Russian smoke detectors (EDIT: Bad idea!!!)

[tim.hbn]

EDIT: The replies I have received since starting this thread have basically told me that, for many reasons, this is a very bad idea so I won't be persuing it any further. I was rather naive about this when I started this thread.

Hi Everyone

Does anyone here know if it is legal to own a Russian РИД-6М smoke detector in the UK?

If yes, does anyone know how to get hold of one?

Compared to a western smoke detector with Am241, is a РИД-6М more dangerous?

Thank you very much.

Kind regards

Tim

[Svilen]

If you don't need exactly this model for collection or a stronger Am source, why don't you get something like this instead?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133908444377

[tim.hbn]

Hi Svilen

Thank you very much for your reply.

It is not the Am I am after.

I have already extracted an Am source from a western smoke detector and it has served my research purposes well. I am now looking for something different.

[Svilen]

Oh, was it there Pu instead of Am inside? I guess I got it now :)

[tim.hbn]

Hi Svilen

Yes. :-)

[sgt_bear]

Hi Tim,

I can't tell you about actually owning the Pu Source from Smoke-Detectors in the UK, but please do consider not only the fact about owning the source but also transporting it!

If we are talking about smoke-detectors with Plutonium, such as these:
https://carlwillis.wordpress.com/2017/0 ... plutonium/

it is certainly a problem to transport them to or through most countries of Europe. There is a table that states the activity for each isotope that can be transported and not being a dangerous good and all the Pu-Isotopes, except Pu-237, are values in the range of 0.027 to 2.7 uCi, way less than shown in the example on the website. And I guess plutonium is possibly the worst isotope you want to have to be detected by automated scanners in postal services...

[tim.hbn]

Hi Jonathan

Thank you very much indeed for your very informative reply and for the link.

I am therefore guessing that it is most likely that I will not be able to get one.

In the event that I found one that is already in the UK, do you think it would be scanned within the domestic postal system?

[sgt_bear]

Hi Tim,

I'm unsure if domestic postal has scanners in the UK, but most countries' entry ports do have scanners.

Also I've found this link:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... 180803.pdf


On page 34 you can see "Inclusion Criteria" that states what is defined as "radioactive material" is actually considered radioactive
On page 37 you can find the universal exception provision, there you can see that in 3.9 it's stated that materials are exempt if they do not exceed values from table 3.1. Its either maximum activity OR! concentration

In Table 3.1 we can look up the Pu Isotopes from 238 to 242 as well as Am-241.
Here we can find for example Pu-239 mum activity 10^4 Bq or a concentration of 1 Bq/g

This is the activity concentration of isotope per gram of source mass. I do not know if they would judge that to the whole smoke detector or just the source capsule, but i think only the capsule.
Let's say the capsule is made of metal and is heavy, maybe 30-50 grams. For 50 grams the absolute activity would be 50g * 1Bg/g = 50Bq of total Activity.

This would be 0.001 uCi or 1nCi

If we look at the one from Carl Willis (Smoke Detector K1) he has measured that it has around 40uCi of Pu-239. I don't know about your model, but in cases of K1, it would exceed the limit about 40'000 times.

Sadly I've had no time to read the whole document, but I think it's possibly not allowed to own such a source in the UK.

[tim.hbn]

Hi Jonathan

Thank you very much indeed for another very informative and helpful reply.

[kotarak]

For what is worth - these are incredibly expensive in US - last time I was offered one the price was $1100 and I have heard that now they are going for $1500+ when you can find one.
It is not really worth for what are you getting - just to obtain first hand Pu spectrum. To me it is more worth as means to fill in an empty spot in my element collection. Transpiration is really an issue and the Russians are cracking down on exporting radioactives, especially these containing Pu so it will be difficult to find someone brave enough from behind the "iron curtain" to try to mail you one.
Also - you cant really share these spectrum plots online either - unless you want to see a black minivan in front of your house every morning and see guys in wrinkled suits living on coffee and donuts trying to look like they belong there. Hope you catch my drift :-)
Trust me there is not much glory in owning one and price point is ridiculous - I rather buy another detector from Steven instead of spending on a smoke detector and a few hundred uCi of Pu.