I'm curious -- do they have similar rules for when you remove a lamp mantle from a lamp ?
The package I have in my collection (two No.21 "Silk-Lite" mantles) gives a higher cps Geiger reading than just about anything else I have -- including a smoke detector source and a bunch of high-grade uranium ore samples -- this might be because the mantles have been stored in a plastic pouch for many years (their original package) and all the volatile decay daughters are nicely trapped in it.
Note also that the smoke detector source is a metal plate, only one side of which has the 1.0 µCi Am-241 plated on it -- but you can't tell the difference just by looking (there is no label). Also, it does NOT work in cloud chambers, since the metal quickly gets condensation droplets on the surface, which block the alphas.....
Jaro
-----Original Message-----
From: William V Lipton [mailto:liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM]
Sent: Wednesday June 19, 2002 2:36 PM
To: maury
Cc: Wade Miller Jr.; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: Re: Rad Sources for Workshops
Please tell me you're joking.
In any event, before taking apart your smoke detector, keep in mind that:
1. An intact smoke detector can, with some exceptions, be disposed of in household trash. (See HPPOS-150, "Disposal Requirements for Specific and Exempt Licensed Smoke Detectors.")
2. A smoke detector source that has been removed from a smoke detector is potential TRU waste.
The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
It's not about dose, it's about trust.
Curies forever.
Bill Lipton
liptonw@dteenergy.com
maury wrote:
> ... Is there any reasonable way you might obtain and use of smoke detector elements as sources?
> Maury Siskel maury@webtexas.com
> ===========================
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