Dave-Platt%LADC@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA (Dave Platt) (02/21/86)
An article in today's Los Angeles Times (part I, page 21) reports some
information on a question asked in this digest awhile back, re
whether the plutonium in the power supplies of shuttle payloads
might be spread into the environment after a shuttle explosion
such as the Challenger disaster.
"... Internal NASA and Energy Department documents indicate that the
satellites [Galileo and Ulusses] were to be powered by nuclear
generators whose ability to withstand explosions is still unproved...
"Other internal Energy Department documents... projected that a
launching pad explosion of the space shuttle conceivably could cause
the release of 57,100 to 90,900 curies of plutonium... [each satellite
is fueled with 69 pounds of plutonium-238, according to the article]
"... and scientists estimate that just 2 to 10 millionths of a curie
can cause bone or lung cancer when inhaled....
"Only last month, NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel concluded that
the job of safely installing the satellites and their booster rockets
in the shuttle's payload bay `was underestimated by everyone' and posed
`the most critical problem in meeting the (launching) schedule.'
"However, the NASA panel continued, 'the old philosophy that technical
perfection is more important than schedule has changed with Galileo and
Ulysses' - a statement that [Rep. Edward J.] Markey said indicates that
safety concerns had taken a back seat to the launching timetable.
"Agency officials have expressed confidence that the nuclear generators
would withstand a major shuttle explosion generating pressure of 2000
pounds a square inch, Markey write, even though a 1984 test blast
disintegrated a nuclear generator and the simulated fuel inside it at
pressures of only 1300 pounds.
"As of last December, the generators had not been proved able to meet
NASA's 2000-pound standard, internal memos stated. Those documents,
written by the interagency panel, criticized Energy officials for ignoring
six years of warnings about the explosion resistance of the generators.
"That same month, NASA manned spaceflight director Jesse W. Moore
warned of `cause for concern' over the Galileo and Ulysses missions'
safety, apparently because officials were waiving NASA safety procedures
for some critical shuttle parts."
-- By Michael Wines, Times Staff Writer