only areas of buildings, or where electrically-powered signs are a physical impossibility or "prohibitively expensive." In some jurisdictions the fire regs simply don't allow them. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that Wal-Mart tried to cheap out by using them in every instance where they thought they could get away with it.
12
A couple of decades ago, I worked in a university biomedical research environment where almost everybody openly mocked the nervous, fussy, Indian-born radiation safety officer, while regularly spilling radioactive materials and triggering laborious cleanup efforts. I was glad he was around. I always monitored my work area before and after a procedure, worked carefully, and never needed a decon.
This was also a time before workplace sexual-harassment training and the HIGHLY beneficial influence of the animal-welfare (not animal-rights) movement on the care and treatment of laboratory animals. It both amazes and saddens me now how many things went on even that relatively short time ago that would be headline-inducing outrages now.
Going back to radioactivity, it's absolutely astounding how advancements in non-radioactive reporter molecules have revolutionized DNA sequencing, blotting techniques, immunohistochemistry, etc. People coming through the educational system now have no appreciation of the changes that have occurred in a very short period of time. If someone hasn't written a comprehensive history of this, they need to.
Now I sound like an old fart preaching to the whippersnappers. So be it.
This was also a time before workplace sexual-harassment training and the HIGHLY beneficial influence of the animal-welfare (not animal-rights) movement on the care and treatment of laboratory animals. It both amazes and saddens me now how many things went on even that relatively short time ago that would be headline-inducing outrages now.
Going back to radioactivity, it's absolutely astounding how advancements in non-radioactive reporter molecules have revolutionized DNA sequencing, blotting techniques, immunohistochemistry, etc. People coming through the educational system now have no appreciation of the changes that have occurred in a very short period of time. If someone hasn't written a comprehensive history of this, they need to.
Now I sound like an old fart preaching to the whippersnappers. So be it.
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