RE: A hunting we will go!

["Clement, Christopher" <clementc@aecl.ca>]

Our office does the same sort of surface survey as described below
except that we throw in a computer and a GPS, and often use multiple
probes.  This allows us to gather much more data than using the manual
method for the same amount of survey time.  We can then apply very
sensitive statistical analysis algorithms to detect levels of
contamination which would almost certainly have been missed with a
"visual" analysis.  I've got a few papers on this subject.  Anyone
interested in more information can respond directly to me.

------------------------------------------------------------
Christopher H. Clement
Scientific Specialist / Radiation Protection Program Manager
Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
clementc@aecl.ca



> ----------
> From: 	Joel Baumbaugh[SMTP:baumbaug@nosc.mil]
> Sent: 	April 30, 1998 3:49 PM
> To: 	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: 	Re: A hunting we will go!
> 
> 	David,
> 
> 	Having done similar "hunts" in the past - the first thing you
> need to do (in my humble opinion) is find the stuff!  Get a high
> energy scintillation probe (like a Ludlum 44-2), grid your area and
> start walking back and forth "till you find it.  A high energy probe
> because the low energy photons won't reach your probe if they
> originate at any depth and you have enough mid-high energy photons
> being generated with Th-232 and its progeny. I often let the probe
> sort of "dangle" (a scientific term if I ever heard one) near the
> ground and slowly swing it back and forth as I slowly walk my grid.
> In a grid area (if I have a companion) I will call out the CPM
> readings so as not to forget where my highest readings are/were.
> 
> 	Regarding the pyrophoric part - time for the asbestos under-ware
> (grin).
> 
> 	Good Luck,
> 
> 	Joel
> 
> ..
> 
> At 12:24 PM 4/30/98 -0500, you wrote:
> >     Folks,
> >     
> >     For the sake of an excavation/remediation project, we are
> assuming 
> >     that there are 360 pounds of Th-232 buried in a waste pit full
> of 
> >     other contaminants.  We don't know exactly where in the pit this
> 
> >     material is or quite how deep.  What we do know is that it may
> be 
> >     pyrophoric and, we suspect, it is concentrated in one location.
> >     
> >     We would like to find this material before it finds us.  We're 
> >     thinking of using gamma spectroscopy to search for the Ac-228
> .991 MeV 
> >     gammas.
> >     
> >     Any advice?  Thanks in advance!
> >     
> >     David Levy
> >     Health Physicist
> >     david.levy@fernald.gov
> >     (513) 648-3816
> >
> >
> >
> 
> Joel T. Baumbaugh, MPH, MHP
> baumbaug@nosc.mil
> Radiation Safety Officer
> SSC San Diego, CA
> 
> 
> 	NOTE:	The contents of this message have not been reviewed, nor
> approved by
> the Federal Government, the U.S. Navy, my bosses or my wife...
> 
> 	How times change - how everthing remains the same:
> 
> 2000 B.C.     "Eat this root."
> 1000 A.D.     "That root is heathen.  Say this prayer."
> 1850 A.D.     "That prayer isn't medicine.  Drink this potion."
> 1940 A.D.     "That potion is snake oil.  Swallow this pill."
> 1985 A.D.     "That pill is ineffective.  Take this antibiotic."
> 2000 A.D.     "That anibiotic is ineffective.  Eat this root."
> 
>