The Beryllium Thread

[Simplex3]

I'm putting this in here so that it won't hang around the top of the lounge while I cut and paste information in to post after post.

This is part of my ongoing offseaon attempt to get us ranked on the first page of some search engine(s) when nerds search for "beryllium".

Before you PM me with "Why?", the answer is simply that I am sitting around reading log files at work and cutting and pasting into this thread requires absolutely NO mental stress.

[Simplex3]

How Can I Prevent Beryllium Exposure?

[Simplex3]

The following are some guidelines put out by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration):

[Simplex3]

* Engineering Controls: employers should be using appropriate engineering controls and work practices to minimize beryllium exposure (some examples include: enclose processes, install appropriate local exhaust ventilation and use vacuum systems in machining operations)

[Simplex3]

* Work Practices: employers should be sure that employees follow certain guidelines to minimize exposure to beryllium (some examples include: never use compressed air to clean parts or working surfaces and avoid prolonged skin contact with beryllium particulate)

[Simplex3]

* Hygiene and Personal Protective Clothing: in order to reduce secondary exposure to workers families the employer should provide showers, clean work clothes, and clean areas for storing street clothes

[Simplex3]

* Respiratory Protection: it is suggested the employers provide their employees with air-purifying respirators equipped with 100 series filters

[Simplex3]

* Training: employers should provide training to employees on the risks of beryllium exposure as well as procedures for minimizing exposure

[Simplex3]

These suggestions are taken from OSHA's website on "Preventing Adverse Health Effects From Exposure to Beryllium on the Job.

[Simplex3]

Resources

[Simplex3]

* http://www.nationaljewish.org/medfac...m_medfact.html

[Simplex3]

* www.ornl.gov/oshp/freq.htm

[Simplex3]

* www.chronicberylliumdisease.com

[crazycoffey]

Several contributors highlighted an even more striking example associated with stars. This involves the strong interaction and concerns the generation of carbon (another prerequisite for our form of life) in the helium-burning phase of red giant stars. This occurs via a reaction in which two alpha particles unite to form a beryllium nucleus that then combines with another alpha particle to form carbon. However, as the late Fred Hoyle first pointed out, the beryllium would decay before interacting with another alpha particle were it not for the existence of a remarkably finely tuned resonance in this interaction. This fact is sometimes presented as an anthropic prediction but, as Trimble intriguingly pointed out, there may have been evidence for this resonance in the data even before Hoyle suggested that it be sought in the laboratory.

[crazycoffey]

The IAEA has a data bank that lists 16 cases of incidents involving HEU or plutonium that could have been smuggled or was reported lost from 1993 to 2005.In one case from 1993, 4.4 tons of beryllium including 140 kilograms contaminated with some 150 grams of HEU "were discovered in the storage area of a bank" in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, according to the illicit trafficking data.

[crazycoffey]

Tests included searching for arsenic, beryllium and pesticides in the water and sediment. A cross section of fish were tested for traces of pentachlorophenol, a chemical used by mills to prevent black fungus from growing on lumber.