Should I be concerned!!

[dearslayer]

So my co workers friend, knows someone who has access to some lead he tells me. This morning after work I met my friends friend in the coffee shop parking lot near work to see the lead. Turns out that these 3 containers are extremely heavy thick lead that at some point held some sort of radioactive material perhaps to treat cancer maybe!!?? All three are obviously empty . I haven't put them on the scale yet but they have to be at least 15 pounds each.should I be concerned that they were once used to store radioactive material??297408297409297410297411297412297413

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[farmbif]

I dont think the radiation hangs around. they've already took out hot stuff. others on here have used the lead from those with great success.
ive seen different designs but not like the ones in pictures. is the outside painted lead or a plastic housing that has lead core interior?

[Whole Bunches]

Containers are not released until all the radioactive isotope has decayed away and the container has been checked to insure no radioactivity. It had radioactive iodine in it, probably for thyroid cancer treatment...short half-life. I’m a retired US NAVY radiation safety tech. HMC for you Navy guys.

As far as casting...need to just try and see how it works. Some work fine; some need a little tin for good casting.

[MUSTANG]

Wheel weights made of lead are practically impossible to easily find these days. I have migrated to the Isotope Lead for my needs, been buying them from HamerLane on this site. The 96% lead, 3% Antimony, and 1% Tin works great cast and air dropped - or water quench for about 20BHN.

You can see his latest listing at: https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?433047-WTS-Isotope-Lead-WHOLE-Cores-2-per-MFRB-shipped-110-each-8-boxes-available&highlight=hammerlane

Somewhere in one of his old posts is a link to someone who did an analysis on many of the different types of Isotope Cores; not sure which posting it was.

[lightman]

Those are commonly called Isotope containers. The ones that I had came in plastic tubs with the info on them. The half life listed was very short. The ones I had cast really well.

[dearslayer]

Awesome thanks so much for the info. These have a heavy painted exterior. I'm hoping to be able to get more. Dang they are heavy. I'll weight one when I get up.

[Dusty Bannister]

http://www.fellingfamily.net/isolead/

This will get you to the site where you can ID the containers by form and find out what they are made from. Good to get them while you can.

[Retumbo]

http://www.fellingfamily.net/isolead/

This will get you to the site where you can ID the containers by form and find out what they are made from. Good to get them while they're hot.

Fixed it for you :guntootsmiley:

[Dusty Bannister]

No, I think that was the original question. He was concerned about them being "hot" from radiation.

[dearslayer]

It was a pretty good guess on the weight. They
weight 16.8 lbs each as they are with the few bits of plastic on them. They scratch easily with a 6B Staedtler pencil so I'm guessing they must be around 4-5 BHN, pure lead. Would that be correct?

[rockshooter]

I've used a ton or so of those over the years- usually they are fairly hard- just drop one on a cement floor and see if they ring or thud. Ringers are hard, thudders are soft. Be sure to smelt them outdoors- the paint burning is nasty stuff. I've never had to add tin to get great fill-out.
Loren

[Land Owner]

The radioisotope transport shielding lead I was given, nearly one ton in total, as 40-pound billets(!), each billet containing a pair of 5-pound lead inserts (where the pharmacist's syringe is held, and round, like yours), has been very good lead. You can see the boolits in the berm at night - they glow!








just kidding about the "glow" part...and "No" to answer your concern.

[Outer Rondacker]

I smelted about ten pigs as they are called by nickname around 8 years ago. Got them from my lab buddy who laughed at me when I asked the same question. He said I am not dead yet and I used them at work daily. Hand to head moment for me. I am late to the party others have told you about half life and it being safe and all. Just needed to get the bones working this morning .

[Idz]

If the containers were legally released for sale they should have been tested and be clean. If they were stolen they could have had a leaking source and be radioactive. High school physics teachers, fire departments, and amateur scientists usually have a radiation meter and could test them for you.

[Land Owner]

Legitimate outsources for radioisotope transportation containment (lead shielding), that are no longer "in spec" to the Federal DOT, are assured to be inert prior to offering to the unsuspecting General Public as the supplier would be in real jeopardy of losing its NRC license - the Death Knell for their nuclear pharmaceutical or laboratory business.

[dearslayer]

I smelted about ten pigs as they are called by nickname around 8 years ago. Got them from my lab buddy who laughed at me when I asked the same question. He said I am not dead yet and I used them at work daily. Hand to head moment for me. I am late to the party others have told you about half life and it being safe and all. Just needed to get the bones working this morning .

