Hi, I'm Larry from Devon, UK.

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8 years 7 months ago #2000 by larry4911
Hi all, I've had a DIY geiger counter for a while now and wanted some advice.

I bought and built the diygeigercounter the one from Google sites, and an STS-5 muller tube, a couple of years ago.
Also, I purchased, from a hardware store, a pack of gas mantles for verification and adjustment.

I was taking it outside with me to take it shopping to check the food in store and accidentally dropped it in a flower pot by my back door.

Wow, the alarm on my geiger counter went crazy, well over 8000 CPM.

What should I do with this information and compost?
Is there any official body in the UK who deal with this sort of thing?
Is there any danger with this level? I'm pretty sure it is very bad because I've seen remarks that 200 CPM is bad so 8000+ must be very bad right?

Any advice welcomed.

Thanks

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8 years 7 months ago - 8 years 7 months ago #2001 by mw0uzo
Hi Larry
Wow that is very surprising. :ohmy:
Where was the compost obtained?

I would first put a plastic bag around your geiger counter to avoid it getting contaminated.

Put some rubber gloves and a dustmask on. Then put your flowerpot, compost and plant into some sort of large shallow container or cardboard box and see if you can determine exactly what is radioactive. Is it the pot? Is it the soil? Is it a source hidden in the soil? Maybe even video the process.

8000CPM would be some seriously contaminated soil. If you find an exact source, handle with tongs, check it for CPM, isolate it and store it away from people.

Then tidy it all up and seal in a bag, inside a container.

Who would deal with it? I'm not entirely sure.

But now you have identified it you can make it safe and check to see if the compost was used anywhere else.
Last edit: 8 years 7 months ago by mw0uzo.

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8 years 7 months ago #2002 by Bert490
Hi Larry
The source may be Radon washout from a recent rainfall, if ths pot is outdoors. This is normally identified simply by its decay time (1-2 days). If it remains hot there is a more serious contamination that should be handled and maybe traced to the source. There are some YouTube videos showing surprisingly high readings after a rain.

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8 years 7 months ago #2003 by larry4911
Thanks for the reply people.

From what I could tell from moving the tube around in the pot, it has to be a hot particle or two as it is a very localised spot that reacted badly!

Video, not a bad idea! I'll do a couple over several days and see what happens.

So, nobody knows which organisation if any could deal with it if it turns out to be more serious than radon. Not that radon isn't serious, if it emits gama it is very serious?

Does radon emit gama particules?

A thought just struck me, could it be as simple as an old gas mantle being composted, baged and then sold to me years ago?

Thanks again for your advice?

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8 years 7 months ago #2004 by Simomax
What everyone else said.

If you wanted to, then as mw0uzo said, spread it out on something disposable. A couple of black bin liners or something similar. Split it into two piles and measure both. Discard the pile with no reading and then divide the 'hot' pile again into two. Keep on doing so until you find the source. Seal a plastic bag around your counter and discard the bag when you have finished. Do wear gloves and at least a dust mask. A respirator would be better. Not knowing what the source is you should take precautions. Maybe wear two pairs of latex gloves (in case one breaks) and also old clothes that you could throw away if they became contaminated, or better still a disposable waxed paper suit. I suspect there is little danger from the radiation itself, but you do not want to breathe in or ingest anything; that is where the danger lies. After you have finished then check yourself with the counter, especially the dust mask/respirator. Anything that is contaminated needs to be sealed up in a bag and disposed of properly - do not burn them as this can release particles into the air and they may travel on the wind.

If you want to report it I would suggest the UK environment agency. There is a web page here with some details and may help you: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/monitoring-radioactivity.

If it were me, I would get suited up, gloves, respirator, and go looking for the source. But what to do with it then? Keep it in a lead box as a souvenir?

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8 years 7 months ago #2006 by larry4911
Thanks for the detailed explanation Simomax.

I have all that except the respirator, I do have a 3M gas mask with organic vapour filters on, will that suffice?

Thanks again.

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