[ RadSafe ] Lethal Amount of Po-210 - any gamma?

[Flanigan, Floyd]

I sent another response right after that one referring to the possibility of your being seated near a patient who'd been administered a radiopharmaceutical. Did you have a chance to get up and do a sweep of the general area and if so, were there concentric variations or was the distribution relatively uniform? 
I apologize for the altitude reply. I mis-read your post and thought you were saying that the dose rate remained the same pre-flight and post-landing. My mistake.

Floyd

-----Original Message-----
From: Kai Kaletsch [mailto:eic at shaw.ca] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 9:54 AM
To: Flanigan, Floyd; radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Lethal Amount of Po-210 - any gamma?

Hi Floyd,

Now that you mention it, there was a correlation with altitude: As altitude 
decreased by a few meters between departure gate and plane, dose rate 
increased by a factor of 10. As altitude increased, going from the plane to 
the arrival gate, dose rate decreased by 90%. Maybe we can blame the uranium 
at the center of the earth :).

Joking aside, did you see my responses to Franz and Jim?  Does that explain 
things?

Regards,
Kai


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Flanigan, Floyd" <Floyd.Flanigan at nmcco.com>
To: "Franz Schönhofer" <franz.schoenhofer at chello.at>; "Kai Kaletsch" 
<eic at shaw.ca>; <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 2:11 AM
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Lethal Amount of Po-210 - any gamma?


Kai,
Did the increase in detected levels, by chance, increase in conjunction with 
altitude and decrease with the lack there-of? If so, Franz is correct. You 
were picking up the increase in background radiation levels produced by 
cosmic rays.

Floyd W. Flanigan B.S.Nuc.H.P.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf 
Of Franz Schönhofer
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 2:17 PM
To: 'Kai Kaletsch'; radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: AW: [ RadSafe ] Lethal Amount of Po-210 - any gamma?

Ever heard about cosmic rays???????!!!!!!!

Franz Schoenhofer
PhD, MR iR
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
AUSTRIA
phone -43-0699-1168-1319


> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im
> Auftrag von Kai Kaletsch
> Gesendet: Montag, 11. Dezember 2006 16:13
> An: radsafe at radlab.nl
> Betreff: [ RadSafe ] Lethal Amount of Po-210 - any gamma?
>
> Po-210 emits a gamma ray, but at a very low branching ratio. I did a quick
> calculation and concluded that you would not be able to see a gamma field
> above background, even a very small distance away from a lethal dose of
> Po-210, or even a few tens of lethal doses of Po-210 (it doesn't seem like
> those guys were particularly stingy with the stuff).
>
> I would appreciate it if anyone in radsafe land could tell me if this
> conclusion is correct.
>
> History:
>
> I was on a plane yesterday and noticed elevated gamma readings on my
> radiation detecting watch. (5 to 20 times normal BG before take-off and
> after landing and noticeably higher than what I am used to during flight.)
> Was told afterward that there were medical isotopes in cargo. But, you
> have
> a lot of time to consider possible scenarios during a 4 hour flight.
>
> BTW, it's a pretty strange experience trying to tell an airline that their
> plane is radioactive. You don't know who to talk to and you are not sure
> if
> they are going to stick you in a straight jacket. Especially, at a time
> when
> all you hear on the news is about people getting killed with radiation and
> planes getting contaminated. The first few people you talk to do not know
> that there is radioactive material in cargo.
>
> Kai
>
>
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