[ RadSafe ] Low background Shielding Material

[Susan Gawarecki]

How very interesting.  This is the same industry that blocked recycling of DOE's DEcontaminated nickel that was used in the gaseous diffusion process (and other uncontaminated scrap metal from nuclear sites) because consumers might be frightened about traces of radioactivity (primarily alpha from uranium).  It's also too bad the activists who raised the alarm about radioactive frying pans and pants' zippers didn't know about the cobalt-60 sources that the industry introduces into steel.

Susan Gawarecki

John Gumnick wrote:

>Cobalt-60 is used as a wear detector in blast furnace applications. Small Co-60 sources are embeded in the firebrick furnace lining at a known distance from the hotface. These are readily detectable from the outside of the furnace. When the liner has worn to a certain point the source disappears into the melt and is no longer detectable from the outside. A typical furnace might have 50 sources in the 1-5 mCi range embeded at various distances from the hotface, and a quick survey will tell you whether they're still in place or not. This technology has been used since the isotope became available for industrial applications, at least since the '50s.
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