[ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

Tue Jul 17 14:57:16 CDT 2007

Tritium foils are manufactured by plating a metal surface onto a nickel or
stainless backing. The plated material is commonly Titanium or Scandium.
After plating, the foil is heated and exposed to Tritium gas. As it cools,
the Tritium is bonded to the surface as the Tritide (hydride). The Tritium
will stay bonded as long as the temp is kept low. Tritium is released at
higher temperatures. Tritium can be exchanged off these foils. The foils in
use for electron capture detectors are 150-350 mCi if Titanium and up to 2
Ci for the Scandium. The 3M foils used in the static devices I believe are
Titanium as the Tritium comes off at the lower temperatures. We remove the
Tritium from these foils for reuse.

Bob Gallagher
NSSI
713 641-0391

One would not normally expect any dose from Tritium from a foil. Usually one
can determine which side of the foil the Tritium is on by noting the color
of the metal. When in doubt, simply hold the foil up next to a pancake
detector. The Bremstrahlung is easily measured.

-----Original Message-----
From: John R Johnson [mailto:idias at interchange.ubc.ca]
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 2:41 PM
To: Geo>K0FF; Robert D Gallagher; Brennan, Mike (DOH); radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

Radsafers

Internal Bremsstrahlung accounts for 1/137 of the decay of tritium. It does
not result from the emission of beta rays. See page 617 of Robley Evan's
book "The Atomic Nucleus" (McGraw-Hill, 1955).

John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Geo>K0FF" <GEOelectronics at netscape.com>
To: "Robert D Gallagher" <rdgallagher at nssihouston.com>; "John R Johnson"
<idias at interchange.ubc.ca>; "Brennan, Mike (DOH)" <Mike.Brennan at DOH.WA.GOV>;
<radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 12:01 PM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

> Bob, do you happen to know the details of the tritium foil used in High
> Voltage detectors ( e.g. 3M model 703)?
> Specifically the chemical makeup?
>
> Not a big dose in there <200 uCi ( microCurie), but it is fully exposed so
> that the low energy betas are free in the air, instead of being
> blocked by the borosilicate glass as in radio-luminescent products.
>
> Another Trit question for the group: The low energy betas are blocked by
> the containing capsule in the self-luminescent light products, but an
> X-Ray signature can often be detected. We are assuming Bremsstrahlung, is
> there any other reason for this>? Ka shell "Characteristic X-rays" from??
> maybe?
> George DowellNLNLNew London Nucleonics Lab56791 Rivere Au Sel Pl.New
> London, MO 63459GEOelectronics at Netscape.com573-221-3418 ----- Original
> Message -----
> From: "Robert D Gallagher" <rdgallagher at nssihouston.com>
> To: "John R Johnson" <idias at interchange.ubc.ca>; "Brennan, Mike (DOH)"
> <Mike.Brennan at DOH.WA.GOV>; <radsafe at radlab.nl>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 1:36 PM
> Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills
>
>
>> Anyone that has worked with liquid scintillation recognizes the potential
>> for chemoluminescence. We have found that WD-40 is one of the worst
>> problems. Other ring compounds seem to give similar readings. A quick
>> check
>> for chemo is to count the sample and then turn out the room lights and do
>> multiple counts on the sample. If its chemo, the count will begin to
>> drop.
>> The change rate is dependent on the particular light sensitive compound.
>>
>> In the US also, the biomedical waste rule allows Tritium at <.05 uCi/gm
>> to
>> be disposed in local land fills without regard to the radioactivity. One
>> company I know of in the US is allowed to release thousands of Curies per
>> year into the air from their burning operations.
>>
>> As a result, pointing the finger at exit signs and watch dials is rather
>> simplistic.
>>
>> Tritium is seen by most as a minimal damage radionuclide. With such broad
>> usage, finding the material in landfills comes as no surprise.The
>> benefit/risk is good for Tritium.
>>
>> The same is true for the Am-241 in smoke detectors. If Am241 moved in the
>> environment like Tritium does, we would have a much bigger problem.
>> Luckily,
>> most persons use the smoke detectors and never realize they contain
>> radioactive material.
>>
>>
>> Bob Gallagher
>> NSSI
>> 713 641-0391
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl]On
>> Behalf Of John R Johnson
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 11:40 AM
>> To: Brennan, Mike (DOH); radsafe at radlab.nl
>> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills
>>
>>
>> Mike
>>
>> Tritium as HTO has a 0.97 10 day and 0.03 40 day half life in adults
>> (according to the ICRP Pub. 67)  but tritium "organically bound" to
>> carbon
>> (OBT) has a  0.5 10 days and 0.5 40 days half life  in adults. I don't
>> know
>> what the tritium gas will "convert to" in the garbage.
>>
>> John
>> ***************
>> John R Johnson, PhD
>> CEO, IDIAS, Inc.
>> Vancouver, B. C.
>> Canada
>> (604) 222-9840
>> idias at interchange.ubc.ca
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Brennan, Mike (DOH)" <Mike.Brennan at DOH.WA.GOV>
>> To: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 9:12 AM
>> Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills
>>
>>
>> Hi, Franz.
>>
>> I have on several occasions sampled leachete from land fills, and our lab
>> has reported finding tritium at puzzling concentrations.  The consensus
>> is
>> that the tritium comes from exit signs that were disposed of in the
>> landfill, and on which the tubes containing the tritium gas were broken
>> when
>> the garbage was compacted.
>>
>> While I don't have a solid reason, I remain dubious of this explanation.
>> It
>> doesn't "feel" right to me.  I asked the chemists about contaminates that
>> might give false positives some how, and was told that the lab was
>> confident
>> that was not the case.  I remain very open to suggestions beyond exit
>> signs
>> and watch hands, or, as one of our activist groups claims, midnight
>> dumpings
>> of drums of reactor primary coolant water into the landfill.
>>
>> I am, however, quite satisfied of one thing: the tritium in the leachete
>> does not constitute a public health risk.  Should someone be drinking
>> enough
>> leachete to gain a noticeable body burden (and do it on a regular basis,
>> as
>> tritium has a 12 day biological half-life, and they would need to
>> replenish
>> often), they should live so long that the rad becomes a health issue.
>> The
>> chemical hazards are far greater, though my bet is that the pathogens
>> would
>> get them first.  That they would drink landfill leachete in the first
>> place
>> hints at some non-trivial mental health issues that I would really have
>> someone look into.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
>> Behalf
>> Of Franz Schönhofer
>> Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 12:55 PM
>> To: BLHamrick at aol.com; sandyfl at cox.net; radsafe at radlab.nl;
>> powernet at hps1.org
>> Subject: AW: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills
>>
>> Barbara and RADSAFErs,
>>
>> Additionally to the discussion I would like to put forward, that we have
>> found in Austria highly elevated tritium concentrations - more than 3000
>> Bq/l in the water collected routineously from the bottom of household
>> garbage landfillls. This water is routineously pumped to the surface and
>> sprayed into the landfill for evaporation.
>>
>> We attribute these concentrations - without any really conclusive link,
>> just
>> speculation - to the fact, that the use of watches from a certain Swiss
>> brand, which used tritium for the hands. It was more or less regarded as
>> a
>> fashion object, which should be changed every few months and we
>> attributed
>> this elevations of Tritium in landfill water to this fact, though we have
>> no
>> conclusive research concerning the discharge of tritium from these
>> watches.
>>
>> I would appreciate very much to get into contact with somebody who has
>> similar experience.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Franz
>>
>> Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
>> MinRat i.R.
>> Habicherg. 31/7
>> A-1160 Wien/Vienna
>> AUSTRIA
>>
>>
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