Hard Rain: any replies re: uranium mining?

[eclipse]

All kinds of anti-nuke propaganda.
www.myspace.com/video/david/a-hard-rain/8452394
They made a big deal about 'any' exposure to radiation being dangerous, and went on and on about radon gas travelling 1000km from mining sites.
I went to look up the wiki, but am too tired to read gobbledegook. If anyone has any peer-reviewed studies whose synopsis or conclusions break it down into English, well, that would be fantastic!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_radon

[David B. Benson]

eclipse --- I found the wiki page relatively good. What is the problem/question?

[eclipse]

Basically is radon poisoning so dangerous at the point of mining, and able to travel so far from the point of mining, that we should consider banning uranium mining? That even if the nuclear fuel and power plants are all 100% safe, the mining itself is so bad that the industry should be shut down? That's the claim in the movie, which quotes the usual suspects from the ACF.

[David B. Benson]

eclipse --- That is nonsense. Uranium mines need strong ventilation; end of problem.

Radon decays in 4 days so the airborne radon goes wherever the wind blows it over 4 days. But yawn as the concentration will be too low to bother with.

Those looking to remove health impacting substances ought to start with coal burner flue gas and then move on to diesel and internal combustion engine exhausts. Banning all of those will certainly clear the air of actually (measurably so) dangerous substances.

[eclipse]

OK, but that's the claim made by the Hard Rain 'documentary' above. It would be great to be able to prove that the concentrations are just too low to worry about.

[David B. Benson]

Since the point source wouldn't be releasing very much and the dispersal would be roughly similar to 2.5 micron particles seen in
lar.wsu.edu/airpact/
one sees that there is no occasion for concern.

P.S. Today sees the end of the two wildfires in Idaho, according Airpact.