Re: Getting away from Fiestaware

[Keith Welch <welch@CEBAF.GOV>]

Peter, I don't know the isotopes, so I would make the same assumptions you
did, but I have often heard that various types of ceramics have elevated
levels of radioactivity in them.  I remember a case where I had to perform a
survey at a worker's residence, and found roughly twice bkg on the tiled
surfaces in the bathrooms.  (I was using a standard pancake gm frisker)
Since there were no special colorings in the tile, and it was a relatively
new home, I would assume that the activity was in the clay - probably
radium, thorium, etc.

Keith Welch
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Newport News VA
welch@cebaf.gov