Alrighty then thanks .....so what does " half life" mean in this application?

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

While they once contained radioactive isotopes the lead shielding does not become activated or contaminated. Melt them down and enjoy. BTW, I work where they make some of the isotopes. You are good to go.

[Baltimoreed]

The ones my found for me are a lot smaller and grey. How do you separate the lead from the plastic?

[Dusty Bannister]

Some of the ones I have had used something similar to construction adhesive. (liquid nails)
That adhesive will really stink so get it all outside.

[Whole Bunches]

Half life = time it takes for half the radioactivity to decay away. After one half life you have half the radioactivity left. After another half life there is 1/4 the original radioactivity left, then 1/8, then 1/16, etc etc. Where I worked with such in the Navy, we simply set the used “pigs” in a locked area and once every month or so we’d check the oldest ones with a Geiger counter appropriate for the isotope and release them back to Nuclear Medicine for disposal. Nuc Med gave me whatever I wanted for casting. At that time (1979-1982), the pigs molybdenum 99 came in worked great as-is for handgun casting and moderate rifle loads. I have two of the 30 pound pigs left and save them for casting 310 Cadet heeled boolits.

[kevin c]

If you need a bit more reassurance:

The medical radioisotopes themselves are inside separate containers without direct contact with the outer lead container. The lead shielding absorbs the radiation passing through the inner container but does not become radioactive itself unless contaminated (rare).

The half-lives of the isotopes used in medicine are only minutes to hours long. Just sitting in a corner of the lab for a month or so drops any radiation from contamination down to background levels.

I have a regular source of isotope container lead. The larger containers and the big technetium 99 generators consistently analyze out between 2.5 to 3 percent antimony (usually close to 3%). Some container types are obviously soft lead.

[Retumbo]

No, I think that was the original question. He was concerned about them being "hot" from radiation.

Humor, play on words.

"get it while it's hot "


(idiomatic) To act on an opportunity promptly while favorable conditions exist; to avoid waiting. We should strike while the iron is hot and order some immediately, before they change the offer.

[WRideout]

It is well to remember that most of these hold isotopes that are used for diagnostic purposes; i.e they are injected into people. If the radioactive isotope is completely removed, there is nothing in the lead shielding that will hurt you (other than the lead).

Wayne

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Isotope lead is good clean stuff. No worries. Try to get more!

[Shiloh]

No.
Isotope jars are pure lead.
I get gifted isotope ingots from time to time.

Shiloh

[Shiloh]

Humor, play on words.

"get it while it's hot "

LOL!!

Shiloh

[kevin c]

No.
Isotope jars are pure lead.
I get gifted isotope ingots from time to time.

Shiloh

Lead shielding bricks are often but not always pure lead. Some types of small isotope container are also pure lead, but most of the kinds I’ve had analyzed, and the ones sqlbullet reported on, are antimonial lead alloys

[dearslayer]

I smelted the 3 units down on Saturday and got 56 ingots. Seems to be pretty soft lead. Perhaps pure lead? Hoping my friends connection can get me more. I call it my radioactive lead to distinguish it from SOWW. If it's pure lead would it be the same as SOWW? 297929

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[kevin c]

I’ve always read here that SOWW are considered close to pure.

I noticed that the pure lead containers were (as might be expected) easy to dent, heavy for the size, and did not ring when tapped. The unpainted parts of the pure lead containers are usually a dull, dark grey, as opposed to the brighter silver color of the crystalline antimony lattice in the alloyed lead.

[dearslayer]

I’ve always read here that SOWW are considered close to pure.

I noticed that the pure lead containers were (as might be expected) easy to dent, heavy for the size, and did not ring when tapped. The unpainted parts of the pure lead containers are usually a dull, dark grey, as opposed to the brighter silver color of the crystalline antimony lattice in the alloyed lead.

They were a dark dull grey and made a serious thud on a concrete floor so I'm gonna say perhaps pure lead. I'll check the ingots with my lead pencils later when I get a second.

[Rickf1985]

Just drop one of the ingots on the concrete floor, if it goes thud it is soft and if it goes ding it has some hardness to it.

[oley55]

No.
Isotope jars are pure lead.
I get gifted isotope ingots from time to time.

Shiloh

Not suggesting isotope containers are hard lead, but the evidence Kevin C and others presented in 2018 seems to show mostly 2.1-3% antimony (SB) in everything tested. Not sure why his thread was never made a sticky, but I remembered reading it and found it via an external search engine.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?358363-Isotope-container-analysis