Greetings Curmudgeon.

I think that the Foyle reference to an incident in Taiwan is from page 327 of the book he talks about by Hargraves. What happened was that some recycled steel was contaminated with Cobalt-60 and was used in the construction of apartment buildings. Over a period of 20 years 8000 people were exposed to an average of 400mSv of radiation. Observed 5 cancers was far below the 'normal' expectation of 186 and far far below the 242 as predicted by the anti-nukes beloved Linear no Threshold'theory.
Normal humanoids would take that data as being yet another nail in the coffin of anti nuke campaigners. Fat chance.
Book referred to is very well worth getting as is Wade Allison's book 'Radiation and Reason'. I got my copies online and that may still be the only way to get them.
As usual on this subject there is more good relevant science shown on OLO than anywhere else that I come scross inside Oz. Quite heartwarming: there really is intelligent life out there!
Cheers.

I suppose everybody has fire detectors in their house these days. What makes them work? Guess what, it's Plutonium. Run away, run away. We'll all be killed.

My simple understanding of Radioactivity. Radium has a long wave length. It is only dangerous if there is prolonged exposure. The waves will penetrate 6 feet (2 metres) of concrete.

At the other end there is Plutonium. It has an extremely short wavelength. It is extremely dangerous if ingested. The waves will not penetrate a piece of paper. That's why it's safe to use in Fire detectors.

People are still living safely in Hiroshima & Nagasaki 68 years after the Bombs were dropped.

To a certain extent, all these pro nuclear spin comments are irrelevant as far as the world's energy future goes. Health, radiation, environment - all don't matter, when nuclear power is looked at from an economic perspective. Financially, the nuclear industry is undergoing a slow, tortuous death.http://qz.com/94817/the-real-reason-to-fight-nuclear-power-has-nothing-to-do-with-health-risks/

Foyle and Peter, very informative posts as usual.

I seem to remember Noel writing similar articles before from a position of paranoia and being corrected as to the facts, and also in the excellent articles by Ben Heard and Tom Keen:

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=13746&page=0

And Martin Nicholson:

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=13028

And John Ridd:

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=13884

Noel should really stop being so hysterical. This anti-technological attitude which informs AGW and the renewable industry is becoming increasingly weird.