[ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

Tue Jul 17 18:01:47 CDT 2007

Tritium was used at one time in Gas Chronographs as the Detector and had 
been replaced by Nickel-63.  Its use required that it be vented.  It no 
loner is used for that purpose.  Originally Radium-226 was used before 
Tritium.

Ed Baratta
edmond0033 at comcast.net
----- 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 3:01 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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