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Re: Shocked Quartz (cleavable)
JJSwaim wrote:
> Hi Jim,
>
> You wrote:
> Most of the trinitite has been removed, except for small (pea sized)
> pieces that you can pick up (though they tell you not to).
>
> If you go to the website Calvin Shipbaugh referenced, they're selling
> larger than pea size specimens. The Army doesn't think it should be
> handled, but someone is allowed to sell it? Do you have any idea at
> what point they
> decided it was sufficiently low in radioactivity to sell (If in fact
> they did?)
>
> Best regards, jj
The majority of the stuff was picked up by soldiers and put under (I
believe) the care of the Atomic Energy Commision. It's probably sitting
in a warehouse or nuclear waste dump somewhere, slowly decaying. The
stuff that is for sale was probably obtained by GI's or test site
workers in the late forties. I don't know the level of radioactivity,
other than the fact it is safe to spend a reasonable amount of time at
the site itself. I think the Army's reasoning for not wanting people to
pick it up had less to do with radioactivity than with people pillageing
a historical site, although I suppose there is the worry that some idiot
might try to make a nose ring out of the stuff and then have his shnozz
rot off and sue the government.
Jim
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