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Florida is trying... though not enough to heat. https://www.npr.org/2023/05/09/1174789570/florida-roads-radioactive-paving-phosphogypsum https://www.npr.org/20

by shagie 3y ago

Florida is trying... though not enough to heat. https://www.npr.org/2023/05/09/1174789570/florida-roads-radioactive-paving-phosphogypsum https://www.npr.org/2023/05/09/1174789570/florida-roads-radi... And if it's enough to keep the snow away... I want to stay way away from it. The Radiological Incident in Lia, Georgia https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1660web-81061875.pdf https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1660web-81... . I will warn that reading Section 5 is NSFL if you know what you're reading. Section 6 is NSFL with pictures that will make clear what section 5 was about. > On a cold day of 2 December 2001, three inhabitants of Lia (later designated as Patients 1-DN, 2-MG and 3-MB) drove their truck approximately 45–50 km east of Lia to collect firewood. At around 18:00, they found two containers — metallic, cylindrical objects — lying on a forest path. Around them, the snow had curiously thawed within a radius of approximately 1 m, and the wet soil was steaming. All three individuals stated that the two, rather heavy, cylindrical objects (8–10 kg, 10 cm × 15 cm) were found by chance while carrying out their usual task of collecting firewood. > One of the three men (Patient 3-MB) picked up one of the cylindrical objects and, finding that it was hot, dropped it immediately. They planned to place the gathered wood in their truck the next morning, and because it was getting dark, they decided to spend the night in the forest, using the hot objects they had discovered as personal heaters. > ... > The three individuals warmed themselves during the night using the open fire on one side, sitting and lying around it, and not far from the hot cylindrical objects, which they placed at a distance of up to 1 m behind their backs.

WalterBright 3y ago
Horrible.
pontifier 3y ago
For a long time I have had this idea of finding a radioactive decay chain that produces mostly alpha particles, then encapsulating it fully in an inert pill. My thought is that you could swallow these pills when climbing Everest, and these pills would just provide a little bit of heat continually, reducing calorie requirements on the mountain, and reducing a little of the strain on your body from having to produce that heat. I don't know if this is feasible at all, but the idea keeps coming back to me.
- shagie 3y ago
  No... Alpha would be especially bad. Radiation and the Cookie Test - https://letstalkaboutscience.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/radiation-and-the-cookie-test/ https://letstalkaboutscience.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/radiat... > So if we are concerned about radiation safety, how do we treat different sources of ionizing radiation? The cleverest way I’ve heard it summed up is by the ‘cookie test’: imagine that you have four cookies. One is an alpha emitter, one is a beta emitter, one is a gamma emitter, and one is a neutron emitter. You can throw one cookie away, but you have to put one in your pocket, hold one in your hand, and eat one. How do you pick which cookies to do what with? And for a real world case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvinenko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvine... > Unlike most common radiation sources, polonium-210 emits very little gamma radiation (the low-intensity gamma ray at an energy of 803 keV is the most prominent), but large amounts of alpha particles which do not penetrate even a sheet of paper or the epidermis of human skin, and is therefore relatively invisible to common radiation detectors such as Geiger counters. This explained why tests conducted by doctors and Scotland Yard at the hospital with Geiger counters were negative. Both gamma rays and alpha particles are classified as ionizing radiation, which can cause radiation damage. An alpha-emitting substance can cause significant damage only if ingested or inhaled, acting on living cells like a short-range weapon. Hours before his death, Litvinenko was tested for alpha-emitters using special equipment.
  - pontifier 3y ago
    The whole point is that if it's securely contained the alphas wouldn't penetrate the shielding around it. As long as that shielding is intact you're not getting any radiation dose. A cookie would be bad because you're actually digesting it. Beta or gammas are harder to shield.

by shagie 3y ago

WalterBright 3y ago

Horrible.

pontifier 3y ago

For a long time I have had this idea of finding a radioactive decay chain that produces mostly alpha particles, then encapsulating it fully in an inert pill. My thought is that you could swallow these pills when climbing Everest, and these pills would just provide a little bit of heat continually, reducing calorie requirements on the mountain, and reducing a little of the strain on your body from having to produce that heat. I don't know if this is feasible at all, but the idea keeps coming back to me.

shagie 3y ago
No... Alpha would be especially bad. Radiation and the Cookie Test - https://letstalkaboutscience.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/radiation-and-the-cookie-test/ https://letstalkaboutscience.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/radiat... > So if we are concerned about radiation safety, how do we treat different sources of ionizing radiation? The cleverest way I’ve heard it summed up is by the ‘cookie test’: imagine that you have four cookies. One is an alpha emitter, one is a beta emitter, one is a gamma emitter, and one is a neutron emitter. You can throw one cookie away, but you have to put one in your pocket, hold one in your hand, and eat one. How do you pick which cookies to do what with? And for a real world case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvinenko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvine... > Unlike most common radiation sources, polonium-210 emits very little gamma radiation (the low-intensity gamma ray at an energy of 803 keV is the most prominent), but large amounts of alpha particles which do not penetrate even a sheet of paper or the epidermis of human skin, and is therefore relatively invisible to common radiation detectors such as Geiger counters. This explained why tests conducted by doctors and Scotland Yard at the hospital with Geiger counters were negative. Both gamma rays and alpha particles are classified as ionizing radiation, which can cause radiation damage. An alpha-emitting substance can cause significant damage only if ingested or inhaled, acting on living cells like a short-range weapon. Hours before his death, Litvinenko was tested for alpha-emitters using special equipment.
- pontifier 3y ago
  The whole point is that if it's securely contained the alphas wouldn't penetrate the shielding around it. As long as that shielding is intact you're not getting any radiation dose. A cookie would be bad because you're actually digesting it. Beta or gammas are harder to shield.