Re: Bananacuries

["J. J. Rozental" <josrozen@netmedia.net.il>]

At 12:50 AM 6/26/98 -0500, you wrote:
>     I don't know about Brazil nuts, .......
>     Steven D. Rima, CHP
>     Manager, Health Physics and Industrial Hygiene
>     MACTEC-ERS, LLC
>     steven.rima@doegjpo.com
>
==================================================
Steven 

Common name: Brazil nut 
Scientific name: Bertholletia excelsa Humb. et Bonpl. 
Family: Lecythidaceae (Lecythis family) 
Plant part used: seed 
Where grown: South American Tropics 
Native to: South American Tropics 
Use: Brazil nuts are eaten raw or roasted and salted. The nuts are also used
in ice cream as
well as in bakery and confectionary products. 
=====================================================
One American source of information is:

http://www.em.doe.gov/fs/fs1f.html (Radiation in the Environment) 

Food contributes an average of 20 mrem/year, mostly from potassium-40,
carbon-14,
hydrogen-3, radium-226, and thorium-232. 

Beer ................................................. 390 pCi/liter 
Tap Water ............................................. 20 pCi/liter
Milk ............................................... 1,400 pCi/liter 
Salad Oil .......................................... 4,900 pCi/liter
Whiskey ............................................ 1,200 pCi/liter
Brazil Nuts ............................................... 14 pCi/g
Bananas .................................................... 3 pCi/g
Flour ................................................... 0.14 pCi/g
Peanuts & Peanut Butter ................................. 0.12 pCi/g
Tea ..................................................... 0.40 pCi/g

====================
        To whom interested in  research about radioactivity in Brazilian Nut
(Brazilian name: Castanha do Para, Para is the Brazilian State main producer
of the Nuts), please contact Prof. Paschoa and mention my name as reference.


Prof. Anselmo Salles Paschoa <aspas@fis.puc-rio.br>
Pontificia Universidade Catolica
PUC, Rio de Janeiro

J. J. Rozental <josrozen@netmedia.net.il>
Israel
________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
>Subject: Bananacuries
>Author:  Scott Schwahn <schwahn@jlab.org> at Internet
>Date:    6/25/98 4:56 PM
>
>
>I just did a search of the RADSAFE archives have not gotten a response 
>yet, and am in quite a hurry to get the answer to the following 
>question.  If you have such information, please let me know.
>     
>What is the average K-40 specific activity in a banana?  In a Brazil 
>nut?
>     
>I have heard it is on the level of a bananacurie ;-}
>     
>Thanks for your prompt replies (I hope).
>     
>Scott
>     
>--
>     
>Scott O. Schwahn, CHP
>Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility 
>schwahn@jlab.org
>     
>     
>
>