Re: Mystery Radium device

[Alex.Zapantis@ea.gov.au (Alex Zapantis)]

Top ten possible explanations for the Mystery device;

10. Its a smoke detector built for a specialised purpose.
9. Its a teaching aid
8. Its a radon source
7. Its a scaled down prototype of a lightning rod
6. Its part of a nuclear weapon (not my suggestion!!)
5. Its part of an experiment related to  plateout of Rn progeny on charged
surfaces
4. Its the next generation of computer controlled revigators
3. Its the latest accessory for GI Joe
2. Its a hoax, the item was never really found. 
1. It has no role whatsoever, but was planted in the dump truck by Sixty Minutes 
who are doing an expose' of radiation regulation in the US (the conspiracy
theory!!)

_______________________________________________________________________________
Subject: Mystery Radium device
From:    "Busby; Bruce" <bab1303@hub.doh.wa.gov> at Internet
Date:    11/3/98  4:40 PM

Hi All,

We, in the Great State of Washington, have started a new web page for 
"strange things we find in the trash" .
No really, we have found an object that we are trying to identify, a 
drawing of which is at:

  http://198.187.0.42:80/ehp/rp/default.htm#mystery

It contains roughly (very roughly) 1 uCi of Radium and it does not glow 
in the dark (tried). The round "head" has a clear plastic section over 
the radium, with orange-ish-red plastic top and bottom of the clear part. 
 Sizes are indicated on the drawing.  No one here has seen anything like 
it before, but general consensus is that it looks military in origin.  
Anyone who has a minute can stop by the web site and see if they can tell 
what it is.

Thanks!

--------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Busby   W - bab1303@hub.doh.wa.gov  H - babusby@aol.com
Radiation Health Physicist - Washington State Department of Health
Radiation Protection Division - Radioactive Materials Section     
7171 Cleanwater Lane, Building 5, PO Box 47827
Olympia, WA      98504-7827
Phone: 360-236-3222      Fax: 360-236-2255
---------------------------------------------------------


Alex Zapantis             
Health Physicist
Supervising Scientist Group

Email : alex.zapantis@ea.gov.au
Fax : (int+) 61 2  6217 2060
Phone: (int+) 61 2 6217 2037

PO Box E305
Kingston ACT 2604
AUSTRALIA

The Supervising Scientist Group is Part of Environment Australia