Radioactive Fence Posts?

[buickanddeere]

Jim, I didn't even know scrap yards tested for radiation
Yep we learn a lot here.....

What usually occurs in minor situations is cobalt 60 used in "needle" medical treatment of tumours being "lost" and ending up in metal scrap. The real problem is equipment used for radiological treatment in remote, under funded and 3rd world countries. Somebody who doesn't know or doesn't care sells used/obsolete/stolen medical equipment to the local scrap dealer who doesn't know or care about radiation. The wee pellet of cobalt 60 is rather small and appears unobtrusive if it is noticed at all. Cesium 137 is often used in industrial applications on production lines as the source in scanner that verify if a container is empty or full. The cesium sources are very low dose. The primary source of radiation in scrap metal and land fills is smoke detectors. I don't know why it is ok to toss a 20,000cpm smoke detector in the landfill yet 100cpm of naturally occurring thorium glaze on somebody's porcelain coffee mug makes the radiation department all fussy.
Now the stage is set for a large amount of low level radioactive metal to be located and placed in storage at great cost $$$.

 

[buickanddeere]

I worked in radiation lab for 20 years. Little fact - Bananas have low dose radiation (think from phosphorus decay) as does Fiesta 60s dishes..

iirc a banana is worth about 4900 Bq of K40 beta internal dose.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Can you site a source on the Japan incident the link provided did not mention it.

Sorry, I was going from memory of an article I read probably 15 years ago.

The link provides information on the rates of cancer in Nagasaki & Hiroshima, but not the particular building I mentioned.

Friend of mine was stationed as service tech at military radar unit. He told me that there was no single officer who had a son. All officers had only daughters. Apparently the male sperms are less resistant to radiation.

Hogwash.

 

[rustydollar]

The danger from the possts is probably about the same as your tap water. Odds are good that that water has trace amounts of arsenic, mine does.

IOW - there is no danger from the posts.

Arsenic in ground water could be serious, you'll note the guideline for drinking water is in PPB parts per billion.

Drinking Water

EPA has set 10 ppb as the allowable level for arsenic in drinking water (maximum contaminant level). (EPA 2006)

The World Health Organization recommends a provisional drinking water guideline of 10 ppb.
Food

Arsenic is used in some veterinary drugs, including those used to treat animals used for commercial food products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established tolerance levels for arsenic in byproducts of animals treated with veterinary drugs. These permissible levels range from 0.5 ppm in eggs and uncooked edible tissues of chickens and turkeys to 2 ppm in certain uncooked edible byproducts of swine.

Shellfish (especially bivalve mollusks and crustaceans) concentrate arsenic in seawater, but it exists in the organic forms, which have not been shown to produce adverse effects in humans consuming these seafoods. This type of organic arsenic is also rapidly excreted.

Groundwater arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh: An interview with Dr Manzurul Hassan : Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience Blog

 

[turnkey4099]

Arsenic in ground water could be serious, you'll note the guideline for drinking water is in PPB parts per billion.

[/ATTACH]

Note that I said "tRACE AMOUNTS" and trce amounts of it are common in water wells.

 

[buickanddeere]

There are trace amounts of everything in anything.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

The Navy has been scrapping nuclear submarines for decades. I wonder how much of that radiated steel gets into the scrap stream? It may test out OK to their allowable radiation level when in a carload but what happens if it gets concentrated in the melting process? They do bury the reactor units at the Hanford Resrvation out in the WA desert. One of overall pollution problem with various wastes is the old process of "the solution to pollution is dilution". That idea still prevails somewhat today. Then somewhere the dilution becomes concentration; such as animals and plants. What happened to all those nuclear artillery rounds the Army scrapped after the cold war ended? Maybe a lot got into the scrap stream.

What a base for a good conspiracy/thriller novel.

Ron

 

[npalen]

Is there any chance that the nails in pallets could be contaminated?

Edit:

 

[buickanddeere]

Tungsten is a common alloy added to steel for hardness and toughness without raising carbon levels. Tungsten is so hot with isotopes that used grinding wheels , cutters, welding tips, some fasteners and turbine blades are disposed of as low level radioactive waste rather than the civilian landfill.
Probably the most common cause of " contaminated " scrap.

 

[atomchaser]

Tungsten is a common alloy added to steel for hardness and toughness without raising carbon levels. Tungsten is so hot with isotopes that used grinding wheels , cutters, welding tips, some fasteners and turbine blades are disposed of as low level radioactive waste rather than the civilian landfill.
Probably the most common cause of " contaminated " scrap.

You are talking about thorium not tungsten. The percentage used in various industrial applications (alloys) is very small and not a health concern under most conditions.

To the OP -- the pipes you have are not a health concern. If you for some reason decide to remove the scale on the inside of the pipe with a grinder or needle gun, use appropriate PPE.