Re: "hot" gold -summary of information

[Franz Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 16:14 01.08.2000 -0500, you wrote:
>First, many thanks for all the help I have received on this issue.  Second,
>I thought I'd give a quick summary of what I've learned to date.
>

Let me give some additional information for those interested in this topic. 

In the middle of the seventies I was approached by a company which deals
with precious metals (a very big one!), whether I could do some
gamma-spectrometric investigations on a few samples of silver coins and
granulated silver. Since I had just finished my PhD I needed money and so I
took this job. I remember well that in one of the samples of granulated
samples I could easily detect Ag-110. Well, I was happy to have earned some
money and did not think much about it, the inofficial explanation of the
company that a Russian silver mine had been exploited by exploding a
nuclear bomb to crush the rock and to facilitate the extraction, did not
seem very convincing to me. Much later I learned about the silver
tightening of reactor vessels and so I could guess why the Ag-110 was found
in this sample. I heard rumors that such silver is "recycled" by melting
and blending with uncontaminated silver.

So it might well be that silver used in jewelry might contain radioactive
silver nuclides as well. 

Is there anybody, who knows more about this silver?

Franz


Franz Schoenhofer
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1-495 53 08
Fax.: same number
mobile phone: +43-664-338 0 333
e-mail: schoenho@via.at


Please note my new telephone number at my office!

Office:
Ministerialrat Dr. Franz Schoenhofer
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management
Radiation Protection Department (BMLFUW I/8 U)
Radetzkystr. 2
A-1031 Vienna
AUSTRIA

phone: -43-1-71100-4458
fax: -43-1-7122331

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