(no subject)

[Han]

Nick Theodorakis <nick.theodorakis from gmail.com> wrote in
news:4c46dc22-1694-45ea-ab11-a441674e057a from x21g2000yqa.googlegroups.com: 

> On Jun 8, 10:12 am, "Allan Jones" <allan.jo... from gmx.de> wrote:
>> Hi!
>>
>> There is currently a lot of radiation work going on in our lab and i
>> am a 
> lways worried about people contaminating stuff with small amounts of
> isotopes the geiger counter does not detect very well (ie tritium,
> 14c, 35s). 
>>
>> Now I have looked into the definition of annual limit on intake and
>> so on 
>  and am slightly confused. The ALI values seem extermely high, so does
>  this mean the amounts (a couple of µCi) we use are not particularly
>  dangerous? 
>>
>> I do not assume anything is contaminated, but am a worrysome person
>> and s 
> ome of the people here seem quite relaxed concerning radioactivity. I
> guess however that back in their days its use was much more common. 
>>
>> What do you think?
> 
> As a point of comparison, I once had a medical imaging test in which I
> was injected with 5 mCi (yes, that's milli) of radioactive thallium.
> When I got back to lab, they said, ha ha, let's see if you're
> radioactive, and held a geiger counter up to my chest. If course, I
> made the geiger counter chatter, at which point it seemed they all
> backed away and said, "oh." They kept me away from the x-ray film for
> a couple of weeks.
> 
> Anyway, the point is that lab use of radioactivity is typically a
> couple of orders magnitude less than nuclear medicine use. Of course,
> they should not be careless about radioactivity, just as they should
> not be careless about other hazards such as phenol, formaldehyde, or
> razor blades. Or leaving a puddle of water on the floor next to the
> ice machine.
> 
> Nick
> 
> --
> Nick Theodorakis
> nick_theodorakis from hotmail.com
> contact form:
> http://theodorakis.net/contact.html
> 
I can second that experience (indirectly).  My daughter as treated with 
I131 for Graves disease.  I could stand 20 yards outside and aim the 
Geiger counter at her through 2 windows and hear it chatter wildly.  Our 
granddaughters stayed with us for 3 days.


-- 
Best regards
Han 
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