RE: Alpha sources

["John DeLaHunt" <jdelahunt@cc.colorado.edu>]

>>   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?
>>
>
> 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.

Again, the Part 3, Schedule B (schedule of exempt quantities) doesn't
include Gd-148.  Therefore, it's more regulated than we'd like.

I was thinking about Sm-147 (which is naturally occurring, and so might be
covered by the NORM rules, as opposed to the radioactive materials rules).
Elemental Sm is 15% Sm-147, and the specific activity is 0.0036 uCi/g.
Which is kinda low.  But it's cheap.

Sign me Sourceless in Colorado.

John

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