radioactive sample from rain soaked car.

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2011-05-12 20:25

Using a blackcat systems GM-45 with the pancake geiger tube I get 40-80 cpm (.14-.26 micro sevierts per hour), normal background levels (nbl) for pancake tube according to BCS. Measurement taken indoors in dry conditions. After or during a rain fall took samples with a paper towel from car surface. Placed it in a sealed ziplock bag and then directly on top of the geiger counter sensor window. Measures 160-400 CPMs. The counts drop to normal background levels within 2 hours. The sample is not detected if it is further than 2-3 cm from sensor window. When I pour water from the tap onto the car (any car) the readings are nbl. When dry wiped the sample is nbl. What is the radionuclide?

‹ Industries take and there perspective A lot of white smoke out of fukushima at night 5/11/11--is TEPCO venting at night to hide it during the day? ›

This is indeed the same

Submitted by tjaucott on Thu, 2011-05-12 23:15.

This is indeed the same effect seen here. Lead, bismuth, and polonium are all naturally occurring in the air and have short half lives like this. If you were seeing fallout from Fukushima, it would not die away within hours; it would last much longer (similar to the results we see for I-131, Cs-137, etc.).

Tim [BRAWM Team Member]

Welcome to the wonderful

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-05-12 21:47.

Welcome to the wonderful world of background radiation.

Radon?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-05-12 21:39.

See this thread, might be the same deal:

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/3894

everything is radon,

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-05-12 21:48.

everything is radon, especially post-fukushima, .....sure thing...

The guy is saying that the

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-05-12 21:55.

The guy is saying that the radiation level goes back to normal in two hours, though.

where are you located? I

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-05-12 20:28.

where are you located? I still have black dots on my car from a rain shower 3 weeks ago and I am still looking to test this as I am sure that it is radioactive. It is on my car. I am in Oakley, 30 miles from Oakland, if you are close I can come by and you can test my black spots on my car.

location

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2011-05-13 10:35.

I'm in CO. I'd run the test for you if I was nearby. We'd probably not be able to tell what it is. The device I have does not id radionuclides. For 9500 bucks you can get one that will. Oh and then one would have to learn to use it and pick a way through all the bs, opinions and accurate information. I'd imagine though that the company selling the $9500 unit would offer some training in return for the investment in their future growth.