I grew up in Port Hope, Canada, where Eldorado Mining and Refining was located on Lake Ontario...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...http://www.toxipedia.org/displ...
In 1969 worked for one year at a factory in town called Westinghouse Atomics that made the fuel rods for CANDU reactors...
https://books.google.co.uk/boo...http://www.world-nuclear.org/i...
Eldorado used to dump truckloads of refined uranium on the loading dock of Westinghouse, which I could watch from my work station, which was then scooped up and eventually turned into round ceramic-like pellets 1cm x 2cm.
These were inserted into 2 foot long zirconium tubes. Bundles of the tubes were made to insert into the 50 foot long zirconium calandria tubes in the reactor core.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
I thought I was quite clever when I snuck one of the pellets out.
We all had radiation badges, but no one actually checked them.
Everyone that I knew who worked there for a long time eventually died young of some type of cancer. I only worked directly with uranium for 6 months, but in my late 50s I developed rheumatoid arthritis, which apparently is rather unusual.
They used to dump waste sludge behind our high school, where we all went to smoke dope after class.
Subsequently there was a massive cleanup in many areas of the town.
http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content...https://books.google.co.uk/boo...http://www.world-nuclear.org/i...
How does all this relate to the original topic?
Well, at the time, everyone thought it was harmless, like the toy.
Everyone I worked with at the time could be called a chav or a redneck or a good old boy - some of them were really good people, some not so. But Hey, it took me 6 effin months of handling uranium pellets to finally realize that this might not be the best way to spend my life making money, so I quit. The rest of them believed the company line that everything was safe.
https://www.google.co.uk/url?s...
cheers
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I grew up in Port Hope, Canada, where Eldorado Mining and Refining was located on Lake Ontario... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E... http://www.toxipedia.org/displ... In 1969 worked for one year at a factory in town called Westinghouse Atomics that made the fuel rods for CANDU reactors... https://books.google.co.uk/boo... http://www.world-nuclear.org/i... Eldorado used to dump truckloads of refined uranium on the loading dock of Westinghouse, which I could watch from my work station, which was then scooped up and eventually turned into round ceramic-like pellets 1cm x 2cm. These were inserted into 2 foot long zirconium tubes. Bundles of the tubes were made to insert into the 50 foot long zirconium calandria tubes in the reactor core. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... I thought I was quite clever when I snuck one of the pellets out. We all had radiation badges, but no one actually checked them. Everyone that I knew who worked there for a long time eventually died young of some type of cancer. I only worked directly with uranium for 6 months, but in my late 50s I developed rheumatoid arthritis, which apparently is rather unusual. They used to dump waste sludge behind our high school, where we all went to smoke dope after class. Subsequently there was a massive cleanup in many areas of the town. http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content... https://books.google.co.uk/boo... http://www.world-nuclear.org/i... How does all this relate to the original topic? Well, at the time, everyone thought it was harmless, like the toy. Everyone I worked with at the time could be called a chav or a redneck or a good old boy - some of them were really good people, some not so. But Hey, it took me 6 effin months of handling uranium pellets to finally realize that this might not be the best way to spend my life making money, so I quit. The rest of them believed the company line that everything was safe. https://www.google.co.uk/url?s... cheers
More like the last 240 years. Why do you think the Brits keep invading Afghanistan? The old money has to keep the opium flowing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...