The other thread, "how hot is clean" was getting away from the original question, but I feel we are all on a roll here, so I created a new thread to continue the discussion. All input has been intelligent and has helped me whether I agree or disagree with all of the posted opinions.
Let me start this thread by sharing something I don't know and something that I have observed. I don't know what gave my Father a rare form of lung cancer that is usually associated with women. He had a tumor on the outside of his lung, the size of a grapefruit. It was attached to the outside lining of his lung.
Now, I did indeed suspect that it may be attributed to asbestos exposure from ships that he worked on, but this could never be proven, nor did I care to prove it. He was not here anymore, so it didn't matter to me or my family if someone were to blame. No lawyer could bring him back to us, so we just grieved over our loss.
When I was 12, he was driving in an automobile, with us all there, and we were behind a logging truck in Georgia. A piece of lumber came off of the truck and Dad had to swerve to save us. That almost killed him then (as well as the rest of my family).
Now driving is a real risk, compared to residual radioactivity. I know that some will point to asbestos and radiation risks that may have even been the cause of my Father's death.
Here is what I know myself. I have been in this business since my early years. I have lost many friends that I know that I can attribute their deaths to automobile accidents. I cannot name one person, who has crawled in the bowels of nuclear power plants, that I can attribute their death to radiation exposure. Not one!
I am still here and I used to get 1 to 3 R per job in the old days. My Dad almost died when I was 12. So did I. We both lived for many years after that. Maybe asbestos got my Dad and maybe it was something else.
We have to be intelligent about legislation concerning saving lives. That is my point. Sometimes they can't be saved, no matter how many tax dollars you spend. Certainly, we don't want evil people in business who kill people for profit, but I have seen no evidence of that happening so far.
What I have seen evidence of is job protectionists who just want job security for what they have been doing for years. To them, I say, watch out for those logging trucks while on vacation.