Author Topic: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?  (Read 6285 times)

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Offline jotif57142Topic starter

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Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« on: November 12, 2019, 05:09:55 pm »
Hi guys, my friend and I want to get some Gamma source for experienments, but all we can find are something less than 1 uCi, what we want are more than 1 Ci, can anyone tell me the way to get it? Thanks.
 

Online ejeffrey

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2019, 05:19:25 pm »
You can get radioisotopes of all different types from Oak Ridge National Lab.

 

Offline jmelson

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2019, 06:06:26 pm »
You can get radioisotopes of all different types from Oak Ridge National Lab.
No, actually, unless you have a NRC licence, you certainly cannot.

You can get a Corelle dinner plate with the bright orange glaze at a flea market.  The glaze is Uranium oxide, and a 1" chunk
will give you 5000 counts/minute.

Jon
 

Online ejeffrey

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2019, 06:12:11 pm »
That was my point.  If you should be handling a 1 curie (=3.7 * 10^10 decays/second) source ORNL will sell it to you.  If not, then you shouldn't be handling it.
 

Offline ceoxrad

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2019, 06:23:03 pm »
If you are asking here where to find it you definetly shouldn't handle it. BTW what are these experiments you mention?
Sorry for any mistake in my English
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2019, 06:29:56 pm »
Hi guys, my friend and I want to get some Gamma source for experienments, but all we can find are something less than 1 uCi, what we want are more than 1 Ci, can anyone tell me the way to get it? Thanks.

This is one of those situations where needing to ask the question disqualifies you from being told the answer.  If you were adequately qualified to safely handle and use a 37 GBq gamma source then you would already know the answer.
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline LaserSteve

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2019, 06:39:09 pm »
Do you play baseball for the Springfield Isotots or something?
If you had to ask that question, you don't need that material.


Steve

« Last Edit: November 12, 2019, 06:41:31 pm by LaserSteve »
"When in doubt, check the Byte order of the Communications Protocol, By Hand, On an Oscilloscope"

Quote from a co-inventor of the PLC, whom i had the honor of working with recently.
 

Offline LaserSteve

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2019, 06:43:43 pm »
One would hope a government agency employee would know how to spell "Isotope", and not title a post with  "Isotape".
Does Dave et al., Ever publish IPs?  I'd love to know on this one...

Considering some of the things I've seen on forums ie, years ago, a poster who called him/her/itself  "Archimedes Plutonium", I wonder if some of these posts are long running psych  experiments, or some one's idea of a really bad joke. 

I called APs employer based on his IP once. Turns out it was a  really big US  Ivy League university, but not the one listed in WIKI for him.  Their  IT specialist told me they do not censor their staff, despite numerous requests to close down that one.  In fact he cried "Academic Freedom" and said he would call MY academic employer back at the time to question my ethics for asking.  Hence, "Long Running Experiment".

Steve
« Last Edit: November 12, 2019, 06:58:06 pm by LaserSteve »
"When in doubt, check the Byte order of the Communications Protocol, By Hand, On an Oscilloscope"

Quote from a co-inventor of the PLC, whom i had the honor of working with recently.
 

Offline Gyro

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2019, 07:21:50 pm »


-------

Quote from the Big Bang episode, The Prestidigitation Approximation:

Rajesh: Why so glum, chum?

Sheldon: Apparently you can't hack into a government supercomputer and then try to buy uranium without the Department of Homeland Security tattling to your mother.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2019, 07:41:05 pm by Gyro »
Best Regards, Chris
 

Offline Teledog

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2019, 05:12:27 am »
Check out the EBR-1 in Idaho (closed for the season)
Your counter will go crazy on the the one reactor turbine (caged) just outside the facility.
Free & interesting tours!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_Breeder_Reactor_I
 

Offline coppercone2

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2019, 09:15:56 am »
i bet ownership of that device would be a cradle to grave affair with goverment accounting

I would imagine you think you found something amazing that needs some strong radiation source to test, but good luck because thats material someone will consider worthy of a dirty bomb or assassination (depending on isotope).. would not be surprised if you need some kind of 'security contract' (permission to board for agent smith and have his lackey sleep over) to have it on premises now adays. Of course it can be supposedly handled under conventional industrial procedures for rad testing, sterilization, etc, but I bet there is something 'stinky' going on for national security reasons.

Don't listen to the idiots that think you need intrinsic knowledge, after all this could be part of a business plan write up (for god sakes we need better industry), but if you are not a scared terrorist then you might want to call a actual vendor and ask how the process goes. You probably need a business to begin with. I think its kinda rare for someone to just think of a awesome process and business that totally depends on the radiation source. Could be though, that maybe calibrations are just too expensive and someone is gouging and some fine equipment needs to be calibrated at low cost rather then being shaken down by metrological bandits. It does seem that business might flow in if you have a strong radiation source available for cheap testing or calibration of whatever. I don't know how you would advertise though, its like "I got this field here... can you do anything with it?" What are you gonna do cold call different businesses known to use radioactive equipment that requires calibration and hope you make money back?

like a industrial kick starter ?  under cutting cal labs ?  :-DD
problem is probably trust, because the equipment that needs these kinds of calibrations is typically so expensive that their main concern is fear the sensor is not reading correctly.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2019, 09:31:33 am by coppercone2 »
 

Offline Terry01

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #11 on: November 13, 2019, 10:42:32 am »
First post on the forum... funny name... asking for radioactive stuffs... says it's for me and my friends "experiment"... spelling the name wrong... says they are in the US... guys here don't trust...

