Geiger Counters (Really - How do you detect Cobalt 60)
In “Geiger Counters (Really - How do you detect Cobalt 60)” at
http://lists.drizzle.com/pipermail/rockhounds/2012-September/038431.html
Doug Bank wrote,
“On top of this, my wife's company just had
a container of stainless steel and aluminum
from India rejected at the port in California
because they detected Cobalt 60. I would like
to know what kind of a detector could be used
to determine if any of the aluminum and stainless
steel in their factory may also have cobalt 60
contamination, and is it the same kind of
detector I might use with rocks and minerals.
J Bryan Kramer added,
“ Mexican hot metal:
http://scrippsnews.com/node/43575 “
This is a significant and in many ways scary problem.
Wikipedia has an interesting article about “hot metal”
in “Radioactive scrap metal” at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_scrap_metal
and a description of a major “hot metal” accident in
“Goiânia accident” at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goiania _accident .
As in case of all Wikipedia articles, they have to be
read with some caution, but both articles provide
a list of references that can be used by a person to
do their own research. Specifically interesting is:
1. Ortiz, P., V. Friedrich, J. Wheatley, and M. Oresegun,
1999, Lost & Found Dangers - Orphan Radiation
Sources Raise Global Concerns, IAEA Bulletin vol. 41,
p. 18-21.
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull413/41302081821.pdf
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull413/index.shtml
2. International Atomic Energy Agency (nd) Reducing
Risks in the Scrap Metal Industry.
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Booklets/SealedRadioactiveSources/pdfs/handout_scrap.pdf
3. Kopsick, D., R. T. Martin Magold, and R. B. Pope, 2005,
An International Approach to Monitoring, Interception
& Managing Radioactively Contaminated Scrap.
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington D.C.
http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/docs/source-management/poster-int-protocol-unece.pdf
and 4. Anonymous (2011) International Conference on
Control and Management of Radioactive Material
Inadvertently Incorporated Into Scrap Metal (2009 :
Tarragona, Spain), International Atomic Energy Agency,
Vienna, Austria
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1502_web.pdf
Légaré, J.-M., nd, Detection of radioactive sources in scrap metal
http://www.sftext.com/radioprotection/cuba_detection_radio.html
Best wishes,
Paul H.
