Thai Science And Technology Min Focuses On Safety For Nuclear Power Use

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Nice try...but it doesn't fly...

What the Samut Prakan case demonstrates is what everyone here already knows exists ... a culture where regulation and enforcement of rules and requirements of all kinds is treated with disdain and looking the other way, where corruption and political meddling interferes with and thwarts responsible contracting and construction standards, and where those responsible for enforcing those standards usually don't.

The failures of the Thai atomic regulatory system in the Samut Prakan case are a clear indictment of how a much larger project would likely fare here. The responsible government agency didn't fulfill its duties. The private sector entity involved didn't follow the rules. And nobody was the wiser until radiation exposed people were dead and dying.

Read the IAEA report and look at the photos of how the Thai authorities conducted their attempted remediation work at the radiation site. Truly scary stuff... And that was from only one small nuclear device that had been used in a hospital setting for radiation therapy -- not the much larger amounts of radioactive materials involved in a functioning nuclear power plant.

I'm not in any way related to the power industry, nor am I an anti-nuclear fanatic.. But any common sense person who actually reads the report and details of what happened in Samut Prakan and WHY and HOW it happened would be truly shocked and scared at the way things work here.

Edited May 21, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Soutpeel]

Obviously Soutpeel, you choose to ignore the vast world that exists in Thailand of NO safety, including all the illustrative examples I listed above.

As for industry, you can add, can't manage to build and complete pharmaceutical plants, can't maintain or successfully build sewage plants, can't manage to keep raw sewage from getting dumped into the ocean, can't operate industrial estates like Map Ta Phut without severe pollution problems, exploding car manufacturing plants, etc etc.. Not to mention having a Science and Technology Minister who thinks putting propeller boats in the Chao Phraya will prevent or lessen flooding in Bangkok.

I havent choosen to ignore any "vast worlds" in Thailand, your making generalised sweeping statements based on what you heard on a bar stool, I am mearly relating my real life experiences actually working in industry in Thailand. I wouldnt be so naive to suggest that there are not issues in Thailand as regards "no safety", but at the same time I am not making sweeping statments based on what I have seen Somchai rice farmer doing either...

Over the years here I have have met some very good Thai technical professionals who would leave the vast majority of TV finest in the dust as regards the intelligence/professional stakes and their attitude to working in a safe enviroment....based on your premise..Thailand couldnt operate a power station, chemical plant, refinery, offshore oil and gas safely...but yet they do every day

Should Thailand choose to go the commerical nuclear route, which is their right, the howling farangs on TV will have to make a decision then, stay or go... but I for one wouldnt have problem with Thailand building and operating a commerical power plant and wouldnt have a problem to continue to live in Thailand..

Your example of the esteemed Science and technology minister is however correct he is an idiot...as are most politicans in the world

[Soutpeel]

Nice try...but it doesn't fly...

What the Samut Prakan case demonstrates is what everyone here already knows exists ... a culture where regulation and enforcement of rules and requirements of all kinds is treated with disdain and looking the other way, where corruption and political meddling interferes with and thwarts responsible contracting and construction standards, and where those responsible for enforcing those standards usually don't.

The failures of the Thai atomic regulatory system in the Samut Prakan case are a clear indictment of how a much larger project would likely fare here. The responsible government agency didn't fulfill its duties. The private sector entity involved didn't follow the rules. And nobody was the wiser until radiation exposed people were dead and dying.

Read the IAEA report and look at the photos of how the Thai authorities conducted their attempted remediation work at the radiation site. Truly scary stuff... And that was from only one small nuclear device that had been used in a hospital setting for radiation therapy -- not the much larger amounts of radioactive materials involved in a functioning nuclear power plant.

I'm not in any way related to the power industry, nor am I an anti-nuclear fanatic.. But any common sense person who actually reads the report and details of what happened in Samut Prakan and WHY and HOW it happened would be truly shocked and scared at the way things work here.

Thailand is not alone in misplacing radioactive sources it seems...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/05/radioactive-materials-lost-30-incidents

[khunken]

Nice try...but it doesn't fly...

