background radiation update
OK, after some interruptions from some storms, and times when I was gone, I re-started the radiation monitoring software, and this week, the average background radiation count for the past hour has been: 11.85 Counts per Minute.
For the past week, the average has been: 11.69. Both of these are well within the normal range.
The minimum of 2 CPM occurred on Friday at 9 am,
and the maximum of 26 CPM occurred on Saturday at 10:39 am.
Both, again, exactly the range of minimum and maximums to be expected.
News from club members (yes, there is a club on line that plays with this stuff!) this week, included an incident recorded by one member when a "Secret shipment" of radioactive equipment from a nuclear powerplant that was being dismantled, went by his house on the nearby railroad tracks, that went way, way over the legal limits of public exposure.
OK, I actually support nuclear power - but it MUST BE IN PUBLIC! In an informed arena. These secret shipments of hazardous materials are exactly the reason I don't trust the nuclear industry, nor the government to tell me when I am in danger. And why I have geiger counters in the first place.
The second report from a club member detailed his exploration of the local hospital waiting room, where multiple patients who have been injected with radioactive Tc99m (a radioactive isotope of Technetium, with a half life of 6 hours) mingle with pregnant women in the waiting room. The waiting room is a common room, where many patients from many different departments wait their turn for one reason or another. The radioactive patients have to wait for a while to allow the radioactivity to spread through the body appropriately to give a good picture in their examinations. At 3 feet from one patient, the readings maxed out his equipment at around 7000 uR/hr, (or 7 mR/hr). Most experts consider 10 mR/hr to be the dose from a normal chest x-ray. (Note: for those, such as myself, that get confused about milli- (small m, as in 7 mR) and micro- (small u, as in 7000 uR), centipedes have a hundred legs, millipedes have a thousand legs, and there aren't micropedes, because they would have to have a thousand times more - so micro is a thousand times smaller than milli.) For a pregnant lady sitting between two radiation patients, the unborn baby would be getting irradiated by substantially more than an x-ray for an extended period of time. Just a thought.
For the past week, the average has been: 11.69. Both of these are well within the normal range.
The minimum of 2 CPM occurred on Friday at 9 am,
and the maximum of 26 CPM occurred on Saturday at 10:39 am.
Both, again, exactly the range of minimum and maximums to be expected.
News from club members (yes, there is a club on line that plays with this stuff!) this week, included an incident recorded by one member when a "Secret shipment" of radioactive equipment from a nuclear powerplant that was being dismantled, went by his house on the nearby railroad tracks, that went way, way over the legal limits of public exposure.
OK, I actually support nuclear power - but it MUST BE IN PUBLIC! In an informed arena. These secret shipments of hazardous materials are exactly the reason I don't trust the nuclear industry, nor the government to tell me when I am in danger. And why I have geiger counters in the first place.
The second report from a club member detailed his exploration of the local hospital waiting room, where multiple patients who have been injected with radioactive Tc99m (a radioactive isotope of Technetium, with a half life of 6 hours) mingle with pregnant women in the waiting room. The waiting room is a common room, where many patients from many different departments wait their turn for one reason or another. The radioactive patients have to wait for a while to allow the radioactivity to spread through the body appropriately to give a good picture in their examinations. At 3 feet from one patient, the readings maxed out his equipment at around 7000 uR/hr, (or 7 mR/hr). Most experts consider 10 mR/hr to be the dose from a normal chest x-ray. (Note: for those, such as myself, that get confused about milli- (small m, as in 7 mR) and micro- (small u, as in 7000 uR), centipedes have a hundred legs, millipedes have a thousand legs, and there aren't micropedes, because they would have to have a thousand times more - so micro is a thousand times smaller than milli.) For a pregnant lady sitting between two radiation patients, the unborn baby would be getting irradiated by substantially more than an x-ray for an extended period of time. Just a thought.