Re: Re[6]: smoke detector overkill

[Rich Oesterling <ogr@twinpeak.inel.gov>]

On Sat, 15 Oct 1994 bkolb@arinc.com wrote:

> >> 
> >> >There are two catalog sales companies called Seventh Generation and Real
> >> >Goods that sell EcoFeelGood products.  Their catalogs have always
> >> >contained lines of compact flourescent light bulbs that contained no
> >> >radioactive starter*, but i really got incensed when they started carrying
> >> >a line of contain non-radiation smoke detectors which work off turbidity.
> >> 
> >> OK where Do I find a radioactive starter?  None that I've ever checked
> >> showed anything more than you'd expect from potassium in the glass
> >> (including some European manufacturers).  Kathren mentions these in his
> >> book but doesn't indicate if such use is dated.
> >> 
> >> bkolb@arinc.com
> 
> >You need to break the bulb to sense the radiation.  It's not penetrating.
> 
> Thanks for the help.  I checked our neighborhood lighting store and found
> two GE Compax bulb-type fluorescent tubes with a screw-in base, one with
> 0.33uCi Pm-147 and the other with 50nCi of Pm-147.  A GE Lite'N Easy
> fixture had 25nCi of Kr-85.  All are weak beta emitters but the gamma was
> strong enough to detect on the outside surface with a 2" pancake tube.
> Readings were about twice background when the tube was directly over the
> starter bottle.  The caution label on the box mentions the radionuclides
> but there is NOTHING on the bulb itself.  I've had one of these in a lamp
> at home for several years and didn't realize it was "hot" until last night.
> None of the other models and brands I looked at in the store had
> radionuclides.
> 
> bill
> 
> 
So - are you worried about it, or what?  Considering the level of hazard, 
"NOTHING" on the bulb seems appropriate.

Rich Oesterling, CHP
ogr@inel.gov
208-526-3757
(These may or may not be my opinions.  They certainly aren't those of my 
employer.)