What the Samut Prakan case demonstrates is what everyone here already knows exists ... a culture where regulation and enforcement of rules and requirements of all kinds is treated with disdain and looking the other way, where corruption and political meddling interferes with and thwarts responsible contracting and construction standards, and where those responsible for enforcing those standards usually don't.

The failures of the Thai atomic regulatory system in the Samut Prakan case are a clear indictment of how a much larger project would likely fare here. The responsible government agency didn't fulfill its duties. The private sector entity involved didn't follow the rules. And nobody was the wiser until radiation exposed people were dead and dying.

Read the IAEA report and look at the photos of how the Thai authorities conducted their attempted remediation work at the radiation site. Truly scary stuff... And that was from only one small nuclear device that had been used in a hospital setting for radiation therapy -- not the much larger amounts of radioactive materials involved in a functioning nuclear power plant.

I'm not in any way related to the power industry, nor am I an anti-nuclear fanatic.. But any common sense person who actually reads the report and details of what happened in Samut Prakan and WHY and HOW it happened would be truly shocked and scared at the way things work here.

You're missing the point. No one is arguing that the Samut Prakan case was anything other than scandalous. It points to the average untrained Thai being allowed to handle radioactive waste & was a series of pass-the-buck as far as responsibility was concerned..

I find it extremely arrogant for Farangs to point fingers at Thais as though they were all idiots. There are well educated & experienced Thais capable of managing a nuclear power generator. The research reactor has proved that.

By the way, Plodprasop is no longer the Science & Technology minister - read the OP.

[Markaew]

Holy fu__ing s__t!!

We have had these discussions before about the capabilities of Thais and nuclear reactors.

THEY DON"T MIX!!

[Soutpeel]

A great example of Thai nuclear safety:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samut_Prakan_radiation_accident

From that article:

ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1369132066.631047.jpg

A response team member uses tongs to place the retrieved Co-60 radioactive source in a shielded container

See the hi-tech protective gear of the "response team member".

Actually using tongs, lead shot and a recovery container is the world wide standard for isotope retrival in situations such as this...so in reality what the response team member is doing is actually correct per the protocols...how do I know, as in another life I was an RPO and have actually done this with an Iridium isotope and it wasnt in Thailand...

[Soutpeel]

Holy fu__ing s__t!!

We have had these discussions before about the capabilities of Thais and nuclear reactors.

THEY DON"T MIX!!

Based on your years of nuclear construction/maintenance and operation experience ?....or any experience in any sort of "heavy" industry ?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Tbere very well may be competent and responsible professionals (Thais) at work in the industries here.

But the point is, they operate in a system that works against them, that doesn't concern itself with quality and responsibility, but rather irresponsibility and making a buck and cutting corners wherever possible.

Just look at the divergence between what government and industry here sets out to do, and what they really accomplish, and how it works (or usually doesn't work) after they're done. Not to mention the vastly substandard education system here that turns out future professionals, often without ensuring real competence.

That's not a scenario I want to extend to a nuclear power plant. It's enough that Thai industry can't safely manage the environment with places like Map Ta Phut... Rampant and unchecked chemical pollution is bad enough. But nuclear would be far worse.

I'm sure the guys who built the bridges that fall down and the plants that fail to work properly are great guys, real fun to go out for drinks after work. But time and time again, they've proven they're not up to the task.

Unlike Soutpeel seems to think, not all of us spend our time hanging around barstools. Rather, we pay attention to the country and world around us, and notice its clear failings, rather than being blind to them.

Edited May 21, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Soutpeel]

Tbere very well may be competent and responsible professionals (Thais) at work in the industries here.

But the point is, they operate in a system that works against them, that doesn't concern itself with quality and responsibility, but rather irresponsibility and making a buck and cutting corners wherever possible.

Just look at the divergence between what government and industry here sets out to do, and what they really accomplish, and how it works (or usually doesn't work) after they're done. Not to mention the vastly substandard education system here that turns out future professionals, often without ensuring real competence.

That's not a scenario I want to extend to a nuclear power plant. It's enough that Thai industry can't safely manage the environment with places like Map Ta Phut... Rampant and unchecked chemical pollution is bad enough. But nuclear would be far worse.

I'm sure the guys who built the bridges that fall down and the plants that fail to work properly are great guys, real fun to go out for drinks after work. But time and time again, they've proven they're not up to the task.

