Mail being irradiated for anthrax catches fire at New Jersey plant; 90 pounds of mail destroyed The Associated Press 12/7/01 12:59 PM BRIDGEPORT, N.J. (AP) -- Batches of mail being treated with radiation to eliminate possible anthrax contamination caught fire, apparently because some material overheated, officials said Friday. Hundreds of large envelopes and magazines -- 90 pounds in all -- were destroyed during two small fires, one Thursday and one early Friday, the Postal Service said. "Our engineers believe both incidents are linked to material present in the mail which cause overheating during radiation exposure," said John Gilbert, spokesman for Ion Beam Applications, which operates the plant where the irradiation is being done. "We feel these two incidents are regrettable but expected." There were no injuries or damage to the plant. click for more
There may not be any injuries or damages to the plant but I bet there are some ticked off people. And is it just me, or is anybody else concerned with the fact that they're "irradiating" mail USING radiation, and it caught on fire? I mean they're using RADIATION! I hope nobody is sending any kind of food or anything edible through the mail unless they want a pair of heads, 3 legs and 4 arms and a couple of noses.
Know of any way to irradiate something without using radiation? And it's been safe to irradiate food for years. Your microwave does it. It's also used to keep food fresh for years without spoilage.
That mail better not have been mine. Also from that site: My PSAT scores are missing. The administration said that the scores should have been in last week but are expected soon I hope this doesnt screw up my college search process or my chance at a NMS.
Then you've obviously never made the mistake of microwaving food and having some metal in there. That's probably what happened.
