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A comment on An ‘extraordinarily severe’ emergency: the radioactive leak at Harborview. Parent comment

Re:An ‘extraordinarily severe’ emergency: the radioactive le... by kevan on Saturday June 22, 2019 @03:11PM (#20251172)
When you're grinding there's significant metal and abrasive dust thrown into the air. Given the airflow they generate and how fine the radioactive powder is even a small nick in the capsule could end up with a lot of material in the air without you noticing it.

A jig to limit grinder motion sounds like really cheap insurance to prevent this failure mode.

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Re:An ‘extraordinarily severe’ emergency: the radioactive le... by ethbro on Sunday June 23, 2019 @09:10PM (#20259790)
I'm curious if the capsules like this are standardized or one-off. The description of the tungsten plug makes it sound like the latter.

In which case a more sane procedure would probably mandate some examination of the capsule, formulation of a plan off-site, then implementation of said plan.

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