Unlike Soutpeel seems to think, not all of us spend our time hanging around barstools. Rather, we pay attention to the country and world around us, and notice its clear failings, rather than being blind to them.

As already mentioned, I am, neither blind or naive to what goes on in Thailand and am I not an apologist by any stretch of the imagination...you attempted to generalise and make all emcompassing statements which are factually incorrect, and my perspective is coming from real heavy industry experience in Thailand..

Over 20 years ago I was involved in the construction of an 1800 MW PWR nuclear plant in southern China, and at the time the expats on the site where making the same comments, including myself, about the Chinese running that plant...and the standing joke was... "where you going to be when they put the fuel in ?.....10,000 miles away"

however 20 odd years on, the Chinese have sucessfully operated that plant and have in fact added further units...I do keep in touch with some of the Chinese guys who worked there during the construction phase and they keep telling me how well its being run..

The Chinese are accused of having the same approach to things as you are saying Thai's do, but they seem to be able to run a nuclear plant sucessfully..so why not Thailand ?

The key difference in the nuclear game as opposed to examples you have given is the international oversight which is conducted during construction, operations and maintenance and not forgetting a reactor operator is licensed internationally, and no they cant buy the qualification.

TV finest keep comparing Thailand commerical aspirations to Homer Simpson, but the last time I looked Homer is not Thai, but American...so one must assume that people suggesting this must think the US cant run a commerical nuclear either...

As pointed out earlier...if any of TV finest are really that rabid anti-nuclear, then if Thailand decides to construct something, then said persons must make the decision to stay or go....middle aged, whinging expats on TV are not going to change Thailand polices as regards commercial nuclear...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It seems China had a radiation incident surprisingly similar to the one in Samut Prakan...

http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4212-In-Shanxi-lasting-pain-1-

On November 19, 1992, builder Zhang Youchang arrived at Xinzhou’s environmental monitoring station – his team was to dismantle the 1-metre wide, 10-metre deep vault. By the entrance, Zhang Youchang saw a metallic cylinder sparkling in the sun. He picked it up and popped it into his pocket.

It was the radiation from that piece of metal that killed him, his brother and his father, that harmed Zhang Fang and her unborn child and that eventually affected more than 100 people.

The Ministry of Health dispatched a team to track down the source of radiation. Someone from the hospital in Taiyuan recalled a metallic cylinder falling from Zhang Youchang’s pocket while he was there. It had subsequently been thrown away and the rubbish removed by the bin men. The rubbish should have taken it to the landfill outside of town, but to save some time the bin men stopped halfway and dumped it by the road.

“We went to the landfill first – we were shocked to see this huge dump full of rubbish,” says Wang Zuoyuan. How long would it take to find a radioactive needle in that haystack?

But under public security bureau questioning, the two bin men admitted that they had broken the rules. Clad in protective gear and using a construction digger, the Ministry of Health team searched for the cobalt-60.

Surprisingly, despite being under orders from their superiors to find the cobalt-60, Wang Zuoyuan and his colleagues found some of the local authorities uncooperative. The first time the Shanxi authorities were contacted about the cases of radiation sickness, they even denied it had happened.

Ten years later, Wang visited the area again, this time with a television crew filming a documentary about radiation sickness. Despite a letter of approval from the provincial communist party committee, they were turned away at the hospital and elsewhere.

BTW, here's a database of radiation accidents, and the details about them, over the years. Thailand's Samut Prakan incident is on there, as is the China one above. Quite a few other China incidents as well. But from perusing the list, the former Soviet Union by far and away seems to have had the most and most serious incidents.

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/radaccidents.html

Edited May 21, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Soutpeel]

It seems China had a radiation incident surprisingly similar to the one in Samut Prakan...

http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4212-In-Shanxi-lasting-pain-1-

On November 19, 1992, builder Zhang Youchang arrived at Xinzhou’s environmental monitoring station – his team was to dismantle the 1-metre wide, 10-metre deep vault. By the entrance, Zhang Youchang saw a metallic cylinder sparkling in the sun. He picked it up and popped it into his pocket.

It was the radiation from that piece of metal that killed him, his brother and his father, that harmed Zhang Fang and her unborn child and that eventually affected more than 100 people.

