Transporting a nuclear gage

[tomasbecky]

Is it safe to transport a nuclear gage (in it's case) in a mini-van? There are no barriers, is that ok? It's a new company vehicle, we've alwaysed used full size trucks and had them as far away as possible. Will the mini-van be safe?

 

[TopSoil]

You should ask your RSO. Remember, the three items that determine exposure: 1) Time, 2) distance, 3)shielding. They could do a calculation based on the distance from the gage to the driver. The difference between and truck and the minivan would be the thin metal of the vehicle and the stuff in the truck bed or minivan. Additionally, the personnel should be wearing TLD's or Dosimetry badges, to record (estimate) actual exposure.

 

[jdonville]

tomasbecky,

It is unlikely that radiation from any of the gauge sources will travel beyond the protective case (you do transport it in the case, right?).

To me the bigger issue is that you still need to secure the case inside the van (positive control), just as you would inside a pickup truck bed to prevent the case from shifting excessively during transport.

Jeff

 

[DarthSoilsGuy]

Real risk, the same.

other issue to look into: do you need to chain it down as well as secure it from moving, or does a locked vehicle meet your security requirements.

also, make sure you drop of the gauge before you pick up the kids from soccer

 

[BigH]

Is there some kidding going on here? To me, an old timer, we always transported the guages in its box in the car - usually the boot - we never "chained" it down, etc. Just put the box in the back and that was that. No extraordinary harm so long as the guage is in good working order and has been leak tested as per schedule and is fine. In the 90s we were supposed to hang a magnetic sign on the side of the car or have the radiation sign on the front passenger seat. Some of the comments above seem to be more of a "what do we do to minimize potential for lawsuits" or to mitigate our exposure in case the car or guage was stolen out of the car. Of course, I am out of North America now and things may have changed - especially with the infamous Homeland Security on the scene.

 

[jdonville]

BigH,

The reason for chaining the case down is to prevent it from being "thrown out" of the truck bed during an accident, and to prevent theft of the gauge (and case) from a typically open truck bed (truck bed caps don't do much, if anything, to mitigate either of these problems).

Unless the case is stored for transport in the locked "boot"/trunk of a car (i.e., not readily accessible to theft nor able to shift about during transport), I would personally make an effort to at least tie the case down inside a van to a secure anchorage point to prevent it from moving around.

Due to reports of recent losses (in the past year or so) of gauges that I am aware of, the various state regulatory agencies take such losses of radioactive material very seriously indeed and can get quite animated.

Jeff

 

[BigH]

Jeff - I totally understand the need for "wedging" or chaining the gauge in an open truck bed. I never had the luxury of a van or truck for my long ago tests, so put it in the trunk - had enough other stuff in it to keep it from sliding about. What I thought when reading this post and others in the past is the misconception that the guage is "really" dangerous. It isn't if handled with reasonable care that one would normally do - as we know, you can set your badge on a guage for quite while in storage - and it takes a long time to get a reading. I had engineers in India wanting to wear lead vests/aprons when doing a nuclear test in sand - and they all made sure they were no closer than 1 m from the machine when operating - engineers in China thought they would go sterile if they used the guage - that is the "kidding" I am talking about. Cheers, amigo

 

[DarthSoilsGuy]

I worked at a company where one was either stolen (and not chained down in a truck bed) and then ditched by the thief at a gas station, or our technician lied. Either way it was lost, our VP of engineering went to pick it up from the other side of police tape to "secure the area" from the small crowd that had gathered, after we got called back from the state.

The first 2 questions when you report a lost gauge are:
Is the case locked?
Was it chained down?

That happened before people were scared of people building dirty bombs. If it was a tech in my old company, it would have to be chained down even if they show up in an m2 bradley. one week with a sand-cone and the chain looks a lot more convenient