Author Topic: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?  (Read 6280 times)

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Offline coppercone2

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #25 on: November 13, 2019, 11:09:45 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
\
I don't see why a venture capitalist should not be interested in owning such a building if its useful. Maybe someone is just shooting the shit and wanted a quick answer to something dubious.
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #26 on: November 14, 2019, 01:31:42 am »
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.

A very different beast is Californium. Assuming you're talking about a 252Cf source (the commonest) nearly all the decays are alpha, which you can laugh off with a thick piece of paper for 100% shielding, however you can't laugh off the neutron emission from 252Cf. Neutrons are the hardest thing to shield needing lots of material, and have this unpleasant habit of gradually making parts of the exposed shielding itself radioactive. Have some element in the shielding that gets neutron activated to an isotope with a short half life and you can have very radioactive materials on your hands. From what you said about pulling off particular isotopes I presume that this source is being deliberately used to neutron activate other materials, possibly for analysis purposes (that's what your description sounds like).

 A (principally gamma) emitting 60Co source is, only by comparison, quite a pleasant thing to have around and relatively easy to manage. Still fry you if you get it wrong though. Remember that 60Co sources are regularly used to sterilise things like single use medical supplies in production line quantities and at production line speed.
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Offline exmadscientist

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #27 on: November 14, 2019, 05:51:31 am »
You can get radioisotopes of all different types from Oak Ridge National Lab.
Or, if your proclivities lean more Eastern Bloc, the Mayak Production Association can supply many nuclear needs, even... unusual... ones.

Just be very, very careful if they happen to cancel your source order after starting work on it....
 

Offline aheid

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #28 on: November 14, 2019, 07:55:11 am »
I assume OP missed the u prefix on the second unit.

That said I am not qualified to tell if a >1uCi source is safe to handle or if so where one could get one.
 

Offline mjs

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #29 on: November 14, 2019, 08:46:10 am »
Easy, just buy the whole banana production of the world for 4 years and you'll have 1Ci of 40K.
 

Offline dicky96

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #30 on: November 14, 2019, 09:20:04 am »
Madame Curie managed to produce strong radioactive sources without much in the way of technology or anywhere to buy one from or anyone's permission to do it

Maybe just read up on her and do it the same way she did? :-//

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Offline daqq

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #31 on: November 14, 2019, 09:32:57 am »
Quote
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.
I'm reminded of https://the-mask.fandom.com/wiki/The_Terrible_Twos ...ah, the golden age of Cartoon Network...
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Offline george.b

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #32 on: November 14, 2019, 10:50:27 am »
Madame Curie managed to produce strong radioactive sources without much in the way of technology or anywhere to buy one from or anyone's permission to do it

Maybe just read up on her and do it the same way she did? :-//


Bonus style points if he dies of aplastic anemia!
 
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Offline Circlotron

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #33 on: November 14, 2019, 12:11:13 pm »
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.
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Yeah, good old Archie Pu and his nemesis Uncle Al. Had a few discussions with him back in the day. Someone said that his job at the university was washing dishes in the cafeteria, not any academic position.
 

Offline magic

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #34 on: November 14, 2019, 12:36:41 pm »
Madame Curie managed to produce strong radioactive sources without much in the way of technology or anywhere to buy one from or anyone's permission to do it

Maybe just read up on her and do it the same way she did? :-//
And as others said, bonus if you die the same way too.

That being said, you don't just produce radioactive elements, you have to get them from somewhere. Which makes we wonder if whatever sources that people used back then are still available to anyone or have been found and are guarded. No idea :-//
 

Offline amyk

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #35 on: November 14, 2019, 12:58:40 pm »
The ultimate source is the Earth, you can get weakly radioactive ore relatively easily.
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
Californium is known to cause cancer in the state of California...
 
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Offline Psi

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #36 on: November 14, 2019, 01:06:02 pm »
Californium is known to cause cancer in the state of California...

Water is known to cause cancer in the state of California.
Their studies clearly showed that everyone who died from cancer had ingested it before their death.
Greek letter 'Psi' (not Pounds per Square Inch)
 

Offline Gregg

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #37 on: November 14, 2019, 06:17:54 pm »
I suggest a Geiger counter, pick, shovel and a mule to carry supplies and start searching.
 

Offline LaserSteve

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #38 on: November 14, 2019, 07:13:58 pm »
Since Water is known to be a Problem to the State of California, the classic bit of evidence is been posted  here since 1997:

https://www.dhmo.org/truth/Dihydrogen-Monoxide.html

It does mention its use in Nuclear Power Plants..

Steve
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #39 on: November 14, 2019, 07:32:24 pm »
It does mention its use in Nuclear Power Plants..

It has to be given to all nuclear plant workers to stop them from dying.
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline Gyro

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #40 on: November 14, 2019, 07:41:48 pm »
It does mention its use in Nuclear Power Plants..

It has to be given to all nuclear plant workers to stop them from dying.

