Hi all,
I wonder if someone on Radsafe with access to a gamma spec could be kind enough to do a gamma spectroscopy analysis and a radiation field measurement on one or two representative commercial coral calcium products.
As others have stated earlier, this could be interesting, as Corals apparently enhance sea water concentration of uranium by a factor of ~1000 times ( from 3.3ppb to about 2-4 ppm U ), and coral older than a century or two will also contain all the decay daughters, including thorium, radium, polonium and radioactive bismuth & lead.
A colleague in Chalk River (Canada) recently said that "we do a classroom demonstration with a 300 g can of Nu-Salt (a K-Cl salt substitute for people on low-sodium diets, purchased off the shelf from the local grocery store) which can be shown to quadruple the background radiation field on contact, using a simple Geiger counter with 3" window. The demo had added significance for several reasons: (a) the amount of potassium in the can is equal to that found in an average human body (about 150 g); (b) the product is used widely for its health benefits; and (c) if the grocery story stocks (or a customer buys) more than two or three cans of Nu-Salt they would be in violation of the Nuclear Safety & Control Act for unlicensed possession of K-40, if it weren't a "naturally occurring nuclear substance, other than those that are or have been associated with the development, production or use of nuclear energy".
Wonder if coral calcium might also fit into the category of violation of the Nuclear Safety & Control Act for unlicensed possession of RAM (radioactive materials).
Thanks very much, in advance.
Jaro
Jaro Franta, P.Eng.
AECL CANDU 6 Services
http://www.aecl.ca/
Tel.: (514) 875-3444
Fax: (514) 875-3484
1000 de la Gauchetière West, Suite 1440
http://www.le1000.com/en/index_flash.html
Montreal, Quebec
Canada H3B 4W5
frantaj@aecl.ca