The Ministry of Health dispatched a team to track down the source of radiation. Someone from the hospital in Taiyuan recalled a metallic cylinder falling from Zhang Youchang’s pocket while he was there. It had subsequently been thrown away and the rubbish removed by the bin men. The rubbish should have taken it to the landfill outside of town, but to save some time the bin men stopped halfway and dumped it by the road.

“We went to the landfill first – we were shocked to see this huge dump full of rubbish,” says Wang Zuoyuan. How long would it take to find a radioactive needle in that haystack?

But under public security bureau questioning, the two bin men admitted that they had broken the rules. Clad in protective gear and using a construction digger, the Ministry of Health team searched for the cobalt-60.

>

Surprisingly, despite being under orders from their superiors to find the cobalt-60, Wang Zuoyuan and his colleagues found some of the local authorities uncooperative. The first time the Shanxi authorities were contacted about the cases of radiation sickness, they even denied it had happened.

Ten years later, Wang visited the area again, this time with a television crew filming a documentary about radiation sickness. Despite a letter of approval from the provincial communist party committee, they were turned away at the hospital and elsewhere.

As have many countries, including many western nations... ...so whats you point, there was a case some months back in the UK were an industrial iridum isotope was stolen out of the back of the van...the idiot who was responsible for the source, decided not to take it back to the workshop and lock it up as he was suppose to, but decided to leave it in his work van and go home for the night....

The examples you keep giving have nothing to do with operation of commerical nuclear power plants. IMHO based on being in the industry when it comes to medical and industrial sources people are acting very foolishly....these actions are not unique to Thailand..

Edited May 21, 2013 by Soutpeel

[Soutpeel]

It seems China had a radiation incident surprisingly similar to the one in Samut Prakan...

http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4212-In-Shanxi-lasting-pain-1-

On November 19, 1992, builder Zhang Youchang arrived at Xinzhou’s environmental monitoring station – his team was to dismantle the 1-metre wide, 10-metre deep vault. By the entrance, Zhang Youchang saw a metallic cylinder sparkling in the sun. He picked it up and popped it into his pocket.

It was the radiation from that piece of metal that killed him, his brother and his father, that harmed Zhang Fang and her unborn child and that eventually affected more than 100 people.

The Ministry of Health dispatched a team to track down the source of radiation. Someone from the hospital in Taiyuan recalled a metallic cylinder falling from Zhang Youchang’s pocket while he was there. It had subsequently been thrown away and the rubbish removed by the bin men. The rubbish should have taken it to the landfill outside of town, but to save some time the bin men stopped halfway and dumped it by the road.

“We went to the landfill first – we were shocked to see this huge dump full of rubbish,” says Wang Zuoyuan. How long would it take to find a radioactive needle in that haystack?

But under public security bureau questioning, the two bin men admitted that they had broken the rules. Clad in protective gear and using a construction digger, the Ministry of Health team searched for the cobalt-60.

>

Surprisingly, despite being under orders from their superiors to find the cobalt-60, Wang Zuoyuan and his colleagues found some of the local authorities uncooperative. The first time the Shanxi authorities were contacted about the cases of radiation sickness, they even denied it had happened.

Ten years later, Wang visited the area again, this time with a television crew filming a documentary about radiation sickness. Despite a letter of approval from the provincial communist party committee, they were turned away at the hospital and elsewhere.

BTW, here's a database of radiation accidents, and the details about them, over the years. Thailand's Samut Prakan incident is on there, as is the China one above. Quite a few other China incidents as well. But from perusing the list, the former Soviet Union by far and away seems to have had the most and most serious incidents.

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/radaccidents.html

and out of this list..large numbers are listed as Radiography incidents and X-ray exposeures ie one assumes industrial radiography, and exposure to medical X-ray units...which have absolutely FA to do with commerical nuclear power generation plants...nice try but your connecting dots were there aint any....and of course you have failed to mention the nation who killed the most people due to radiation exposure...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I guess the point is... if it's a leak at a sewage plant, it's stinky and messy. If it's a leak or accident at a nuclear power plant, many people can be sickened or die. And the track record of nuclear operators doesn't give one great reason for confidence.

