RE: Alpha sources

[Ed Wilds <EHSADM3@UConnVM.UConn.Edu>]

On Thu, 8 Sep 94 11:18:09 -0500 John DeLaHunt said:
>
>And, on that subject, can someone out there suggest a good alpha soucre,
>that is durable (t1/2 > 140 days), that doesn't have attendannt daughter
>gammas, and may be considered an exempt quantity?
>
>The ACS has decided to stress nuclear chemistry in freshman-level classes -
>the result is that all of our faculty that teach general chemistry must now
>dally with our .64 uCi Pu-239 source to demonstrate alpha decay.
>
>Needless to say, this is not the optimial situation.  We thought about
>going to Po-210, but the prospect of having to buy a source every year
>sort of bothers us.
>

John:
    Buy some Gd-148 check sources.  100% alpha decay to stable Sm-144 with
out any daughter gamma.  Half-life is 93 years.  The alpha energy is 3.18 MeV.
This should do the trick for you.


Ed Wilds
Radiation Safety Manager
The University of Connecticut