Prague playground sealed off over raised radiation (Czech rep.)

Prague playground sealed off over raised radiation (Czech rep.)

praguemonitor.com

Prague, Sept 28 (CTK) - Police and firefighters sealed off the area around a playground in Prague over increased radiation level Wednesday evening, firefighting unit spokeswoman Pavlina Adamcova told CTK.
(...)
"They measured the values five times over the standard," Adamcova said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

What could cause radiation level to exceed 5 times? Practically in center of a city. In other news outlet, i red it was entire district closed off, but this is not confirmed.
Could it have anything to do with nuclear event in Moldavia reported this morning?
Officials say, the cause of radiation is suspected to lie underground.

praguemonitor.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This could be a "look the other way" event or even a way to clear out the area for something else.


On a side note i find this funny:

He told Czech Television that his wrist watch, with a radiation measurement device, had started peeping.

reply to post by scoobdude


Reportedly guy had wristwatch with dosimeter (I WANT ONE!!!!), and after he saw alarming readings, he then came back to the place with proper and more accurate device.

reply to post by stainlesssteelrat
All sounds a bit iffy to me, first tried searching for this disiminator type watch and found nothing of relevance. Then checked out this article about gamma in luminous watches. Distraction / Deflection IMO..


"Measurement of gamma-ray activity was made on 520 men's watches, 51 ladies' watches, 120 boys' watches, and 66 girls' watches and the respective average radium contents obtained were: 0059, 0035, 0031 and 0017 μg. The frequency of persons wearing luminous wrist watches was estimated from a total of 1436 adults and children. The genetically significant dose to the Danish population has been calculated and found to be approximately 12±04% of that from the natural background"

So this fellow goes home for a more refined detector ?. Whats the cover up operation all about..!!!

Originally posted by foxhoundone

 

All sounds a bit iffy to me, first tried searching for this disiminator type watch and found nothing of relevance. Then checked out this article about gamma in luminous watches. Distraction / Deflection IMO..

Well, something is definitely not in perfect order there, because entire area was sealed off by firefighters, which confirmed increased level of radiation, then called in experts from the State Institute of Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection, and they measured radiation 5 times normal.

We'll see how this rolls out.

It is very modern here in Nippon to blame People on a Cancer Treatment,
"maybe he/she urinated there?"

People in a Cancer Treatment get up to "50 Sievert" of Radiation!

(i know it sounds unbelievable but it is true!)

reply to post by stainlesssteelrat

Hmmm, this sounds interesting and maybe even a touch disturbing, especially as I live in Prague! I hadn't heard about it (as I've been mainly on ATS and not watching Czech news ) so I just went and did a bit of digging on Czech news sites.

It turns out that the radiation source is a canister that was probably buried in the ground some time ago. The actual radioactive material is believed to be radium and it's suspected its original source was a device used within the health care industry.

I have a news report in Czech and once I've translated the pertinent parts I'll post some sections of it and a linky.

Mike

Okay, back again. The news report I'm quoting from is entitled "V Podolí našli zářící váleček s radiem, v zemi mohl být desítky let". Freely translated, it means "Radioactive cylinder containing radium found in Podoli, could have been in the ground for tens of years".

The article and video can be found here on the Novinky.cz website. ("Novinky" simply means "news".)

The opening paragraph reads:

Specializovaná firma začala během čtvrtečního poledne pracovat v Podolí na vytažení zdroje zvýšené radiace. Experti v zemi našli malý váleček, který záření vydával. Zřejmě obsahuje radium. Předsedkyně Státního úřadu pro jadernou bezpečnost (SÚJB) Dana Drábová jmenovala radiovou jehlu. Řekla, že je možné, že předmět byl v zemi desítky let.

Translation:
During Thursday morning a specialist firm began work in Podoli to remove a source of increased radiation. The experts found a small cylinder in the ground, which is releasing the radiation. It most likely contains radium. Dana Drabova, the head of the State Office for Nuclear Safety (SUJB), described it as a radioavtive needle. She said it is possible that the object had been in the ground for tens of years.

Mainly due to copyright concerns (viz ATS T&Cs) I'm not going to copy and then write out a translation for the whole of the remaining text word for word, but I'll summarize.

In the following two paragraphs they repeat the info that a specialist firm is working there this morning (ie Thursday Sept 29) and also that experts from the relevant Govt dept are taking ground samples for lab analysis and will also check if radiation levels in the playground go back to normal after the object has been removed.

Then Marek Bozenhard from the SUJB informs us that the material is most likely radium 226, which is used in medicine. Next par: Drabova agrees and she goes on to say that in the past it was quite common to find radioactive materials that were from medical-use sources. This is why she suggests it's a radioactive needle. (Note from me: meaning a special needle used in radiation-related medical treatment or investigation.)

Under the picture there's a statement from Irena Cespirova, of the State Office of Nuclear Protection (apparently a different agency from Drabova's btw). She says that considering the ground of the playground is well compacted and there's no evidence of digging, it's possible that the needle got there (underground) around the time the playground was constructed, and unlikely that it got there recently.

