Re: Radionuclide ID Help

[Bruce Busby <bbusby@umich.edu>]

On sand.. this is from memory, but I recall looking at disposal of some 
sand at the INEL. It seems that one of the major supplies of sandblasting 
sand, make up of corrundum (low grade but chemically the same as rubies) contains a few 
ppm of natural thorium. 

-Bruce

On Thu, 18 May 1995, Dale E. Boyce wrote:

> I am going to guess that the watch dial is radium, but you will
> probably want to compare the energies and branches with what
> you observe.  There is a rough match, but I don't know the
> relative intensities and energy error bar in your data.
> My guess is the sand may be thorium or its long-lived daughters.
> You might also take a look at Ba-133 if you have reason to
> believe that it is not natural activity.  If the sand is
> naturally radioactive you may have a mix of Th-232 and the
> uranium series.  Can you adjust your gain to look fot the
> 2614 KeV peak in the Th-232 series?
> 
> Email me directly with a FAX number if you need the energy
> and branching data.  The spectra are complex so it
> is more typing than I would want to post.
> 
> Dale Boyce
> dale@radpro.uchicago.edu
> (312) 702-6299
>