RE: incident details

["Jim Darrough" <darrough@engr.orst.edu>]

Greetings.



	In my previous life as a member of the US Navy, I was aboard a ship when

salt water was accidentally sprayed into a power panel. The result was an

immediate vaporization of silver-plated solid copper bus bars that were

approximately 1/4 inch thick and four inches wide. The bus bars carried

power from the ship's 1500KW generator (450VAC 3 phase). It is my opinion

that if the camera cable contacted a high-tension line in the building,

which is likely to have been a 480 volt one if it was for an overhead crane,

then it is entirely possible that a portion of the Iridium source was

vaporized. One of our members cited the extreme temperatures needed to cause

vaporization but believe me, several thousand amperes at 480 volts is fully

capable of generating enough instantaneous heat to do just that.



Sincerely,



		Jim Darrough

		Health Physicist

		Oregon State University



-----Original Message-----

From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On Behalf Of Neil, David M

Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 8:55 AM

To: 'Morgan, Ben'; 'Kerimbaev'; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: RE: incident details





A valid point.  I had missed that part.  Could the iridium be in a

dispersible form?  The iridium sources I knew of were small metal pellets,

about BB shot size.



Dave Neil		neildm@id.doe.gov









-----Original Message-----

From: Morgan, Ben [mailto:ben.morgan@pgnmail.com]

Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 9:44 AM

To: Neil, David M; 'Kerimbaev'; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: RE: incident details





Greetings:



The description of the incident included "...the source drive cable crossed

a high voltage cable resulting in damage to the

radioactive source."



It seems feasible to me that striking an electric arc could have vaporized

some of the source capsule and the iridium.



Regards,



Ben



ben.morgan@pgnmail.com



-----Original Message-----

From: Neil, David M [mailto:neildm@ID.DOE.GOV]

Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 9:55 AM

To: 'Kerimbaev'; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: RE: incident details





Melting point of iridium: 2447 degrees Centigrade

Boiling point (Vaporization): 4428 degrees Centigrade



I don't think so ...



Dave Neil		neildm@id.doe.gov

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