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Sunday, December 11, 2011

I Should Have Been A Civil Engineer P3

This is obviously the third in a series.  A series whose length is contingent on Marco Kaltofen's actions. Here is Part 2 which includes a link to the original post.

Well, Marco's back at it, so here goes Part 3.

Here's the video link.  It's only about 20 minutes and it's back from October, but it's only been publicly released recently.

First off, why is Keltofen referred to as "scientist"?

Very few scientists are actually referred to that way...they're usually just called by their name.  Or perhaps their speciality (but "civil engineer" just wouldn't sell would it?).

Keltofen is studying dusts.  That's nice.  But dusts have been well studied for decades.

Here's a great book on the topic of radioactive dusts.

I don't understand why he queries the audience (bananas, airplane flights, etc.)?  He doesn't take the point anywhere.  What was the point?

At about 4:00 minutes, he mentions Edward Calabrese whom I've posted on before.  It's a bit odd having a radiation fear monger (Keltofen) mention a radiation hormesis monger (Calabrese).

And Keltofen can't say "immunological".  Why?   Because he's a civil engineer!!! (That's his reason, not mine.)

Keltofen then walks us through the isotopes that are associated with his particles.  The same isotopes that have historically been associated with nuclear fission of uranium fuel for around a half a century.  And he regurgitates typical exposure pathways which have been known for decades (inhalation, ingestion, etc.).

He equates human breathing rates per day (actually about 6.5 cubic meters per day, not 10-30) with automobiles (about 14 cubic meter per minute, assuming car usage is 60 minutes per day then 840 cubic meters per day).  But the difference is around a factor of 10 (840/6.5 = 10 about).

(And does anyone speak Japanese?  Keltofen says "fukashima", but it's spelled "fukushima"...how do the Japenese pronounce this?)

What is the purpose of laying automobile air filters on film?  It doesn't quantify or identify the radioactivity.  There are modern spectroscopic methods which laboratories use routinely (Keltofen knows this, this is how he identified the isotopes earlier).  But film is theater...it provides psychological impact instead of meaningful data.

At about 14:30 he compares an indoor home air filter (230 pCi) with the U.S. soil limit of 5 pCi.  What does an air filter have to do with soil?  The soil limit is actually 5pCi/gram of soil.  This has to do with farming and living on the soil.  An air filter traps contaminants as air is forcibly moved across the filter.  No one farms or lives on air filters.

And if anyone understands his answer to the question from the audience member, please explain it to me.  It was nonsensical (word salad) from my perspective.

I'd like to thank Arnie Gundersen for this bit of comedy.  Sadly, it wasn't very funny.

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