Peter Lemkin
Joined: 18 Nov 2016
Posts: 403
Location: Prague
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 Posted: Aug 01, 2019 22:58 Post subject: Re: Uraninite storage |
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| John Medici wrote: | Xaranar, continue your interest in radioactives and don't take those who have major fears of radioactivity too seriously! My first year of grad. school at Rutgers I took a good industrial-oriented course on handling and use of radioactive elements and materials. My trip to the first Bancroft (Ontario) Gemboree (1964) placed me in contact with many field collecting options for some of the best crystals (my main interest in radioactives) available anywhere (thorite, betafite, uraninite, uranophane), and lots of other things like zircons that carry some radioactivity. One of the locals at the Gemboree had a pail full of thorite crystals from Kemp Prospect (Cheddar, Ontario) that he was selling crystals from - that represented quite a lot of exposure for him and I probably would not recommend that although my family and I have had significant exposure collecting at times. In the thorite area there was an extremely hot (radioactive) feldspar area that some friends collected - not sure of the radioactivity origin.
Radon should be recognized as quite dangerous if breathed in, since its alpha rays are long lasting enough to seriously affect the lungs if the radon is next to tissue. Care in opening containers and drawers should also be taken and good ventilation is highly recommended for a collection of radioactives.
Canada-USA border crossing data has allowed radioactives (called "source material" in their literature) but we have not tried to carry such material across the border in the past few years since the 9/11 attack has made it somewhat more difficult.
Keep in mind that short time exposure viewing radioactive minerals that are displayed in a showcase is quite trivial when one considers our continued bombardment from outer space, and dental X-rays, stress tests and other medical tests (usually with short half-life materials) add to such exposure.
Have fun collecting radioactives! If it means anything, I'm 81 and have been collecting them for 55 years. |
I'll introduce you to the miner in Jakymov who lives on the radioactive waste dump. I find this kind of post a tad irresponsible. Radon gas is not a little dangerous it is highly dangerous. When it gets into the lung it breaking down into Polonium [in the hundreds of thousands of decays per minute to per second depending on how much you inhaled. The Polonium will stick to the epithelium of the lung and bombard it with alpha radiation, causing mutations leading to lung cancer, for five years on average T1/2=~5 yr. What most do not know, have never been told or taught and was the focus of my graduate work is the synergism of all the toxic and carcinogenic items [mostly human-made] in our environment - especially the indoor environment. That is why the rates of cancers are rising amazingly fast in 'developed' nations. There are harmful and carcinogenic chemicals in your food [yes the agencies tasked with protecting you are bought-out and ruled by the corporations who stand to make a profit poisoning you. Ditto most cheap non-real-solid wood furniture [the glues in the fake wood or wood laminates outgas and are carcinogenic. Same for cheap carpets. No stick fry pans are carcinogenic. ...and I could go on. Yes, I collect some radioactives, but I treat them specially and carefully, as I know the risks. They are kept in a Pb box with a radon vent - kept outside and I always wash my hands when there are no cuts or sores on my hands immediately after handling. Those are very hot rocks. Lesser 'hot' rocks can sometimes be kept in a case inside, but even there there is an increased risk unless you have good air circulation in the room AND case!...and not sump area where the radon will accumulate invisibly. The radiation is more than additive [that is what synergistic effect is all about] with all the other carcinogens in the human environment. Playing ostrich is not the solution nor anecdotes on being older and having handled radioactives. This is not science. Sorry. Humans, especially in the USA, live in very [and increasingly] cancer-causing environments. Adding another, without careful though about it is not a wise move. Anyone who would like a free ebook on Environmental toxicology [including radiation], PM me. |
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