Subj: IUFO: Fw: NASA's next nuclear horror (known as Pluto-Kupier Express (PKE))
Date: 10/19/00 12:21:38 AM Pacific Daylight Time

----- Original Message -----
From: "Russell D. Hoffman"
To:
Cc: "Dianne Feinstein, Senator (CA, D)" ;
"Barbara Boxer, Senator (CA, D)"
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 11:52 PM
Subject: NASA's next nuclear horror (known as Pluto-Kupier Express (PKE))


> To: All environmentalists everywhere
> From: Russell Hoffman, environmental activist
> Re: NASA's next nuclear horror (known as Pluto-Kupier Express (PKE))
> Date: October 18th, 2000
>
> Dear readers,
>
> You may have heard that NASA's next big nuclear horror, Pluto-Kupier
> Express (PKE), has been canceled. IT HASN'T. Funding has been put on
> hold, that's all. Funding can be restored at any time. That's hardly
good
> enough.
>
> Right now, Louis Friedman, pro-nuke co-founder and director of The
> Planetary Society (TPS), is contacting thousands of astronomers, news
> media, and others, telling everyone he can reach to proclaim their support
> for PKE. (Dr. Friedman pretended to debate this writer prior to the
launch
> of NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 1997, with its 72.3 pounds of plutonium
> dioxide. These "debates" with Dr. Friedman, and Dr. Friedman's resume,
are
> available at my STOP CASSINI web site).
>
> Not surprisingly, in Dr. Friedman's proclamations to his minions he never
> mentions the 16.3 pounds of plutonium dioxide that will be on board PKE
> (about 90,000 Curies, mostly Pu 238, and some Pu 239). This plutonium
> represents about 70% of NASA's projected "plutonium requirement" as
> outlined in a recent Department of Energy "PEIS". This is definitely the
> mission to stop!
>
> Like TPS's press releases, NASA also never mentions the plutonium that
will
> be on board. The cancelation is being blamed on budget considerations but
> it is reasonable to believe that it is really due mainly to the public
> outcry they know they will get if they proceed with the mission. Let's
> show them they are right!
>
> The plutonium's main purpose is to provide a small amount of electricity
by
> using a thermocouple to convert the heat of radioactive decay. The needed
> electricity could be obtained with fuel cells or other technologies, or
the
> mission could be scaled back or split into two completely non-nuclear
> missions. Or we could visit somewhere else in the solar system
> (99.999999999% (approximately) of the solar system has yet to be explored
> at all so there are lots of choices) until inevitable technological
> breakthroughs occur to make a non-nuclear Pluto mission feasible. We
> really don't need to go there right now, with this dangerous and
> ill-conceived technology.
>
> I'm sure most PKE letters of support will be from people who have no idea
> of the potential consequences from an accident. People who don't know
that
> the plutonium on board could be vaporized in a launch accident (especially
> a "late launch" accident, which could result in a global dispersal).
PKE's
> supporters are surely going to be mostly people who don't know that
> vaporized plutonium is the most dangerous state of the substance because
in
> that state (tiny particles) it can easily be inhaled or ingested
> (inhalation being many times more dangerous; and the particulate's range
of
> sizes would be ideal for permanently lodging within the human lung).
PKE's
> supporters are surely going to be mostly people who don't know that
> plutonium 238, once lodged in a human's lung, is about 280 times more
> dangerous per unit of mass than plutonium 239, the substance commonly
> referred to as "the deadliest substance known to man". (Pu 238 has a
> half-life about 280 times shorter than Pu 239, about 87.75 years versus
> 24,100 years. This relatively short half-life, meaning the radioactive
> decay breakdowns occur much more frequently for a given number of atoms,
is
> why Pu 238 is much more dangerous (for less time, but still for many
> generations) than "weapons grade" plutonium, Pu 239.) PKE's supporters
are
> surely going to be mostly people who don't know that the alpha particles
> released cause cancer, leukemia and birth defects at all dosage levels
(the
> rate of these effects goes down as the dose level goes down, but the
> severity of the effects is not changed one iota).
>
> They might know that alpha particles won't even go through a sheet of
> newspaper. NASA likes to tell people that fact. That's fine if there's a
> piece of newspaper between your body's living cells and those alpha
> particles. But once a particle of plutonium is lodged in your lung, there
> are no barriers to protect you from the alpha particles it shoots off.
>
> Please contact your senators and congresspeople immediately, as well as
all
> your friends, and tell them to oppose Pluto-Kupier Express! It would be
> appreciated if you "cc" the author of this email as well.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Russell Hoffman
> Concerned Citizen, Activist
> Carlsbad, California
> Please post this email freely
>
> *************************************************************
> Russell D. Hoffman,
> Carlsbad, California
>
> Petition against nuclear energy, for sustainable energy:
> http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/petition/sustain.htm
>
> Peace Activist, Environmentalist, High Tech Guru:
> http://www.animatedsoftware.com/whoisrdh.htm
>
> Founder and Editor of the Stop Cassini newsletter:
> http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/index.htm
>
> Learn the madness of NASA's ongoing nuclear policies! Visit the Stop
> Cassini web site:
> http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/cassini.htm
>
> Learn about The Effects of Nuclear War here:
> http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/tenw/nuke_war.htm
>
> What is a half-life? (Compares Plutonium 238 to Plutonium 239)
> http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0146.htm
>
> What is the Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)? Is nuclear war winnable?
> http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0128.htm
>
> Hug a tree! Read why it should matter to you what happens to the great
> Redwoods in California:
> http://www.animatedsoftware.com/misc/stories/redwoods/redwoods.htm
>
> Why you need encryption: An interview with Phil Zimmerman:
> http://www.animatedsoftware.com/hightech/philspgp.htm
> (also available in Spanish)
>