Even the U.S. is not immune. Perhaps Homer was the construction manager for this plant in North Carolina that was in the news this past week. Now we're talking about commercial nuclear plants with flaws and problems, ok?

Some might argue even the U.S. isn't doing a particularly good job of commercial nuclear plant safety. Unscheduled plant shutdowns, botched repair attempts, criminal indictments, fines and penalties. So it makes you wonder how Thailand likely would fare by comparison.

Duke Energy Progress shut down the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County on Wednesday after the company discovered that the reactor vessel – which holds the plant’s nuclear fuel and contains the nuclear reaction – showed early indications of corrosion and cracking.

.....

It’s not clear why it took Progress a year to discover the corrosion, a question the NRC will attempt to answer in its review of the incident. General concerns about vessel head corrosion increased in the wake of the discovery in 2002 of a grapefruit-size cavity in the reactor vessel of the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Ohio, which is owned by FirstEnergy Corp.

The Davis-Besse incident, considered one of the most serious safety lapses in U.S. nuclear history, resulted in a two-year shutdown, more than $50 million in fines and penalties, and indictments against several utility employees and a contractor.

.........

In February, Duke decided to shut down Progress’ Crystal River plant in Florida after concluding it would have been too expensive to repair. That facility was idled in 2009, never to restart again after the containment building wall was repeatedly cracked during a botched attempt to replace two steam generators.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/16/2897074/shearon-harris-shut-down-because.html

Edited May 21, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[vijer]

Having been an electrician all my lfe. And seen how Thai people regard electricity and safety. For these dangerous people to start talking about nuclear. Is a frightening thought!

Having been in engineering all my life and being involved in oil/gas in Thailand for the last 12, Thailand seems to handle O& G ok...you shouldnt be using the average Thai rice farmer as a measure of how "Thai people" regard anything....

Thailand has been running chemical plants/power plants offshore O&G sucessfully for years etc etc so not such a big step into commerical nuclear and there is not reason why they couldnt run a NPS sucessfully...so hardly frightening

No, he's referring to the average corrupt government official plus all the other Thai's who's only real concern is making money. I say we have plenty to worry about.

[fxe1200]

These Thai experts have not adventured or experienced the abundance of sun in Thailand? Did they ever have heard about solar thermic power, which could be produced and could truly eliminate the power being used for the Aircon in the whole country during daytime. Have they never heard how to insulate a house, and how easily it is to produce hot water for your need on your own rooftop? Are those folks bribed already, or do they just want to dump the nuclear waste into Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat?

It reminds me of the story during the flooding in Bangkok, when they towed some barges together underneath a bridge and had their engines running on full power to speed up the current of the Chayo Praya towards the sea.

Will Thais ever learn??? They think, as we say it in Germany, from 12 to noon.

Edited May 21, 2013 by fxe1200

[notmyself]

Calm down. Thailand can't build one itself and chances of another country being willing to take the risk of building one for them are..... err.... none?

[cheeryble]

It reminds me of the story during the flooding in Bangkok, when they towed some barges together underneath a bridge and had their engines running on full power to speed up the current of the Chayo Praya towards the sea.

This would sound ridiculous if the mayor of Chiangmai when commenting on air pollution some years ago said (and he was not joking)

"Don't worry all the people spraying water will clean the air".

The Thai mind is a thing of wonder.

As for nuclear, I'm all for it, a wonderful thing which has helped bring us out of the age of filthy air and mining deaths.

It just needs to be done properly, and that means having outside contractors running a third or later generation reactor.

[chooka]

This ias a bad idea, bkk seems a good location, a sinking city...lol, what the biggest problem is as always, where do they store the waste, going by how they treat sewerage waste here, we should all run for the hills...

Well you had better run now then...there already is a nuclear reactor operating in BKK and has been for many years...

Send us a post card from your hill or from under the bridge...

Now i am scared, what do they do with the waste ? by the way, at the hills already lol, dont tell me they store it near Chiang mai.....

They will just dump it in the creeks and rivers with everything else.

[Payboy]

A great example of Thai nuclear safety:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samut_Prakan_radiation_accident

From that article:

ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1369132066.631047.jpg

A response team member uses tongs to place the retrieved Co-60 radioactive source in a shielded container

See the hi-tech protective gear of the "response team member".

