Quizlet for you

[Milos]

Hi guys,

Today I have a Quizlet for you, see the spectrum below, please. What we are looking at is pretty obvious, I think; however, the question is: what material is it?

A) Calibration source
B) Old vacuum tube
C) Vintage surge protector
D) Mushroom
E) Lichen
F) Burnout nuclear fuel speck from Chernobyl (size 0.2 mm)

So, what do you think? :-) ...

[Svilen]

Since it is a clean 137Cs spectrum with a prominent barium x-ray peak and no clearly visible additional fission-product lines, I would guess that it is a calibration source. However, the sample cannot be clearly determined from the spectrum alone :)

[Milos]

Good suggestion Svilen :-), then F) can be ruled out. Anyone else?

[Rob Tayloe]

The spectrum shown above looks pretty clean. My guess would be a calibration source also. In the link below are some spectra from some actual fuel "specks" collected outside the Chernobyl facility and some discussion about detection of Eu-154 and Am-241.

https://fusor.net/board/viewtopic.php?t=6272

Below is a link to a YouTube video of a gamma spectra from NaI of a "speck" of Chernobyl fuel found outside the facility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRMDc6zeVWQ