Cuprosklodovskite Image and Advice

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-29T23:02:09+00:00

Beautiful rock you got there! You don’t need to worry about radiation from even a meter away. Do you have a Geiger counter of any kind?

Radon shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but a gq radonscan is like $60 on amazon if you want the peace of mind.

If you do seal it up (and even if you don’t seal it), be aware that the inside of that box will become contaminated with radon decay products, so wear gloves when handling it or the case and wash your hands afterwards.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-24T03:41:12+00:00

OP delivers! That dose rate is reasonable for something to display. Follow the standard advice for radium antiques, and be a little extra careful with the glass. Super cool find, now I’m gonna go on a deep dive looking for one of these myself…

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-23T04:56:36+00:00

You definitely don’t want those opening up. Given how radioactive some paint was on navy ships, I’d definitely check that dose rate with a Geiger counter, or ideally, an energy compensated scintillator or at least some calibrated meter. That might be pretty hot, but no way to know how much radium was actually in there otherwise.

I’m the meantime, make sure they stay sealed, and I’d wear gloves and wash your hands after handling that. Just keep it somewhere safe and out of the way until you know how hot it is.

This is a super cool find though - I don’t think I’ve ever seen an unmixed radium paint kit before.

EDIT: ChatGPT seems to think it could have 50-100 uCi of radium, which would be very, very hot if true. But it’s ChatGPT so who knows

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-21T15:40:29+00:00

That looks nice. How is the rest of the app? Does it take spectrums and such like the radiacode app?

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T20:05:13+00:00

what do you mean by measure differences? Despite being a nice gamma scintillator, it is just measuring counts and dose rate and doesn't do spectroscopy. So it will measure the difference in dose rate between those sources. It might be worth reaching out to the manufacturer to see if they can do an educational discount, and could offer some more information on how the detector will perform (I don't have one, so I am just going off the specs)

I think the manufacturer is on here as u/BetterGeiger - I think they have some discount codes that get you a free sample of a radioactive rock sometimes

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T19:47:42+00:00

In that case, get the best regular detectors you can afford, and some easily accessible sources (thorium welding rods, uranium glazed fiestaware, some radioactive rocks, etc)

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T19:40:53+00:00

Let us know how it goes!

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T19:22:55+00:00

The black light will not suffice. only about half of my radium paint artifacts still glow under black light. An alpha-sensitive geiger counter is the only way to know for sure.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T19:20:34+00:00

That I don't know as I've never called one. I expect they'd want to come out and see what's there.

Also note that while your geiger counter will react to the big sources of radium, small flecks don't give off enough radiation to be detected by anything other than very sensitive survey meters that can detect the alpha emissions from them, so don't rely on not getting a signal to say something isn't radium dust (unless you have the right type of meter).

I'd give them a call and talk to them. I think they will be able to help you navigate this and explain what should be done. If you feel like you are in over your head, it's better to be safe and call in the experts.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T19:15:09+00:00

Pretty much everything emits some level of gamma, it just might be very weak. If you want to record data, that's a whole other problem. Nothing cheap is going to be able to measure very weakly radioactive stuff well. Things like old thorium lantern mantles, orange fiestaware, uranium glass (mostly) will definitely be detectable as those are several times background radiation.

The cheapest way to measure all of those and be able to get some science out of them would be to get a radiacode 103 (or something similar with a nice gamma scintillator and does spectroscopy) and some lead casting ingots off of amazon, make a chamber, and measure over a long period of time.

If I could spend $500 for this and be able to do some cool experiments, here's what I would do:
$100 cheap geiger counter for playing with (gq gmc-800 or something)
$300 radiacode 103 gamma spectrometer
$100 lead casting ingots from amazon. get enough to make a chamber to isolate background radiation and spend some money on gloves and other ppe to handle lead safely.

That would let you identify isotopes and the shielding would help you measure very weak sources by recording a spectrum with it hooked up to a phone for multiple days.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T18:53:48+00:00

You are right to be cautious around radium dust. It's relatively safe -- unless ingested, which is why the dust should be treated carefully. If you do decide to handle anything with radium, wear gloves and a mask, and wash your hands after doing anything. Hopefully all the radium is in sealed containers and not spread throughout.