Actually using tongs, lead shot and a recovery container is the world wide standard for isotope retrival in situations such as this...so in reality what the response team member is doing is actually correct per the protocols...how do I know, as in another life I was an RPO and have actually done this with an Iridium isotope and it wasnt in Thailand...

So, basically the 2 meter thick lead lined glass walls at Synergy Isotrons Co-60 irradiation facility in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate are unnecessary? And they could use tongs instead of their million dollar robotic arms?

[Soutpeel]

A great example of Thai nuclear safety:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samut_Prakan_radiation_accident

From that article:

ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1369132066.631047.jpg

A response team member uses tongs to place the retrieved Co-60 radioactive source in a shielded container

See the hi-tech protective gear of the "response team member".

Actually using tongs, lead shot and a recovery container is the world wide standard for isotope retrival in situations such as this...so in reality what the response team member is doing is actually correct per the protocols...how do I know, as in another life I was an RPO and have actually done this with an Iridium isotope and it wasnt in Thailand...

So, basically the 2 meter thick lead lined glass walls at Synergy Isotrons Co-60 irradiation facility in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate are unnecessary? And they could use tongs instead of their million dollar robotic arms?

Er no....you have answered the question in your own comment as to why there are 2 meter thick lead lined glass walls and million dollar robots...its an Co-60 irradiation facility... .....its the facility which produces the stuff personnel would be irradiated 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.....this is not the same as "single source" recovery as is what is happening in the photo...

As stated, what they are doing in the photo follows the internationally defined process for isotope recovery in the case of loss...whether industrial or medical...people repsonsible for handling sources away from a secure facility are suppose to carry bags of lead shot, a recovery container, suitable for the isotope concerned and handling tongs...if a "dropped source" occurs...you "lead shot it" ie cover it with the shot, get your recovery container ready, remove lead shot with tongs, pick up source with tongs and place in container and close the container.....

as you know radiation exposure is a function of time exposed and distance from source (inverse square law)...therefore if someone recovers a "dropped" source quickly and from distance as a one off event the levels of exposure are "relatively" low.

Using the same principle is the reason the irradiation facility is the way it is...its not a one off event and personnel would be exposed continously over the whole of their shifts...hence lead lined glass and million dollar robots...as if you didnt they would be dead...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Calm down. Thailand can't build one itself and chances of another country being willing to take the risk of building one for them are..... err.... none?

Considering this is Thailand, I suspect Thailand would turn to China or China would turn to Thailand.

They' build it as cheap as possible, it probably wouldn't work properly, the construction contract would be managed by CP Corp., and they'd put a big 7/11 logo on the reactor containment structure.

[Payboy]

Actually using tongs, lead shot and a recovery container is the world wide standard for isotope retrival in situations such as this...so in reality what the response team member is doing is actually correct per the protocols...how do I know, as in another life I was an RPO and have actually done this with an Iridium isotope and it wasnt in Thailand...

So, basically the 2 meter thick lead lined glass walls at Synergy Isotrons Co-60 irradiation facility in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate are unnecessary? And they could use tongs instead of their million dollar robotic arms?

Er no....you have answered the question in your own comment as to why there are 2 meter thick lead lined glass walls and million dollar robots...its an Co-60 irradiation facility... .....its the facility which produces the stuff personnel would be irradiated 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.....this is not the same as "single source" recovery as is what is happening in the photo...

As stated, what they are doing in the photo follows the internationally defined process for isotope recovery in the case of loss...whether industrial or medical...people repsonsible for handling sources away from a secure facility are suppose to carry bags of lead shot, a recovery container, suitable for the isotope concerned and handling tongs...if a "dropped source" occurs...you "lead shot it" ie cover it with the shot, get your recovery container ready, remove lead shot with tongs, pick up source with tongs and place in container and close the container.....

as you know radiation exposure is a function of time exposed and distance from source (inverse square law)...therefore if someone recovers a "dropped" source quickly and from distance as a one off event the levels of exposure are "relatively" low.

Using the same principle is the reason the irradiation facility is the way it is...its not a one off event and personnel would be exposed continously over the whole of their shifts...hence lead lined glass and million dollar robots...as if you didnt they would be dead...

