Anti-nuclear group on warns NASA plutonium flyby
Darwin: August 18 (South News)-An anti-nuclear group says residents of
northern Australia should be worried about a close encounter with a NASA
spacecraft as it swings past the Earth carrying radioactive plutonium.
The group, Everyone for a Nuclear-Free Future, says the NASA probe,
Cassini, is due to bounce off the earth's atmosphere today on its way to
Saturn is warning that any accident would risk spreading poisonous
carcinogenic plutonium dust around the world.
A spokeswoman, Amelda Read, says there are no safeguards against northern
Australia being showered with plutonium, in the event of human error or
mechanical malfunction. But a NASA estimate put the chances of an
accidental re-entry of Cassini at about 1 in 1.2 million.
Anti-nuclear activists worry that somehow flight controllers will lose
control of Cassini as it approaches Earth, sending it tumbling into the
atmosphere and vaporizing its plutonium fuel The probe's three power
generators convert heat from the naturally decaying plutonium into
electricity. Plutonium can be deadly if inhaled, shooting out cannonballs
of radiation that scramble DNA, leading to birth defects or cancer.
She says the space probe is not equipped to re-enter the earth's atmosphere
and Territory residents should be warned about the risks. "Everyone should
be a little bit worried," Ms Read said. "When NASA takes huge risks like
this with human lives at stake I think everyone's got to be a little bit
worried."
Cassini is Nasa's largest and most expensive unmanned spacecraft and
carries with it more than 32 kg (70 pounds) of highly radioactive plutonium
will make its closest approach to Earth at an altitude of 725 miles over
the eastern South Pacific at 1:28 pm AEST today according to NASA.. The
swingby is expected to boost its speed from about 35,000 mph (56,325 kph)
to more than 46,000 mph (74,000 kph).
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