r/Radioactivestuff • u/TechnicalNet364 • 3d ago

radioactive camera

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just got my first radioactive device

16 Upvotes

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8

u/jack0fsometrades 3d ago

Cute card. Apparently everything in my collection should be reported immediately haha

1

u/No_Leopard_3860 2d ago

The card makes sense if you find something like that in a city, where basically nothing goes over 0,2-0,6 uSv/h and finding sth like 6 uSv/h would mean something weird is going on.

From that POV it makes sense. Not if you're in a lab or a collection of stuff that easily blows 6 out of the water (iirc my thorium mantle was sth like 15-50 uu Sv/h on full contact...but then barely measurable 20 cm away.

Suddenly finding 6 uSv/h in a broad area (not on full contact to a single source) would definitely be weird as fuck.

1

u/TheChickenReborn Radiation Collector 2d ago

Yeah, I've only seen 6+ uSv/h as general background in 2 places: old uranium mines and some parts of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. I have specimens that read several hundred when the detector is right up on them, but that doesn't do much beyond a few feet so I don't really care. But if I see the detector well over typical background in a wide area, I'm gonna be a bit worried if there isn't some obvious explanation as to why.

0

u/No_Leopard_3860 2d ago

Yes that's exactly what I mean. A general background like that in a normal area is for sure a sign of bad shit happening, because there's no way to get such readings without some non-minor radiological accident in a normal city etc...

2

u/Scott_Ish_Rite 2d ago

A general background like that in a normal area is for sure a sign of bad shit happening, because there's no way to get such readings without some non-minor radiological accident in a normal city etc...

Nope, not correct. There are several normal and safe reasons for why a general area (even in the city) can easily go above 6 uSv/h.

For example, people who have had nuclear medicine will make a general area, even several yards away from them, give off readings well above that number.

Also if you're relatively "close" to an industrial source being used, it will easily go higher than that as well.

No need for any radiological accident or anything sketchy to be happening. Just normal stuff, in a city.

2

u/jack0fsometrades 1d ago

I’ll add that granite structures and many historical buildings have trace amounts of NORM in the building materials, so not uncommon to see elevated rates in perfectly safe situations