In this incident, the cannister was sliced open and the Co-60 pencil was exposed.

[newermonkey]

Thailand needs a nuclear power plant like it needs a hole in the head.

We are all going to die because of the demand for millions of Thais to be able to watch stupid TV soap operas even more!

[TackyToo]

Every time the thais talk about about nuclear power i look outside at the birds nest of cables and remember things like ,

How often the power goes off without reason for hours,

How often the internet drops '' '' ''

When walking down the street trying to avoid falling into open manholes,

How often traffic accidents happen outside my door,

Red shirt riots with molotov cocktails,

groups of police standing around stealing money,

Then i get scared!

Power cut in the entire south of the country. An airport in the capital, that slowly falls apart since day one. Collapsing buildings and bridges. Bomb detectors that do not work. Army helicopters that cannot be repaired and maintained properly. An aircraft carrier with no airplanes to land on. Truckloads of Military weapons stolen from the barracks and corruption up to the top.

In my humble opinion, a country where all this happens should take a loooong time out to solve these issues and do its homework before even thinking of high speed trains and even worse- to open Pandora’s nuclear box!

[Thai at Heart]

Maybe they should put it on phraer viharn.

Out of the country, but in the country....

[Soutpeel]

Every time the thais talk about about nuclear power i look outside at the birds nest of cables and remember things like ,

How often the power goes off without reason for hours,

How often the internet drops '' '' ''

When walking down the street trying to avoid falling into open manholes,

How often traffic accidents happen outside my door,

Red shirt riots with molotov cocktails,

groups of police standing around stealing money,

Then i get scared!

Power cut in the entire south of the country. An airport in the capital, that slowly falls apart since day one. Collapsing buildings and bridges. Bomb detectors that do not work. Army helicopters that cannot be repaired and maintained properly. An aircraft carrier with no airplanes to land on. Truckloads of Military weapons stolen from the barracks and corruption up to the top.

In my humble opinion, a country where all this happens should take a loooong time out to solve these issues and do its homework before even thinking of high speed trains and even worse- to open Pandora’s nuclear box!

He is my spin on all this...I have no problem with the concept of Thailand wanting to build commerical nuclear plants, but I dont think it will happen in the near or mid-future...simply because as we know the Thai politicans are very good with coming up with grandeous plans..mega this..mega that....hubba hubba but never actually get round to actually doing anything, and the Thai nuclear question will be no different...but lets assume they decided to start tomorrow building say an 1800MW PWR station, there are about 6 years civils to get done, plus andother 4 to 6 years "mechanicals" and commissioning before even being at a point of putting fuel in, so we are looking at 10-12 years construction from the first day ground is broken...

Thailand is nowhere close to ground being broken on a project like this, so my prediction would be that TV's finest dont have to start getting hysterical about Thailands nuclear aspirations for say another 15 to 20 years....and considering the age demographic of TV..one could suggest they will not need to worry..

[Thai at Heart]

As people mentioned elsewhere, does anyone honestly think that this project would be undertaken without extremely stringent foreign managment and control?

It isn't as though anyone can just buy one off the shelf and install it themselves. Unless Ahmedinajad has one for sale possibly however.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

but lets assume they decided to start tomorrow building say an 1800MW PWR station, there are about 6 years civils to get done, plus andother 4 to 6 years "mechanicals" and commissioning before even being at a point of putting fuel in, so we are looking at 10-12 years construction from the first day ground is broken...

Ahh.... but this is THAILAND!!! Environmental assessments and surveying that take years elsewhere can be completed here in weeks... Just takes the right amount of money in the right doughnut box... and a Cabinet resolution changing the rules.

[belg]

as long as one is not built by thais and not maintained by thais and not in a flood zone ...

[indyuk]

That Thailand with it's problems of instability, incredibily unreliable employees, it's hair brained projects and the arogant view that all Thai are smarter that the rest of world's population it scares the pants off me to even imagine

a nuclear industry here.

If you think I'm negative consider this: When there is an accident Thai run away. Thai people refuse to accept responsibilty. Thai People are clumsey do not think ahead, Do any of you know if the are any Thai Nuclear Physicists?