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Re: Correction: 0.026 mR/hr 1' from 120lb KCl, 2x background



Interesting topic, thought I'd jump in. We have a professor here that

bought a 50 lb bag of commercial garden fertilizer at our local Walmart.

He uses it in one of his classes as a low dose rate gamma source demo.

Just for kicks, I surveyed it with a pancake GM meter and saw a solid

0.15 mR/hr at contact with the bag. GMs are known to over-respond at low

energy (which this isn't), but in any case we're still talking mR, not

microR. I can't imagine tons of that stuff sitting in one place!

-Russ



farbersa@optonline.net wrote:



>

>

> Hi all:

>

> Many years ago, I happened to go to a local BJ's Wholesale Club to buy

> some quick melt which happens to be KCl in 50 pound 5 gallon buckets.

> They had them stacked up on pallets between the checkout lines. Each

> pallet was about 6 buckets wide by 8 buckets deep by 5 buckets high.

> So each pallet had about 12,000 pounds [6 tons] of KCl and the direct

> gamma exposure rate near the pallet [measured with a digi-dose meter]

> was 40 or 50 micro-R/hr. I used to have some interesting photos of a

> mother with her young child seated in the cart in the checkout line

> backed up to the center between two large pallets of KCl -- 6 tons to

> either side of the cart with mother/child.

>

> I used to chuckle at the thought that some salt mines out West were

> being mined to sell the KCl to the public in situations where

> maximally exposed individuals might see gamma dose rates of 35 to 45

> micro-R/hr above background.  At the same time anti-nuclear activists

> were protesting these salt mines [or some very similar] being filled

> in with stabilized nuclear waste that would NEVER, EVER yield offsite

> doses to any member of the public from theoretical leakage, whether

> 10,000 years in the future or longer, from the levels from the

> increased radiation exposure that can be realized from the KCl being

> extracted from the mines.and exposing people in the present. Rather

> droll.

>

> Stewart Farber

> Consulting Scientist

> [203] 367-0791

>

> ===================

>

>

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: howard long <hflong@pacbell.net>

> Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 0:21 am

> Subject: Correction: 0.026 mR/hr 1' from 120lb KCl, 2x background

> > Correction confirmed and thank you, Stewart Farber.

> >

> > Readings vary, still doubling (0.016 to 0.032 mR/hr) when 1' from

> > 120 lb KCl, giving a mountain state dose to coast residents.

> >

> > Howard Long

> >

> > farbersa <farbersa@optonline.net> wrote:

> > On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 11:21:25 -0700 (PDT), howard long

> > wrote:

> >

> > > Even now, we can get around LNT based regulation. I just now

> > counted 26

> > > mR/hr one foot from 3, 40 lb sacks of KCL (water softener salt

> > > available from Lowes or Home Depot for <$20) in a room otherwise

> > showing

> > > 13 mR/hr (half the gamma) on my Palmrad. This is about the

> > difference

> > > between non-exposed nuclear shipyard workers and those exposed

> > to 0.5

> > > rem (who had less cancer and better longevity).

> >

> > ====

> > Hi all:

> >

> > The units above in the prior note excerpt are undoubtedly

> > typographicalerrors and should read 13 micro-R background and a

> > doubling to 26

> > micro-R/hr one foot from 120 pounds of KCl. A background reading

> > of 13

> > mR/hr would equal 114 R/year gamma -- not very likely or desirable

> > by any

> > measure.

> >

> > Even at the center of an infinite volume of KCl the gamma flux

> > would not

> > equate to much more than a few hundred micro-R/hr.

> >

> >

> > --

>

> >

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