We recently traveled to Costa Rica with our oldest grandson, and I intend to do a few commentaries about that. This first one is a warning to people on Medicare that, according to the Medicare web site, “In general, health care you get while traveling outside the U.S. isn’t covered.” People are provided a more than 120 page booklet titled “Medicare & You” when they reach 65 and go onto the program. The warning about lack of coverage when you are out of the country is somewhat “hidden” under a title “Part B-Covered Services.” The subtitle is “Travel-health care needed when traveling outside the United States.” Continue reading
Category Archives: Commentary
Cosmos – A Spacetime Odyssey
Tyson confronts the Big Bang in the new Fox series Cosmos – A Spacetime Odyssey
Are you watching Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s remake of Carl Sagan’s iconic mini-series Cosmos? The theme of the first episode was that space-time is really, really big. The episode has received excellent reviews and I agree: the special effects and cinematography were stunning (“faster, brighter, and more explosive” as Wired says), though the use of cartoon animation to present a historical story struck me as less compelling than live action would have been. There seem to be high hopes that the new Cosmos will rekindle America’s love affair with science, as anecdotes (if not rigorous studies) suggest the original Cosmos did. I’m not sure what impact Cosmos had; Star Trek inspired kids, too. Continue reading
Making a Pencil
I suggest we have become complacent in expecting industry to produce exceptional products that cost very little. I recently received a message about the production of pencils. I predict anyone who decides to read the link for “I, Pencil” by Leonard E. Read will be introduced to the complexity that is involved in producing products that we accept as simple instruments we expect to be available whenever we need them. I also suggest you will be astonished that such a complicated product can be placed on the retail market at such a low cost. Continue reading
Resuspension of Plutonium from Rocky Flats
This web site was started to provide the book I’ve written about Rocky Flats and to publish commentaries about the now-closed site that was famous (or notorious) for producing the plutonium parts and other components for nuclear weapons. The commentaries had drifted far afield of Rocky Flats until the recent crop of negative media stories. I’ve written recent commentaries disputing that the place still is a threat to nearby residents and about the stories of health problems of workers. A common refrain of critics was or still is that “the site never researched respirable plutonium.” There is a long and well-referenced report by G. Langer that completely dispels that accusation. There was an extensive air monitoring program to collect and analyze plutonium in air at the site, near the site, and in communities. It is no surprise the critics never liked the very low results found by the extensive sampling and analysis networks. One criticism was that we were sampling at the wrong height. A sampling station was built with samplers at various heights as requested by one of our critics. As far as I know there were never any results published on the results. My guess is that the results were statistically identical at all sampling heights. Continue reading
Rocky Flats News
The Rocky Flats Plant where plutonium and other parts for nuclear weapons were once manufactured (the Plant closed in 2005) is back prominently in the news. The title of one article by Electa Draper explains that workers who have one or more of twenty two listed cancers “…no longer have to reconstruct their own personal histories of radiation exposure in order to receive medical compensation.” Instead of being celebrated as a victory, the announcement seems to have angered people who are sick and worked at the Plant. One disturbing article by the same author shows pictures of some workers who are angry and has the bold print quote, “They just want us to die and go away.”
I do not intend to try to convince anyone who worked at Rocky Flats that their illnesses were not caused by exposures during that work, but I do want to present some pertinent facts. Chapter 22 of my book, “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats, Urban Myths Debunked” discusses cancer and other diseases.The largest study of cancer rates among Rocky Flats workers that I’m aware of was completed over 20 years ago. The report concluded, “When compared with U.S. death rates, fewer deaths than expected were found for all causes of death, all cancers, and lung cancer. No bone cancer was observed. An excess of brain tumors was found.” The last observation was the result of comparing all malignant and non-malignant tumors found in Rocky Flats workers to only malignant tumors in the general population. Some have speculated that the lower rate of cancers may be due to the prohibition on smoking in many areas of the Plant. Continue reading
Rocky Flats Back in the News
It has been a while since there has been a significant news story about the legacy of the Rocky Flats Plant. The production of plutonium parts for nuclear weapons was the part of the mission that was the primary focus of those who concentrated on protesting the plant. I’ve attempted to convince people that much more was accomplished at the site, but plutonium manufacturing continues to dominate the conversation even all these many years since the site was torn down and the surrounding area converted into a wildlife refuge.
There haven’t been any mass media reports about the plant until a recent news story in the Denver Post titled “Neighboring Rocky Flats” by Electra Draper. There is a subtitle, “The more I learned…the more horrified I became.” I will give the article credit for resurrecting at least some of the words and phrases that were used frequently in new reports to criticize the place while the plant was still in operation. One example is the description about “…plutonium fires in 1957 and 1969 that wafted toxic smoke over the metro area”. Another is the concern that the proposed Jefferson Parkway and development of hiking and biking trails in the area now designated as a Wildlife Refuge will “…kick up plutonium-laced dust”. There was a new descriptor used to explain the concern that “…the site’s toxic legacy has faded…”and that people would move into the “plutonium dust bowl without understanding the potential risk.” Continue reading