There's more in the text where they go on about the man with the peeping watch (yes, it does use the word that means "peeping") and also a man talks about how his daughter took her son (ie his grandson) to the playground and he's worried about possible effects and so on, but frankly the above details are the meat of it.

In summary, someone probably dumped some old bits from a medical device that had a radioactive component in it and the thing got buried under a playground. Knowing how slack they were about such stuff here in the old days it doesn't surprise me in the least. As Drabova said, it was "quite common" in the past.

Mike

reply to post by Human0815
I checked out some examples of radiation exposer..

Dose limit examples
Criterion for relocation after Chernobyl disaster: 350 mSv/lifetime[12]

In most countries the current maximum permissible dose to radiation workers is 20 mSv per year averaged over five years, with a maximum of 50 mSv in any one year. This is over and above background exposure, and excludes medical exposure.
The value originates from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), and is coupled with the requirement to keep exposure as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) – taking into account social and economic factors.[23]

Public dose limits for exposure from uranium mining or nuclear plants are usually set at 1 mSv/yr above background.

reply to post by scoobdude

Even though we're on ATS and I like a good conspiracy as much as anyone, I very much doubt it's a "look the other way" event -- at least, not for that area. (More on that in a minute.) I know the Podoli area quite well as it's only about 15 minutes from my place (by public transport) and there is definitely a playground there. Also, there is a maternity hospital in Podoli and has been for many years -- my stepson and also grandsons were born there -- so if we want a likely nearby source of medical-based radioactive materials, there we have one.

The good news is that the radioactive source was not directly handled by children. It had to be dug up by the experts who removed it. The chances of any harmful effects to kids who used the playground are very low.

But back to your comment. I'd agree that there could be a "look the other way" aspect to this, so I'll be keeping my ears open to see if anything else is going on that the public are not supposed to get too interested in and that (due to this story) is getting scant coverage. If I hear anything I'll post.

Best regards,

Mike

I just skimmed CZ news and can confirm what Mike very well summed up. BTW I lived 4 mins by walk from the playground. Also I can confirm that it was common to dump old specialized equipment at black waste sites or to give it to anybody as source of scrap metal. From my childhood I remember lot of interesting things from Russian mobile radar station to osciloscope laying literally on the street.

Originally posted by JustMike
But back to your comment. I'd agree that there could be a "look the other way" aspect to this, so I'll be keeping my ears open to see if anything else is going on that the public are not supposed to get too interested in and that (due to this story) is getting scant coverage. If I hear anything I'll post.

Thanks, I love ATS for feedback you can get here. I also don't think there's some serious implications to the event, it's kinda scary though, that such a small underground object would give away 500 mikrosieverts detectable above ground level.

We really play dice with the devil for last 60 years.

Originally posted by stainlesssteelrat
reply to post by scoobdude

 

Reportedly guy had wristwatch with dosimeter (I WANT ONE!!!!),

Polimaster PM1208M Wrist Gamma Indicator

The PM1208M Wrist Gamma Indicator is a stylish combination of gamma dosimeter and a Swiss-made quartz watch that continuously monitors environmental radiation levels and alerts user in case of danger with an audible alarm. The PM1208M can be used by both professionals dealing with radiation on a daily basis and concerned citizens.

The PM1208M performs the following functions:
Continuous monitoring and measuring of the ambient gamma dose and dose rate;
User alert of hazardous situations with an audible alarm;
Recording and storing data for up to 500 events in its non-volatile memory;
Transmiting all recorded data via an infrared channel to a PC for further processing and analysis.

reply to post by makeitso


$433, not so bad at all. Im saving for Hublot Caviar , just1mln$

Update to the topic:
Cylinder was found 8cm underground, it's size was 2cm in lenght and 2mm in width. Still no info where it came from, might we never will know. Area is already open for public, altough I predict this particular playground won't be popular among parents.

Originally posted by JustMike
reply to post by scoobdude

 

Even though we're on ATS and I like a good conspiracy as much as anyone, I very much doubt it's a "look the other way" event -- at least, not for that area. (More on that in a minute.) I know the Podoli area quite well as it's only about 15 minutes from my place (by public transport) and there is definitely a playground there. Also, there is a maternity hospital in Podoli and has been for many years -- my stepson and also grandsons were born there -- so if we want a likely nearby source of medical-based radioactive materials, there we have one.

The good news is that the radioactive source was not directly handled by children. It had to be dug up by the experts who removed it. The chances of any harmful effects to kids who used the playground are very low.

But back to your comment. I'd agree that there could be a "look the other way" aspect to this, so I'll be keeping my ears open to see if anything else is going on that the public are not supposed to get too interested in and that (due to this story) is getting scant coverage. If I hear anything I'll post.

Best regards,

Mike

Thanks for the input and hope all is well over there.