… it doesn't look good brother...  :wtf:
Sparks and Smoke means i'm nearly there!
 

Offline ConKbot

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #12 on: November 13, 2019, 01:28:53 pm »
Tips@fbi.gov the bureau of "Free Beer and Isotopes" email for tips on how to acquire said isotopes.
 
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Offline SiliconWizard

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #13 on: November 13, 2019, 02:59:18 pm »
 :-DD
 

Offline george.b

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #14 on: November 13, 2019, 03:09:08 pm »
Tips@fbi.gov the bureau of "Free Beer and Isotopes" email for tips on how to acquire said isotopes.

*Isotapes ::)
 

Offline SiliconWizard

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #15 on: November 13, 2019, 03:41:17 pm »
Can't wait for someone to come and ask how they can get ahold of enriched uranium.
 ;D
 

Offline magic

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #16 on: November 13, 2019, 03:42:19 pm »
Who cares if it's banned? :-// :P

Assuming it is, dunno, IANAL.
 

Offline LaserSteve

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #17 on: November 13, 2019, 03:43:14 pm »
True fact, certain brands of packing tape generate weak x-rays when pulled off certain surfaces in a vacuum...   Researchers in the US and Russia independently discovered this. So if he would have asked for Xsotape....

Steve
"When in doubt, check the Byte order of the Communications Protocol, By Hand, On an Oscilloscope"

Quote from a co-inventor of the PLC, whom i had the honor of working with recently.
 

Offline LaserSteve

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #18 on: November 13, 2019, 03:47:30 pm »
Read up on David Charles Hahn, and his backyard EPA Superfund site  if you need an idea of why large scale  home nuclear reactions can be a bad idea...

EDIT, Take a look at Slide 14 in this publication:

https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1121/ML11210B521.pdf

Steve
« Last Edit: November 13, 2019, 04:03:04 pm by LaserSteve »
"When in doubt, check the Byte order of the Communications Protocol, By Hand, On an Oscilloscope"

Quote from a co-inventor of the PLC, whom i had the honor of working with recently.
 
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #19 on: November 13, 2019, 05:09:08 pm »
Just for the hell of it, I did some back of the envelope calculations as to the possible level of lethality of a 1 curie gamma source.

A 1 Curie (37 GBq) cobalt 60 gamma source would, if unshielded and radiating isotropically, deliver an 8 Sievert dose of radiation into a 70 kg man if the source was held 30 cm in front of their chest for 24 hours. Because I did simple maths there's probably a fudge factor of say 3 either way. That is the effects could be either 3 times higher or three times lower, but as a ballpark figure it's a fair indicator of the radiation dosing risks of a 1 Curie gamma source made using the most popular material for commercial high activity gamma sources, 60Co (This source would only contain 840 µg of 60Co).

A dose of 8 Sv (over a short period of time) is enough to kill a human in short order with 99% probability, a dose of 5 Sv over a short period of time is an LD50/30, that is a dose with a probable lethality of 50% within the next thirty days. So, yeah, this is a dangerously powerful source and would require careful, controlled handling.

If you were 300 metres away from the same (unshielded, isotropically radiating) source, it would effectively double your (world average) absorbed dose from background radiation from 3 mSv/year to 6 mSv/year - about the same effect as moving from the UK to Finland.

Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline Tomorokoshi

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #20 on: November 13, 2019, 05:21:22 pm »
Certainly, here is how you get it:
https://youtu.be/MdSJFrhb-HM
 

Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #21 on: November 13, 2019, 05:59:35 pm »
Read up on David Charles Hahn, and his backyard EPA Superfund site  if you need an idea of why large scale  home nuclear reactions can be a bad idea...

EDIT, Take a look at Slide 14 in this publication:

https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1121/ML11210B521.pdf

Steve
To be fair, that guy did a lot more wrong than collecting dangerous materials.
 

Offline SiliconWizard

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #22 on: November 13, 2019, 06:39:11 pm »
But read "The boy electrician" first!!
 

Offline jmelson

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #23 on: November 13, 2019, 09:27:41 pm »
That was my point.  If you should be handling a 1 curie (=3.7 * 10^10 decays/second) source ORNL will sell it to you.  If not, then you shouldn't be handling it.
Oh my god, I missed that he wants 1 Ci in the OP!  Obviously either a troll or a complete imbecile.  I work at a place that has 1 Ci of Californium, they had to build a separate building for it.  It has all sorts of radiation safety alarms and intrusion alarms, only a couple people have clearance to enter the building, and they spend a couple minutes a year cumulatively inside the place.  Then, the radioactivity that boils off the Californium is sucked into another building, sorted for isotope and fed into an accelerator.

OH, and this is INSIDE a national laboratory which has quite strict security, too!  Having 1 Ci around requires somewhere close to the same security as an operating nuclear reactor.

Jon
 
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Offline The Soulman

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #24 on: November 13, 2019, 10:48:05 pm »
And here I'am, expecting a thread about extra bright glow-in-the-dark insulation tape.  :-DD
Oh well.. 
 
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