[ RadSafe ] Fwd: WIPP awaits analysis of radiation

[ROY HERREN]

    Based on my years of experience doing air sampling, one has to initially assume that that the hot air sample is indeed a positive indication of a containment problem until proven otherwise.  With that having been said, it has been my personal experience that these "hot" air sample are always radon and their progeny, so if I were to give an odds on this situation I would default to it being in the high 99% probability of being radon and it's progeny.  So to answer your question I would guess-ta-mate that there is less than a 1% chance that the hot sample was*not* due to radon and/or its progeny

    One of my favorite recollections of air sampling was when I pulled an air filter from a sample nozzle and I found that rather than being pristine white it was a dark charcoal color.  I immediately assumed that someone had left the air sampler running for a prolonged period of time, so I changed out the filter and carefully re-ran the air sampler for exactly 1 cubic meter of air.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled the filter and it had again been transformed from brilliant white to a dark charcoal color.  It turns out that the refueling enclosure that I was in was acting like a chimney as it sat on top of the submarine in the dry dock and that the fellows in the dry dock doing air arc cutting on the hull of the submarine were the source of the color on the air sample filter paper.  What I found particularly interesting about this experience was that the carbon and possible metal in the air was invisible to my naked eye, and I wouldn't have
 known what I was breathing in had I not taken that air sample.
   

Roy Herren


________________________________
 From: Chris Alston <achris1999 at gmail.com>
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu> 
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 6:47 AM
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Fwd: WIPP awaits analysis of radiation
 

Roy

What odds do you offer that it was *not* down to radon and/or its progeny?

Cheers
cja


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ROY HERREN <royherren2005 at yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 9:52 PM
Subject: [ RadSafe ] WIPP awaits analysis of radiation
To: Radsafe <radsafe at agni.phys.iit.edu>
http://www.currentargus.com/carlsbad-news/ci_25169117/wipp-awaits-analysis-radiation
WIPP awaits analysis of radiation
Sensors detected airborne radiation over the weekend at nuclear waste repository
By Zack Ponce
zponce at currentargus.com @zackponce12 on Twitter
Posted:   02/18/2014 07:08:38 AM MST
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