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Re: Alarms at Borders
What are the legal limits at the border? Would the check source on an old
Civil Defense CDV-700 Geiger Counter set off such an alarm? Is there any
problem with bringing that across the border?
The radium check sources have substantially reduced output due to the
relatively short half-life, while the uranium check sources are essentially
at their initial radioactivity.
There isn't much indication on the CDV-700 at a distance of one foot, but
right against the source it clicks like crazy with the shield open.
Thanks!
Richard
At 02:31 PM 1/12/2005 -0500, Mccormick, Luke I wrote:
>Please spread the word. Our Operating Directive states that each radiation
>detection at a border will be investigated and resolved. Most all Customs
>Officers wear pagers and we use a huge number of passive radiation
>detectors in the form of portal monitors, cargo scanning devices, etc.
>Everyone who sets off an alarm crossing the border is sent to secondary
>until the Officers have determined if they are ligitimate.
>Many, but not all nuclear medicine departments are providing patients with
>letters explaining that the patients have received a radiopharmaceutical
>and if we have questions to call the doctor/clinic/hospital.For those
>carrying the documents we simpy verify that the office is ligitimate and
>call to verify that the person was a patient there. We can identify many of
>the radiopharmaceuticals by thier spectrum on site. These people pass
>through pretty quickly. The people who don't have the documentation are
>asked for the doctor/clinic name and we do the same thing but most do not
>know the phone number of the clinic so they may be detained for quite a
>while until we get everything straightened out. If you are a patient or
>work at a nuc. med. facility, please make sure that the paperwork is given
>to the patients and travel restrictions may cause them some delays.
>Luke McCormick
>
>____________________Reply Separator____________________
>Subject: RE: question concerning stress tests
>Author: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
>Date: 1/12/2005 12:28 PM
>
>
>
>
>
> Hal & Phil,
>
> Patients ARE setting off alarms NOW. Happens a lot at the
> NY/Canadian border, day trippers coming back. I heard one
> instance on the Mexican California border near San Diego. So
> far it seems the detectors are set up at borders and customs
> stations in airports.
>
>
> Any opinions in this e-mail are solely those of the author, and
> are not represented as those of the VA Eastern Colorado HCS,
> the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, or the US Government.
>
> Peter G. Vernig, Radiation Safety Officer, MS-115, VA Eastern
> Colorado Health Care System, 1055 Clermont St. Denver, CO
> 80220, peter.vernig@med.va.gov, Phone= 303.399.8020 x2447; Fax
> = 303.393.5026, alternate fax, 303.393.5248
>
> "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely,
> whatever is admirable, if anything is found to be excellent or
> praiseworthy, let your mind dwell on these things."
>
> Paul of Tarsus
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
> [mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On Behalf Of Careway,
> Harold A. (GE Energy)
> Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 9:30 AM
> To: Radsafe (E-mail)
> Subject: FW: question concerning stress tests
>
>
> Phil sent:
>
> Exposures from nuclear stress tests can be considerable, at
> least to those of us who have to explain and justify every
> last millirem to regulators and activists.
>
> Several years ago I had a stress test and made some post
> treatment measurements with a Bicron MicroR meter.
>
> Injections of 30 mCi of Tc-99m and 4 mCi of Tl-201 result in a
> cumulative dose of ~600 mrem. Seven (7) hours after
> treatment, the exposure rate was 17 mR/hr in contact with the
> stomach and 20 microR/hr (twice background) at 30 feet.
> Exposure rate at stomach level after 2 days was ~2 mR/hr, and
> after 7 days was ~0.5 mR/hr. After 3 weeks, exposure rates
> were indistinquishable from background.
>
> Yes, at those levels, a lot of patients are going to be
> setting of the increasing number of post 9/11 radiation
> monitors in airports, borders, etc.
>
> See http://www.philrutherford.com/Stress_Test_2003.pdf for
> charts of exposure vs. distance and time.
>
> Interestingly enough, when I asked the nuclear technician who
> administered the radiopharmaceuticals, how much exposure I
> would receive, he said "Oh, about the same as a chest X-ray
> (~10 mrem)." I do not know whether that was simple ignorance
> or deliberate misinformation.
>
> Phil
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------
>
> I had the same experience when I went for my Cardolite test -
> the technician was able to tell me the activity dose I was
> receiving (30 mCi of Tc-99m) but not my whole body or
> effective dose in mR or mSv. It was like he never heard of
> such a thing and really made me angry. Latter I estimated
> that between the two doses I received (1PM in the afternoon
> and a second dose at 8AM the next morning) I picked up
> somewhere between 1600-1800 mR integrated.
>
> I continued to register above background on my Xetex 308A
> until three days after the procedure and the first day I could
> set the detector off from 15 feet outside my office, what fun.
>
>
> Hal Careway
>
>
>
>.
>
>
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