[ARC5] Radium Paint Remediation

[J. Forster]

Dave,

Square law, not cube law. It's a simple geometry thing. The surface area
of a sphere 4*Pi*R*R .

-John

===========


> I worked around this problem for many years.
>
> First- Unless you're scraping the paint off and eating it
> or breathing loose dust, you're not in any real danger.
> If you were to strap the radio to your forehead 24-7
> and walk around with it that way for several days,
> you might have a problem.  The intensity of the ionizing
> field falls very rapidly with distance (is it cube-law, guys?
> I don't remember at the moment).  Even a couple of feet
> and you're pretty much safe.  With radiation, it's "time and
> distance" that determine exposure levels.  The very hottest
> radio thing I've ever seen was 4mR/h at direct contact.
> If you put this in direct contact with your skin, it would take
> over 10 days to deliver 1 REM to the spot, and it takes
> a lot more than that to do noticeable damage.
> At about two feet, the sample was nearly undetectable.
>
> Do NOT try to remove the paint.  You will have a nasty,
> radioactive mess and you will get contaminated, as will your
> work area, your clothes, your home, etc.
> Just don't do it.
>
> We handled the problem with "fixatives:" basicly paint that
> fixed the contamination to one place so you didn't have to
> worry about carrying it home or breathing it.
> Worked fine.
>
> Go to the hobby shop and buy a little bottle
> of Clear Gloss Enamel.
> Not the water-based stuff and not satin or flat-
>  it must be Clear Gloss Enamel because it will last
> and the others won't.
> Have a few "wet wipes" handy.
> Wear some cheap rubber gloves.
> If you're worried about the radium paint being flaky
> and that you might breath some, get a disposeable
> paper painter's mask.
> Get some of those Testors hobby paint brushes that
> don't shed bristles.  If you use the cheap Walmart
> brushes and they shed bristles into the paint, shame
> on you because you'll have to leave them there.
> Also have a paper grocery bag next to your
> work area to receive the used material.
>
> Paint over all the exposed radium.
> Make sure everything gets a good coat.
> Do NOT clean the brushes.
> The paint and brushes will have picked-up
> some radium and will be active.
> Put the used brushes and the paint in the bag.
> Wipe down your work area with the wet wipes
> and put them in the bag.
> Take off your face mask by pinching the nose part-
> do NOT run your gloved hand over your head to
> remove it.  Put it in the bag.
> Remove your gloves by gripping "rubber on rubber"
> to get the first one off, then use the inside surface
> of the now removed glove to grip and remove the other.
> Put them in the bag.
> Close the bag.
> GO WASH YOUR HANDS.
>
> Now... you have a much safer radio.
> You also have a paper bag with very low-level
> radioactive waste in it.  Just exactly the kind of thing
> Uncle Stupid would spend $300,000 of your tax money
> to bury in Nevada.
>
> Now, I certainly would never tell you *not* to take it
> to the Fire Department guys, who will ask you where you got it,
> then have a wonderful time raiding your garage and taking
> all your harmless radio stuff (plus probably your work bench,
> tools and even the wall board around the gear)
> so they can spend lots of tax dollars to bury them in Nevada.
> Then they'll send you a bill for all this fun they're having
> and make your day even better by putting you on some "list."
> Uncle Stupid is your friend..... ohhhhh yeah.......
>
> I would never advise you to put the paper bag in the trash
> and forget about it.  Never.  Not me....
>
> 73 DE Dave AB5S
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> ARC5 mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/arc5
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:ARC5 at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
>