481–490 of 545 posts
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CPM is literally not. It is counts per minute in an undefined, arbitrary sensor. Which could have a alpha radiation transparent sensor (and hence show alpha particles), or be from a low sensitivity geiger counter which can only detect high energy gamma radiation (for say fallout/emergency use). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger_counter It could have a small sensor, and hence require high flux for a given CPM, or a…
you're just don't know what you're talking about. Google "nrc calibration cpm geiger". In short - they are calibrated either on dose or cpm with conversion factor.
Mind linking to something concrete?
What I did find was numerous documents noting that Geiger counters needed to be calibrated to generate useful dose rates because CPM by itself is useless without a bunch of other work to characterize the sensor and radiation type.
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> People can drown on dry land from about a tablespoon of water getting into their lungs. Well, I don't think there's such a big risk of that. Falling into a pool is something most of us have probably done. Being pushed by a friend as a kid for example. The risk of drowning is probably pretty comparable to the risk from the radiation (negligible).
Nah mate, you've got it backwards. Even a tiny amount of water in your lungs is a trip to the hospital. The amount of radiation that guy was exposed to is roughly the same as eating a banana, or driving through the middle of Aberdeen with your car windows down inhaling all the radon off the granite.
You’re probably thinking of something along the lines of pneumonia, which is different than breathing some water and coughing it back up.
For the record, I think the GP comment is way off-base saying drowning is uncommon.
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Or how Brits call a civil war "trouble"
We’re not that flippant, they’re ‘troubles’, indicating ’ongoing concern’ .
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Is it relevant? It's writing about a pool for storing spent fuel, which is not a part of the actual reactor system. This incident report says that the worker fell into a "reactor cavity" containing water and that there was a measurable amount of radiation detected in their hair after the initial clean-up. The two situations don't seem remotely compatible to me.
I guarantee you there's 'a measurable amount of radiation' in your hair right now. Unless you're bald, I suppose.
I agree this was not a serious incident, and I never really though it was. (I'm extremely pro-nuclear, for the record.) But at the time I posted, the comment section was about 8 people posting the xkcd link at once (with no additional commentary), and few others reading it and saying "oh, no problem then", with literally nobody pointing out the discrepancies, or explaining exactly what a "reactor cavity" means in this context.
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Bananas emit detectable radiation, so you should probably choose different thresholds of what causes you to consider something dangerous. They will still try to decontaminate you of any radioactive materials they can scrub off as a matter of course, but 300 counts per minute, while noticeably higher than background radiation levels, is pretty benign in the grand scheme of things. The fact that you can still count ind…
CPM is so useless as a unit, it doesn't mean anything.
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I'm pretty sure the engineer at the nuclear plant I visited in elementary school drank a glass of water out of that pool to demonstrate how safe it was. I hope I'm misremembering that but it's a pretty strong memory that totally locked in for me that that water is not necessarily dangerous.
I mean, apparently the inventor of lead additive to gasoline used to pour the chemical over his hands to demonstrate how safe it was -- even though he knew it was actually quite toxic. So there are people who will knowingly give themselves small doses of poison to keep the money flowing. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV3dnLzthDA&t=604s
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My understanding is that reactor and waste pools are some of the least radioactive environments as they are constantly monitored for leakage.
I'm pretty sure the engineer at the nuclear plant I visited in elementary school drank a glass of water out of that pool to demonstrate how safe it was. I hope I'm misremembering that but it's a pretty strong memory that totally locked in for me that that water is not necessarily dangerous.
But now 100% sure that actually happened. Also it was likely a professor and not a working engineer drinking the water which makes much more sense.
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Nah mate, you've got it backwards. Even a tiny amount of water in your lungs is a trip to the hospital. The amount of radiation that guy was exposed to is roughly the same as eating a banana, or driving through the middle of Aberdeen with your car windows down inhaling all the radon off the granite.
Your lungs can handle a tiny amount of water just fine. It’s not pleasant but it’s fine. You’re probably thinking of something along the lines of pneumonia, which is different than breathing some water and coughing it back up. For the record, I think the GP comment is way off-base saying drowning is uncommon.
If there's a bit of water in your lungs, a surprisingly small amount, it causes massive inflammation and your lungs start to fill with fluid. It's called "secondary drowning", and it happens a couple of hours after.
My water rescue course is up to date. When's yours due for renewal?
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Would you mind sharing a link to "the xkcd thing" if you have it? edit: sorry for being lazy, I scrolled a bit more and found it.
https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/