/QUOTE/
check out atomic power vs. coal power, especially on radiation levels.. you might be surprised.
/ENDQUOTE/
Yes I know the first time I saw those statistics comparing the radiation released it floored me.
In hindsight given the very large tonnages of coal burned it should have been obvious.
Another possible exposure source of radioactive materials that we don't normally think about is caused by normal mining operations for "non-radioactive" metals like copper, or Iron and other metal ores.
We might call a metal ore "Iron" or "copper" because that is the major metal commercially extracted, but often times the same process that collected the desired metal also collects "trace" amounts of other materials including radioactive materials.
In many situations these "inclusions" of other metals aren't worth seperating the copper or Iron and remain present even in the end product.
This can lead to rare instances where you have consumer goods "contaminated" with natural radioactive materials.
Most any consumer item with metal parts from Arrowheads to Zippers has a slight chance of being radioactive.
I had a engineering professor that told the story of playing with a civil defense radiation counter in his home and discovering that several family cast iron heirlooms were "warm" in a radioactive sense.
He did a little research and discovered that while such things are considered rare it was a common enough occurance to make him slightly worried.
One story or example that I remember hearing about was the story of a engineer or technician at an atomic power plant who took a week's vacation and finally moved some of his inlaws heirloom furniture into the house for his wife.
He came back to work after a week and the radiation alarms went wild as he came in.
They finally tracked the radiation contamination to a family heirloom that was from his wife's family.
If I'm remembering right it was a ornate metal bedstead that was "hotter" than much of the contaminated materials coming from the Atomic powerplant and had it come out of the power plant it would have required special handling and disposal encased in a shielding material.
howard melton
God bless
check out atomic power vs. coal power, especially on radiation levels.. you might be surprised.
/ENDQUOTE/
Yes I know the first time I saw those statistics comparing the radiation released it floored me.
In hindsight given the very large tonnages of coal burned it should have been obvious.
Another possible exposure source of radioactive materials that we don't normally think about is caused by normal mining operations for "non-radioactive" metals like copper, or Iron and other metal ores.
We might call a metal ore "Iron" or "copper" because that is the major metal commercially extracted, but often times the same process that collected the desired metal also collects "trace" amounts of other materials including radioactive materials.
In many situations these "inclusions" of other metals aren't worth seperating the copper or Iron and remain present even in the end product.
This can lead to rare instances where you have consumer goods "contaminated" with natural radioactive materials.
Most any consumer item with metal parts from Arrowheads to Zippers has a slight chance of being radioactive.
I had a engineering professor that told the story of playing with a civil defense radiation counter in his home and discovering that several family cast iron heirlooms were "warm" in a radioactive sense.
He did a little research and discovered that while such things are considered rare it was a common enough occurance to make him slightly worried.
One story or example that I remember hearing about was the story of a engineer or technician at an atomic power plant who took a week's vacation and finally moved some of his inlaws heirloom furniture into the house for his wife.
He came back to work after a week and the radiation alarms went wild as he came in.
They finally tracked the radiation contamination to a family heirloom that was from his wife's family.
If I'm remembering right it was a ornate metal bedstead that was "hotter" than much of the contaminated materials coming from the Atomic powerplant and had it come out of the power plant it would have required special handling and disposal encased in a shielding material.
howard melton
God bless