Although, for safety, they sometimes have to boil it and include herbal and hydrocarbon additives.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2019, 07:43:23 pm by Gyro »
Best Regards, Chris
 

Offline jmelson

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #41 on: November 14, 2019, 08:08:24 pm »

A very different beast is Californium. Assuming you're talking about a 252Cf source (the commonest) nearly all the decays are alpha, which you can laugh off with a thick piece of paper for 100% shielding, however you can't laugh off the neutron emission from 252Cf. Neutrons are the hardest thing to shield needing lots of material, and have this unpleasant habit of gradually making parts of the exposed shielding itself radioactive. Have some element in the shielding that gets neutron activated to an isotope with a short half life and you can have very radioactive materials on your hands. From what you said about pulling off particular isotopes I presume that this source is being deliberately used to neutron activate other materials, possibly for analysis purposes (that's what your description sounds like).
  No, it is CARIBU at Argonne National Lab., it is to make various short half-life isotopes for acceleration in an ion accelerator (ATLAS).  You can get a bunch of different isotopes far off the stability line, but the problem turns out you get a witch's brew of stuff that is hard to filter out to the exact isotope you want to study.  So, you end up with as bad as 90% contamination of what you hoped would be a single isotope.  And, yes, the shielding is a total nightmare.
Quote
A (principally gamma) emitting 60Co source is, only by comparison, quite a pleasant thing to have around and relatively easy to manage. Still fry you if you get it wrong though. Remember that 60Co sources are regularly used to sterilise things like single use medical supplies in production line quantities and at production line speed.
QUITE PLEASANT??!!??  Are you kidding?  1 Ci of 60Co is also pretty serious stuff, and will cook you in seconds if you are ever exposed to it without the shield.
Yes, the sterilizers have massive shielded rooms with a conveyor running around and into the shielded area, and if the conveyor ever jams, it is a huge deal to get the source safed so somebody can run in for a few seconds and knock the jammed carton out of the way.

Jon
 

Offline jmelson

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #42 on: November 14, 2019, 08:21:59 pm »
I assume OP missed the u prefix on the second unit.

That said I am not qualified to tell if a >1uCi source is safe to handle or if so where one could get one.
Radioactive sources up to several uCi are quite common in labs that work with nuclear detectors.  They are used to make sure detectors are working, as well as providing calibration of energy and efficiency.
If sealed, as a Gamma source can be with no trouble, they are pretty safe to handle.  Alpha, Beta and fission sources need to be more "open" to avoid absorbing the particles, and are thus more
easy to damage and lose some of the radioactive material.  Therefore, you have to handle them very carefully.

All of these things generally require an NRC license to possess.  The only things I can think of that you can legally have are the Americium sources in a smoke alarm and pieces of Corelle and similar glazed ceramic plates.  I know the level of protection we need to provide here.  Safes with 5-number combinations, locked doors, monthly inspections to verify the sources are still here, lead "pigs" and other shielding when carrying sources from room to room, having our rad safety people move a source even to a building across the street, and on and on.  And, these are uCi - level sources, not whole Ci level stuff!

Jon

Jon
 

Offline jmelson

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #43 on: November 14, 2019, 08:25:32 pm »
That being said, you don't just produce radioactive elements, you have to get them from somewhere. Which makes we wonder if whatever sources that people used back then are still available to anyone or have been found and are guarded. No idea :-//
Yeah, a pitchblende mine, the source for radium ore.  Quite nasty stuff, makes Uranium ore look VERY tame by comparison.  Miners had really short lives, with lungs filled with radium dust.

Jon
 

Offline SiliconWizard

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #44 on: November 14, 2019, 08:30:50 pm »
Madame Curie managed to produce strong radioactive sources without much in the way of technology or anywhere to buy one from or anyone's permission to do it

Maybe just read up on her and do it the same way she did? :-//

Yeah, she didn't end well either.
 ::)
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #45 on: November 14, 2019, 08:40:30 pm »

 A (principally gamma) emitting 60Co source is, only by comparison, quite a pleasant thing to have around and relatively easy to manage. Still fry you if you get it wrong though. Remember that 60Co sources are regularly used to sterilise things like single use medical supplies in production line quantities and at production line speed.
QUITE PLEASANT??!!??  Are you kidding? 

Learn to read everything in front of you, or you will be condemned to jump to conclusions (and it's a long swim back from Conclusions, as Milo will tell you).
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline DBecker

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #46 on: November 16, 2019, 12:29:16 am »
Just a note that the original poster has a post count that remains at '1'.
 

Offline SL4P

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #47 on: November 16, 2019, 10:02:06 am »
Just a note that the original poster has a post count that remains at '1'.
Maybe he succeeded in finding his ‘tape, and now gloze in the duck.
Don't ask a question if you aren't willing to listen to the answer.
 

Offline Circlotron

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #48 on: November 16, 2019, 11:04:44 am »
Just a note that the original poster has a post count that remains at '1'.
Maybe he succeeded in finding his ‘tape, and now gloze in the duck.
Luminous duck tape?
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Where can I buy radioactive isotape with higher power?
« Reply #49 on: November 16, 2019, 12:24:24 pm »
Luminous duck tape?

Is that luminous tape for ducks, or tape for luminous ducks?

If the latter, I can quite see why you might need to tape them down (before they mutate into zombie killer ducks) and what have you been feeding them?
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 


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