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Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

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Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#11

Post by mindslight »

cbaleanu wrote: post #10
mrbill wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of smoke detectors use the radioactive isotope americium-241 in an ionization process to detect smoke. Get enough smoke detectors, and you can have a good amount of radioactive material. Read up on David Hahn, who hit the news in '94 for trying to build a breeder reactor in his back yard using sources scavenged from among other things, smoke detectors.

Radioactive smoke detectors mandatory in houses. Hmm, what's wrong with this picture?

The irrational fear that's thrown around whenever the word 'radiation' is used?

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#12

Post by rayshan »

danpat wrote: post #9

Export restrictions have been in place for a very long time. Another relatively well-known distributor that got bitten is McMaster-Carr, a mechanical parts supplier (with a very nice web design - http://mcmaster.com/ ). After shipping something to a location they shouldn't have, they were penalized in 2003 and they no longer ship outside the US. Which is a damn shame, because they have a great catalogue of stuff that…

Wow, you weren't kidding about the web design, even though it's extremely utilitarian, it's very fast and usability is great.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#13

Post by _delirium »

cbaleanu wrote: post #10
mrbill wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of smoke detectors use the radioactive isotope americium-241 in an ionization process to detect smoke. Get enough smoke detectors, and you can have a good amount of radioactive material. Read up on David Hahn, who hit the news in '94 for trying to build a breeder reactor in his back yard using sources scavenged from among other things, smoke detectors.

Radioactive smoke detectors mandatory in houses. Hmm, what's wrong with this picture?

It's a pretty small amount of radioactive material, about 1 μCi (roughly equal to 2000 bananas). And in normal usage, you probably shouldn't be removing the insides of the smoke detector and eating it or anything, unlike the tasty bananas.

Nonetheless, they're being phased out in a lot of places, mostly due to disposal worries. While one smoke detector is fairly harmless, tens of thousands being dumped in landfills is more of a concern, and properly recycling them is expensive. Optical smoke detectors based on LEDs are now fairly affordable, don't have the disposal issues, and may also perform better.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#14

Post by anigbrowl »

mrbill wrote: post #5
TallGuyShort wrote: post #2

>>> (International customers have to fill out silly forms with US distributors and manufacturers saying we won’t use the parts in nuclear weapons – seriously) True. One of my first jobs was at a US electronics manufacturer / parts distributor. I remember we had to fill out paperwork for every export and all of our products (mainly smoke detectors) had to be classified as something to the effect of "parts that could b…

A lot of smoke detectors use the radioactive isotope americium-241 in an ionization process to detect smoke. Get enough smoke detectors, and you can have a good amount of radioactive material. Read up on David Hahn, who hit the news in '94 for trying to build a breeder reactor in his back yard using sources scavenged from among other things, smoke detectors.

Thank you. It's depressing how quick people can be to dismiss something as stupid without considering how those rules came about in the first place.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#16

Post by Already__Taken »

danpat wrote: post #9

Export restrictions have been in place for a very long time. Another relatively well-known distributor that got bitten is McMaster-Carr, a mechanical parts supplier (with a very nice web design - http://mcmaster.com/ ). After shipping something to a location they shouldn't have, they were penalized in 2003 and they no longer ship outside the US. Which is a damn shame, because they have a great catalogue of stuff that…

it breaks ctrl + click :(

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#17

Post by capnrefsmmat »

_delirium wrote: post #13
cbaleanu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Radioactive smoke detectors mandatory in houses. Hmm, what's wrong with this picture?

It's a pretty small amount of radioactive material, about 1 μCi (roughly equal to 2000 bananas). And in normal usage, you probably shouldn't be removing the insides of the smoke detector and eating it or anything, unlike the tasty bananas. Nonetheless, they're being phased out in a lot of places, mostly due to disposal worries. While one smoke detector is fairly harmless, tens of thousands being dumped in landfills i…

And the alpha radiation emitted is barely able to penetrate a sheet of paper, let alone the detector housing and ten feet of air to your body.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#18

Post by davepage »

mindslight wrote: post #3

Of course they do, it's yet another chance to punish their customers. I ordered from Newark/Element14 once, doing battle with and finally prevailing over their extremely clunky online system. It took several days for my $100 order to even ship, and it eventually showed up in two gigantic boxes (a few 4ft pieces of heat shrink tubing had obviously required their own 4ft long box). The packing materials and shipping mu…

Totally agree. Their packing process appears to be designed for $10k orders, so when the optimism fails, the box leaves nearly empty. Perhaps they're trying to send a subtle message: 'don't waste this box, buy more stuff.'

One time I ordered from them some XAM3359ZCZs (a Texas Instruments ARM CPU which is about half a cell phone or double an Rπ) -- out of stock in US, but available from UK. I was in a hurry, so I spring for the extra shipping. Weeks later, no parts and no word. Called, them and 'oops' it is stuck in UK and I need to make a customs declaration to re-import to the US this US part from the UK. Very annoying on several levels.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#19

Post by Tuna-Fish »

cbaleanu wrote: post #10
mrbill wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of smoke detectors use the radioactive isotope americium-241 in an ionization process to detect smoke. Get enough smoke detectors, and you can have a good amount of radioactive material. Read up on David Hahn, who hit the news in '94 for trying to build a breeder reactor in his back yard using sources scavenged from among other things, smoke detectors.

Radioactive smoke detectors mandatory in houses. Hmm, what's wrong with this picture?

Nothing, because the smoke detector uses an alpha emitter, and alpha radiation is blocked by practically everything, including a sheet of paper, or roughly 4 cm or air.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#20

Post by driverdan »

danpat wrote: post #9

Export restrictions have been in place for a very long time. Another relatively well-known distributor that got bitten is McMaster-Carr, a mechanical parts supplier (with a very nice web design - http://mcmaster.com/ ). After shipping something to a location they shouldn't have, they were penalized in 2003 and they no longer ship outside the US. Which is a damn shame, because they have a great catalogue of stuff that…

They aren't exporting anything to this guy. He's an Australian picking up his order in person in Australia. US laws don't apply.
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