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Re: Accident with Am-241 smoke detectors
Here the references to smoke detectors that I found using Bill Schadt's
Quest program (thanks, Bill). The first, by John Rundo of Argonne Labs,
describes the incident where someone accidentally ingested a smoke detector
source. As I recall, there was no uptake. A letter to the editor to Ralph
Nader also appears later in the list.
Dave Derenzo
RSO, University of Illinois at Chicago
Health Phys Dec 1977;33(6):561-6
Rundo J Fairman WD Essling M Huff DR
INGESTION OF AM-241 SOURCES INTENDED FOR DOMESTIC SMOKE DETECTORS : REPORT
OF A CASE.
AMERICIUM-241*
Health Phys June 1996;70(6 Supp):S56-S57
Sass W Kassel D Lall PC Jensen L Mitchell J
Teenage experiments contaminate suburban property.
Abstract -- In August 1994, 18-year-old Brian Cooper (not his real name)
was detained by police in Clinton Township, Michigan. When the police
searched his car, they discovered a locked tool box and other containers
that Brian said contained radioactive material resulting from experiments
he had conducted with the radioactive material from, primarily, consumer
products. From the ages 14 to 18. Brian spent his spare time at his Union
Lake, Michigan, home attempting to concentrate, burn, chemically alter, and
experiment with the thorium from hundreds of lantern mantles, radium from
various luminescent sources and clock dials, smoke detector sources, and
radioactive materials from natural ores. In the process, he had
contaminated a wooden shed in his backyard and his bedroom, and injured and
exposed himself. In 1995, EPA; their emergency response contractor, Ecology
and Environment, Inc.; and the Michigan Department of Public Health
performed an emergency assessment and removal at the property. The response
and removal were conducted cost-effectively and generated approximately 10
cubic yards of radioactive waste.
Health Phys Jun 1998;74(6 Supp):S49
Kocher DC Kerr GD Bogard JS Scofield PA O'Donnell FR Cotter SJ
Mattsen CR
Systematic assessment of exemptions for source and byproduct materials.
Abstract -- This presentation discusses a systematic assessment of
radiological impacts associated with current exemptions for source and
byproduct materials in NRC regulations and with certain products currently
distributed for use under a general or specific license, which are
potential candidates for exemption. Many exemptions apply to consumer
products (e.g., smoke detectors) or to any uses of radioactive material
(e.g., any materials containing less than 0.05 percent by weight of source
material), but other exemptions apply only to highly specialized uses of
radioactive material (e.g., uranium shielding used in shipping containers).
This study has used a reasonably consistent dose assessment methodology for
all exemptions and potential candidates for exemption, based on currently
accepted modeling approaches and internal and external dosimetry data.
Individual and collective doses were estimated for all stages of the
normal, unregulated life cycle of the particular product or material,
including distribution and transport, routine use, and disposal. Individual
doses from accidents and misuse also were considered. In most assessments,
doses from distribution and transport, disposal, and accidents were
estimated using generic methodologies developed as part of this study. This
presentation emphasizes the modeling approaches and assumptions used in the
dose assessments and example results of individual and collective doses for
particular exemptions and potential candidates for exemption are presented.
HPSNews Nov 1976;4(11):2
Levin S
[Letter to the Editor]:Ionization-Type Smoke Detectors - To Ralph Nader
HPSNews Feb 1977;5(2):2
Wolfe SM
[Letter to Editor]:Ionization-Type Smoke Detectors
HPSNews Apr 1977;5(4):6
ED.
[Announcements]:NBS Produces Pamphlet to Help Homeowners Select Smoke
Detectors
HPSNews Sep 1978;6(9):2
Wadman WW
[Letter to the Editor]:Ionization Smoke Detectors
HPSNews Nov 1978;6(11):2
Austin BT
[Letters]:Domestic Installation of Smoke Detectors
HPSNews Aug 1980;8(8):6
ED.
[Information]:NRC Issues Regulations for the Labeling of Smoke Detectors
Containing Radioactive Materials
HPSNews Apr 1989;17(4):10
Stovall JE
[Commentary]: HP Implications of Ionization Type Smoke Detectors.
At 08:15 PM 02/17/2000 -0600, you wrote:
>Ralph Nader had a brief crusade against these about 16 years ago as reported
>in the HP Newsletter. Against smoke detectors, for child-killing airbags.
>
>Don Kosloff mailto:dkosloff@ncweb.com
>2910 Main St., Perry OH 44081
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Otto G. Raabe <ograabe@ucdavis.edu>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
>Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2000 11:29 AM
>Subject: Re: Accident with Am-241 smoke detectors
>
>
> > February 17, 2000
> > Davis, CA
> >
> > The person who opposes the use of Am-241 in smoke detectors probably
> > imagines that the Am-241 is escaping into the air in his house and
> > poisoning his family.
> >
> > The Am-241 sources in smoke detectors are so well sealed in a metallic
>gold
> > covered disk that even when one was accidently swallowed by an assembly
> > worker (I believe reported in the HPS Journal or Newsletter), it passed
> > through the GI tract with no measurable release of Am-241 into the body.
> > These are superbly sealed and safe sources as currently manufactured.
>There
> > is no scientific basis for the reported concerns.
> >
> > Otto
> >
> > *****************************************************
> > Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP
> > Institute of Toxicology & Environmental Health (ITEH)
> > (Street address: Building 3792, Old Davis Road)
> > University of California, Davis, CA 95616
> > Phone: 530-752-7754 FAX: 530-758-6140
> > E-mail ograabe@ucdavis.edu
> > *****************************************************
> > ************************************************************************
> > The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
> > information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
> >
>
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