Cs-137 in Europe

[invader]

Hello,

where can I buy a Cs-137 source in Europe ?

best regards

[Rob Tayloe]

I live in the US and am able to purchase exempt quantity (i.e., fairly small activity) sealed sources from Spectrum Techniques. I find these quite useful to calibrate instruments and with which to perform experiments.

Spectrum Techniques is in Oak Ridge, Tennessee not too distant from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The website for Spectrum Techniques indicates the conditions under which exempt quantity sources can be shipped to international customers. See the link below for more info -

https://www.spectrumtechniques.com/how-to-order/

[Rob Tayloe]

Eckert & Ziegler are based in Berlin, Germany and supply radioactive sources. I have never made a purchase from them and have no specific knowledge of them other than that shown on the website. See the link below -

https://www.ezag.com/products/isotope-p ... l-sources/

https://www.ezag.com/products/isotope-p ... d-nominal/

https://www.ezag.com/products/isotope-p ... a-sources/

[NuclearPhoenix]

Eckert & Ziegler are based in Berlin, Germany and supply radioactive sources. I have never made a purchase from them and have no specific knowledge of them other than that shown on the website. See the link below -

https://www.ezag.com/products/isotope-p ... l-sources/

https://www.ezag.com/products/isotope-p ... d-nominal/

https://www.ezag.com/products/isotope-p ... a-sources/

I am pretty sure E&Z won't sell to individuals.

It's next to impossible in Europe because of the very low permitted activity limit as far as I know. And the few companies in the EU that produce such test sources will not sell to individuals. IMO your best bet would be to buy sources at a company outside the EU (e.g. US) with an activity well below the respecetive permitted limit (VERY IMPORTANT! So that the good is not categorized as radioactive in the legal sense) and tell them to package it well inside some lead container. This will probably cost you quite a good amount, but it's legal. Take this with a grain of salt though, I am not a lawyer and things might have changed since I last looked into this.

I've heard from people in Germany successfully purchasing Cs-137 test sources from Images SI with an activity of around or below 0.25 µCi inside additional lead shielding IIRC. That's still plenty as a test source, but be prepared for the likely event that customs will ask you about your order (not sure how they handle it in Portugal).

https://www.imagesco.com/geiger/radioac ... s-int.html

[jneilson]

I'm aware of a few options:

• Spectrum Techniques - USA, but they do export to UK and Europe, and for exempt quantities have been known to sell to individuals. Probably the best bet.
• E&Z - Germany. Not known to sell to private individuals, but have been known to sell to very small (potentially sole-trader) nuclear businesses 😉.
• High Tech Sources Ltd (HTSL) - Mostly aware of them as a UK distributor of E&Z sources and supplier of very high activity (HASS) industrial sources, but do have other avenues of business.
• Orano/CERCA LEA - France. Known to sell well calibrated laboratory-quality sources. Probably unlikely to sell to individuals.
• You may be able to find Cs-137 in some old devices like electron tubes, can sometimes be found on online second-hand marketplaces eg eBay
• Collecting a sample of fallout origin Cs-137 contamination from nature - particularly from certain mushrooms or other species known to bioaccumulate Cs, and particularly in areas of Europe where there was stronger deposition from the Chornobyl accident; although there is also a level of Cs-137 elsewhere from weapons tests or other historical accidents.