Re:Cesium-137 missing and found in junk yard in Thailand
by stirlo on Monday March 20, 2023 @04:25PM
(#35238125)
The key point being, Yes, it has been smelted.
Initial reports seemed to suggest it was found before it was smelted but that is not the case.
Re:Cesium-137 missing and found in junk yard in Thailand
by pixl97 on Monday March 20, 2023 @04:30PM
(#35238208)
Well this is telling you to have any metals that have been passed though Thailand ran under a geiger counter. At least in the US any major recyclers perform this operation to prevent radioactive materials showing up in the product stream.
Re:Cesium-137 missing and found in junk yard in Thailand
by londons_explore on Monday March 20, 2023 @05:13PM
(#35238828)
Industrial smelters are big expensive bits of kit.
Radiation monitors are pretty cheap - at least ones sufficient to identify a Cesium 137 source in a pile of scrap steel.
Radiation in your steel is a hugely costly mistake - at a minimum, you're gonna have to give up all your costly smelting equipment and stock.
Radiation isn't super rare either - major events may be rare, but every few weeks a big smelter will detect small things that ought not be smelted.
So I don't see why any smelter wouldn't have a radiation detector on the input hooked up to warning sirens, for purely financial self interest.
https://thethaiger.com/news/national/missing-radioactive-cyl...