Re: Cooling tower radioactivity

[mem6@juno.com (Milton E McLain)]

On Tue, 12 Aug 97 14:29:07 -0500 "Engelbretson, David"
<DEngelbretson@tmh.tmc.edu> writes:
>Dear colleagues,
>
>He told me that a waste hauler friend of his had dismantled an old 
>water
>cooling tower (~40 yrs old) from the top of an office building and had
>attempted to take it to a landfill.  The tower material  was rejected
>because it was emitting radiation above the landfill's acceptable
>limits.
>Etc.


Cooling towers act as efficient atmospheric scrubbers, thereby collecting
and concentrating traces of atmospheric radionuclides.  My guess is that
you might be seeing quantities of Pb-210, a prominent Rn-222 progeny. 
The earlier comment referencing the concentration of trace Ra-226, etc.
from the inlet water supply may also be a valid source of the observed
activity.


Milton McLain
mem6@juno.com