[ RadSafe ] Nuclear gauges, DU, Th, Radium watch hands- Ownership issues.

[Philip Egidi]

As an Agreement State regulator (Colorado). who licenses and inspects gauge users, I tend to think maybe you had some communications issues with the lady from 
NRC HQ.
They will license as many as the site needs, provided they have the appropriate storage capability, etc.
We do not issue specific licenses for "any" amount of gauges.  No way.
We will license, for example" Up to x number of model XYZ gauges..."
Like Dale said, there are basic requirements that need to be met prior to getting a license.  Having said that, they are not hard to meet.
Gauges are designed to be inherently safe under normal use. 
Just today I did a gauge inspection at a coal mine in western Colorado.  They had some gauges for measuring coal ash content, and flow in piping.  
While any one gauge does not have too much material, there are concerns about aggregation of sources, so we tend to keep better track of inventory on portable gauges than we used to.  Many older devices are generally licensed, which have less stringent requirements.  Many of the States are in dissagreement with NRC on GL devices, and go beyond what NRC requires, when the compatablity catagory allows.  But that is another topic.
Phil Egidi
CDPHE


Phil Egidi
EPS III
Radiation Management Unit
Radiation Control Program
Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division
CDPHE

NEW ADDRESS:
222 S. 6th St. Rm. 232
Grand Junction, CO 81501
(970) 248-7162
(970) 248-7198 fax

alternate numbers:
(303)692-3447
(303)759-5355 (fax)



>>> "Geo>K0FF" <GEOelectronics at netscape.com> 07/12/07 10:09 AM >>>
Nuclear gauges, DU, Th, Radium watch hands- Ownership issues.

Anyone in business that has $1200 can get an NRC materials license.
It will all ANY number of gauges to be held. Verified by a long
telephone conversation with Barb Brown at NRC HQ just last week.
Gauges can be purchased on eBay legally, for as low as $10.00 as
long as you have that license. 10 units were recently sold there by
the state of Oregon at prices ranging form $10.00 to $500.00, all
with NRC approval (I know, I called NRC Allegations office to be sure). 

A recent news article attempts to scare the public by capitalizing on " Undercover Investigators Obtain Nuclear License" and 
claims that once exposed by their crack investigation the government has "Fixed the problem" ?? 
First of all there is no problem, these 
are the same rules we have always had.
See:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/eric_lipton/index.html?inline=nyt-per>ERIC

Another "investigator" brought a small quantity of DU across the US border and wrote a scathing article. In reality, there were no laws broken. 
I have even seen DU penetrators from M1 Abrams Tank rounds ( real, not training rounds) for sale on eBay, again, no legal problem with that.

DU metal  is actually considered an insignificant radiological material, its Pyrophoricity ( it burns easily), and heavy metal 
toxicity are of far more concern.



Any business or educational entity can hold up to 15 pounds
of "source material", that is, yellowcake, DU etc. Anyone can hold
any amount of natural U or Th ore. And yes, even 40 pounds of Radium
watch hands is OK. There is NO LIMIT on the number of thorium
mantles one can own.

These are the rules, newsfolks etc. can make a big deal out of it if
they want to. No one is breaking the law.

SEE:
http://www.qsl.net/k0ff/Nucleonics/




Yes we may suffer "dirty bombs" in the USA in future. Some might even be
radiological in nature, but those will be of little concern compared to other
dangerous materials that are accessible.






George Dowell
NLNL
New London Nucleonics Lab
56791 Rivere Au Sel Pl.
New London, MO 63459

GEOelectronics at Netscape.com

573-221-3418

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