[R-390] Meters and Radium-226

[Barry]

It isn't the cleanup; it's the paperwork.

Barry - N4BUQ



> What's so expensive about boxing them up while wearing a protective suit
and
> dumping them in the ocean.  That's what was done with the R-390A meters as
I
> understand it...and I'll bet the military guys didn't have the suits.
>
> Cecil..
>
>
> > Not too far off topic, I hope.  From the AVweb web  site.  (Wonder if
they
> > have any R-390/390A  meters?)
> >
> > Harry  KG5LO
> > Saline MI
> >
> > Hazardous Instruments Keep Pilots From  Planes
> >
> > At least 12 aircraft owners at Chino Airport in California have been
> > unable
> > to get to their airplanes for more than a month because of their
> > neighbor's
> > hobby of collecting luminescent dialed instruments. San Bernardino
County
> > officials say there are enough old airplane instruments painted with
> > radium-226
> > inside two hangars occupied by Preservation Aviation Inc. to create a
> > radiation
> > hazard. Since March 10, authorities have barred access to neighboring
> > hangars.  Airport manager James Jenkins told the Daily Bulletin that the
> > neighboring
> > aircraft are not contaminated but the area around them is off-limits.
The
> > county  estimates it will cost more than $200,000 to collect all the
> > instruments
> > and  dispose of them safely. Because the county owns one of the hangars
> > and
> > the land  under the other, it will undertake the cleanup but will be
> > looking to
> > get the  money back from Preservation Aviation owner Jeff Pearson, who
> > wasn't
> > available  to comment. This is the second time the company has been at
the
> > center of a  radiation scare. The Chino investigation stemmed from the
> > Environmental  Protection Agency's 2004 probe of a North Hollywood
> > warehouse in which
> > Preservation Aviation stored thousands of radium-containing instruments.
> > Radiation levels in that warehouse were 100 times greater than normal.
The
> > Los
> > Angeles Daily News reported at the time that the cost of that cleanup
was
> > $7
> > million.