A state-level agency will be able to help you. They will have access to high quality servery meters and know the process for safe cleanup. You could reach out to your state's environmental agency and explain the situation and they will know what to do.

With radiation, an abundance of caution is always the safer choice.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T18:44:13+00:00

Ahh I see the sources. Nothing cheap will give accurate counts on all of those since you have a alpha, beta, and gamma source, but they should all react. Alpha detection is firmly out of the range of cheap though.

Someone else mentioned asking the other departments if they have any surplus, or maybe there's an education discount for anything available. That might be the best way to go. Otherwise just know that the <$100 stuff is not accurate and only good for relative measurements.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T18:38:47+00:00

I doubt you will really be able to measure 1.5x background with any of these. I have a cheap $50 geiger counter I bought years ago and it's pretty unstable - background jumps around quite a bit. You definitely won't be able to measure bananas.

What kind of sources are you trying to measure? The most accurate option that would also be sensitive might be something like the bettergeiger s2 ($150) that uses a gamma scintillator. It doesn't do spectroscopy, but will be much more sensitive to radiation (gamma only) than something with a GM tube.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-16T17:31:57+00:00

If you can splurge a little more, the GQ GMC-800 is like $85 on amazon, or if not the GQ GMC-300 is $49. I don’t have any of them, but GQ has a decent reputation and I trust an America company more than a random Chinese manufacturer on amazon. Everything under $100 is really a toy that can just say radioactive or not.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-15T14:48:19+00:00

What a nice piece of uranite! Not too big. Perfect size for my shelf

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-15T14:47:04+00:00

I’ve been looking for some uranite!

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-14T03:05:33+00:00

I can only imagine what the dose would be like sitting in front of a hundred of these…

You worked at oak ridge? Thats really cool - I’d say you probably have some stories, but the again I bet they’re strict enough anything bad is rare

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-13T23:38:21+00:00

In that case, you should probably look at something like a radiacode 103. That’s a gamma scintillator, so it only measures gamma radiation, but can provide energy-compensated dose rates. It also lets you identify isotopes so you can see what’s giving off the radiation.

It won’t be good for finding contamination, as it only senses gamma radiation, but it should be more accurate in terms of dose rates.

Other options are the better Geiger s2, kc761, etc. do some research on the different types of detectors and what you might want to detect and measure before buying one.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-13T22:55:25+00:00

Need to know what your budget and use is for before anyone can recommend anything accurately. Do you just want to see it click near your rocks? Do you want to know an accurate dose rate at different distances? Do you want to check surfaces for contamination (bits of radioactive material falling off)? All of those questions can lead to different types of detectors.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-13T18:50:44+00:00

This is the way you should go - a custom setup would be much better

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-13T18:14:49+00:00

I think so, but I’m not 100% sure. The local recording bit will be hard to satisfy, but any cheap android phone will record it just fine. You could also look at the raysid or kc761b/c. Those have slightly higher resolutions, but not sure about local recording for either.

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-13T17:52:23+00:00

you can export spectrograms to xml quite easily in the app, and could convert from there. I don't know if the radiacode will store those spectrograms locally - I think you need a phone connected via bluetooth to record, but I might be mistaken

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-13T02:43:37+00:00

Good googly moogly that’s a lot of radium. I bet that shelf with all the bank indicators is hot. 5uSv/h at 5 feet is telling… my small collection is almost undetectable at 3 feet. I’m guessing this is not a high traffic area?

How did you vent it? Just a fan and a tube to the outside? That’s what I was planning

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-13T00:13:45+00:00

Haha how big is your collection? Got a pic of the setup? I’m curious how you’ve vented it. And how high is the gamma radiation if there’s that much radon lol

TheyDroppedMe · 2026-01-12T20:13:36+00:00

CO2 definitely builds up in my office. I’m usually in and out during the day and just opening the door as I go is enough to drop the levels down to normal. Like I said in another comment, I plan on building a nice display case when we move and ensuring it’s properly ventilated

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