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Good point John ... my Fiesta Ware platter and saucer both give me about 40
kcpm on an Eberline ESP-2 with an HP-210 pancake probe. You're absolutely
correct ... anybody who's reporting a count rate to 5 significant figures is
using a scaler. On most rate instruments reading up around 40 kcpm, you'd be
lucky to read it plus or minus 100 cpm.
Jim Hardeman, Manager
Environmental Radiation Program Environmental Protection Division Georgia Department of Natural Resources 4244 International Parkway, Suite 114 Atlanta, GA 30354 (404) 362-2675 Fax: (404) 362-2653 E-mail: Jim_Hardeman@dnr.state.ga.us >>> John Andrews <andrewsjp@chartertn.net> 6/12/2003 10:43:42 >>> Come on, Syd. I already have a Fiesta Ware plate to check my Geiger counter. I keep it by my chair to place my coffee cup on. Any way, I have waited a few decades, almost 5 since I started in this business in the USAF. I expect I will die, but I am still waiting. I hope to wait a couple more decades and I will keep you posted along the way. My point was really that a chunk of radioactive rock, presumable naturally so, would normally be disposable in the trash for burial in a landfill. Any contrary regulations to the contrary would generally cause a hue and cry way beyond their value to safety. This would not be true for the old radium anti-static source I identified a while back that had been put into a recycling bin. Now that sucker was hot! It deserved the regulatory attention that it got. Just out of curiosity, I would like to see a picture of the rock in question along with a scale, and I would be interested in knowing more about the instrument that is counting 38,222 cpm. It might be a scaler... rather than a ratemeter... John Andrews Knoxville, Tennessee Syd Levine (AnaLog) wrote: >Why dispose of it at all? Put it in the garage, or anyplace safe, and use >it as a check source for your Geiger counter. It has collector value if it >is indeed natural (or I suppose even if it is not). As someone pointed out, >you can find similar material for sale on eBay most any time you care to >look. > >Wait a few decades to see if you eventually die. If you do, then you will >know the cause (either the unethical disposal of radwaste at Niagara, or >that rock on the shelf in the garage). If you live to be 110, we might have >to conclude it is a relatively weak effect, however. Keep us posted... > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "John Andrews" <andrewsjp@chartertn.net> >To: <NiagaraNet@AOL.COM> >Cc: <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu> >Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 9:09 PM >Subject: Re: 38,222 cpm > > > > >>NiagaraNet@AOL.COM wrote: >> >> >> >>>Hey folks: >>> >>>Just a quick question; What type of rock would exhibit 38,222CPM? >>> >>> >>> >> Sounds like you have a chunk of U or Th ore to me. >> >> >> >>>Could this be a rock with a vein of ore such as Uranium (any variety)? >>> >>> >>> >> Could be... Do you have a picture? What color is it? How big is >>it? How much does it weigh? >> >> >> >>>Could this rock be from Western New York State? >>> >>> >>> >> Maybe. Why do you think it might be from New York at all? >> >> >> >>>Would this "rock" be considered radioactively "hot" and would it present >>> >>> >a > > >>>danger say if handled and then went to lunch without washing ones hands? >>> >>> >>> >> This rock appears to be radioactive. It is more so than your >>normal granite. Is it "hot?" No. It is hard to say without much >>information on the type of detector used, the size and shape and weight >>of the rock, and the geometry of the measurement. >> >> >> >> >>>How would I properly dispose of this specimen? Me? I would throw it away >>> >>> >in the trash, then wash my hands. I would not go to the local regulators, >especially not in Tennessee. They tend to have an expensive method of >disposal of anything above the normal background radiation levels. They >once told me that a load of granite gravel would have to be disposed of as >radioactive waste because it was 5 micro R/hr above the local background >level. > > >>>Thanks for your opinions/expertise. >>> >>> >>> >> Your welcome. and it is free. >> >> >> >>>LR (now I'm "masking" my identity:*) >>> >>> >>> >>John Andrews >>Knoxville, Tennessee >>(Now I have the Tenn DRH agents all upset...) >> >> >> ************************************************************************ You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/ |