Sources of Lead for Shielding?

[Chase]

My apologies if this has already been discussed, I'm still getting my bearings on the search functionality.

Has anyone found any good cheap sources for lead useful for shielding? I asked around at work where we get lead bricks for shielding, but strangely no one seems to know with my boss joking that every rad onc clinic comes with some lead bricks that just sort of mystically appear. I was wondering if anyone has found a way to source it without having to pay stupid amounts for industrial shielding bricks in bulk.

[Tommaso]

Hi chase, I melted a lot of old lead pipe that i got for free from a local dump. actually I don’t suggest doing the same…it’s bean such a pain to melt end clean from the scraps all that heavy metal.

Tommaso.

[jbeale]

Is it practical to use old lead-acid batteries for this purpose? They may be more available than lead bricks. I understand a typical car battery is 25 - 50 pounds and it is more than 50% lead by weight. It would be annoying to disassemble because of dealing with highly corrosive sulfuric acid, but I wonder in some cases it might actually be usable simply as-is?

[Rob Tayloe]

I while back, before the switch to steel and zinc wheel weights I use to visit the various tire shops in Columbus, Ohio and obtain wheel weights removed from car wheels. I'd melt the weights and remove the impurities. Then I'd cast the lead into molds for use with various detectors. I made up a few experiments for the Nuclear Reactor Lab when I was teaching at the Ohio State University. I have also made purchases of bulk lead from various ebay sources. This lead was also used to make detector shields for lab experiments.

Since I have retired I have obtained lead in brick, sheet, and shot form from RotoMetals. Ebay can also be a good source, but watch out for shipping costs.

Following is a link to RotoMetals -
https://www.rotometals.com/lead-shot/
https://www.rotometals.com/lead-brick-2 ... 99-9-pure/

[ColoRad-o]

Hello again, Chase
For my modest needs, I ended up buying a cylindrical shielding container from Steven, then filling it with about 95 pounds of lead shot which I'd bought from a store for ammunition reloaders. Plenty of the 40K 1460 KeV makes it through even the roughly 3 cm of shielding this provides.

[Chase]

For my modest needs, I ended up buying a cylindrical shielding container from Steven, then filling it with about 95 pounds of lead shot which I'd bought from a store for ammunition reloaders. Plenty of the 40K 1460 KeV makes it through even the roughly 3 cm of shielding this provides.

That is actually a great idea. I think I've even got some lead shot laying around that I could use for this. I actually recently snagged an old lead apron from the hospital that was being scrapped so I thought I could also wrap that around it. I actually have yet to acquire a gamma spectrometer as I'm struggling to justify the cost at the moment, but I am working out all the details for when I can (as I definitely intend on it eventually) so this is helpful. Thanks for the idea!

[ColoRad-o]

The lead shot was Steven's idea.
FYI: The packing fraction (volume of space occupied by spheres of a uniform size) is about 64%.
You mind find useful https://aadee.ar/00pdf/nuclear/Shielding.pdf

Now that use of lead aprons is being more commonly deprecated, more lead may be on your way! Good luck.