[Rockhounds] info on radioactive minerals

[J Bryan Kramer]

Simple consideration of the half life of these elements will tell you
how dangerous they may be. Uranium with a half life of 700 million
years (U-235) or 4 billion of years (U-238) obviously is only
minimally radioactive. Any particular Uranium atom only has a 50%
chance of decaying in that time. Radium with a half life of 1600 years
is almost 500,000 times more radioactive. Uranium is NOT a bone
seeker, "CDC has published one study that no human cancer has been
seen as a result of exposure to natural or depleted uranium", and the
anion, phosphate has nothing to do with Uranium toxicity. Uranium is
chemically toxic like Arsenic so treat it with care because of that.
Radium is a bone seeker, since it act chemically like Calcium, and is
much more radioactive as well.

Thorium has a half life of 14 billion years or 14 GYa and is not very
toxic otherwise: "Tests on the thorium uptake of workers involved in
monazite processing showed thorium levels above recommended limits in
their bodies, but no adverse effects on health were found at those
moderately low concentrations."

Radon gas build up in enclosed spaces is the main radiation concern
with U or Th. Rn has a very short 3 day half life and is thus quite
'hot'. Plutonium, which  you probably won't be finding in your
specimens, has a half life intermediate between U and Ra at about
600,000 years. As usually Hollywood is completely wrong when they show
nuclear weapons as being highly radioactive. All the elements involved
are mainly alpha emitters and alpha is stopped by a sheet of paper.
The weapons are made of heavy steel. here is some tiny amount of gamma
but nothing major.

When I served on submarines we used to sit on top of the 'special
weapon', H bomb, when we waited to get into the mess hall.

BK




“The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that
Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what
thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.”

Thomas Sowell

J Bryan Krämer       North Florida, USA
photos at: http://pbase.com/photoburner


On Sun, Jul 29, 2018 at 6:51 AM, Axel Emmermann
<axel.emmermann at telenet.be> wrote:
> Larry,
>
> Uraninite is pure uranium dioxide. I think that you won't find many minerals that are more radioactive than that 😉
> You need to keep those specimens in closed plastic boxes or outside the house.
> Allanite may contain some residual radioactivity from the REE that it contains but that would be acceptable without special precautions.
> Cyrtolite can hold as much as 1/4 of its weight in uranium or thorium. I'd put that in plastic boxes too.
>
> Cheers
> Axel
>
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> Namens larryrush at att.net
> Verzonden: zondag 29 juli 2018 2:29
> Aan: rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com
> Onderwerp: [Rockhounds] info on radioactive minerals
>
> I recently picked up a flat of minerals labeled "radioactive". Normally, I don't bother much with these, but working with the torbernite has been an interesting experience, so I can use some help here with these...
>
>
>
> Of the 16 hand sized pieces in the flat, 7 are labeled Uraninite, Canadian Dyno mine, Cardiff, Ontario, and 9 are labeled Allanite and Cyrtolite (Zircon), McDonald Mine, Hybla, Ontario (ghost town).
>
> There are no crystals or faces showing, just masses and clusters of grains.
> The matrix in each of these appears to be a feldspar.
>
>
>
> I have no idea of the "hotness" of them, or of their worth as specimens, but I'd appreciate any information on them, or similar pieces.
>
> You can see photos at:
>
>
>
> https://www.irista.com/gallery/8gr7ctnsopro
>
>
>
>
>
> (If interested in buying any, make me an offer.)
>
>
>
> Larry Rush
>
>
>
> ---
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