curious_guy (imported) wrote: Fri May 18, 2012 3:28 am I am 95 percent sure that I saw a documentary that said that the Thresher was lost because a valve used to put air into the ballast tank had frozen up with condensation from the air. The ice prevented air from entering the ballast tank and the submarine could not surface.

Parts of the Thresher were photographed. It is definitely in pieces, and we do have vessels that can go deep enough to survey the wreckage.

gareth19 (imported) wrote: Sat May 19, 2012 2:10 am Parts of the Thresher were photographed. It is definitely in pieces, and we do have vessels that can go deep enough to survey the wreckage.

Yes, there are deep sea submersibles that can go down there. Go find the National Geographic issue in the Titanic that came ot in April for lots of underwater pictures from that depth.

As for the ruins of the Thresher -- at that depth, water pressure will crush steel. Also, as a sinking ship falls through the water, it hits the ocean floor with amazingly destructive force. Again, go to the National Geographic for pictures of the "crush" damage to Titanic bow half that hit the ocean floor so hard, it nearly pancaked the decks. Specifically look for the forward cargo hatch cover that was blown from the deck.

gareth19 (imported) wrote: Sat May 19, 2012 2:07 am Plutonium is highly toxic. I doubt that anyone would use it as an ionization source for a smoke detector. In the US all models that I am familiar with use americium. Your metal detector uses californium as a source.

I found the documentation for the RID-1. It uses plutonium based source.

Had to do some research to check it. Found on the net: photos from disassembly, measurements from the source itself, the type of the source, and some definitely crazy videos.

The catalog from the company, that makes the sources, which claims "plutonium":

http://www.po-mayak.ru/content/katalog/ ... i_2010.pdf - page 5, source nr.1 on that page.

fhunter wrote: Sat May 19, 2012 3:02 pm I found the documentation for the RID-1. It uses plutonium based source.

Had to do some research to check it. Found on the net: photos from disassembly, measurements from the source itself, the type of the source, and some definitely crazy videos.

The catalog from the company, that makes the sources, which claims "plutonium":

http://www.po-mayak.ru/content/katalog/ ... i_2010.pdf - page 5, source nr.1 on that page.

Yes, plutonium...

I said in another post that the laboratory where I worked had to create an inventory of chemicals for each cabinet in a laboratory.

One of the reasons was that we had to catalog all such devices containing radium (old exit signs), metal tank level detectors, and as we discovered much to our chagrin, smoke detectors with plutonium. All of the radioactive stuff went onto a master inventory at the nuclear regulatory commission with changes requiring immediate updates... This was so that terrorists could not assemble sufficient americium, plutonium, radium, cesium and other isotopes (x-ray machines in hospitals and dentist's offices are other sources) to create a dirty bomb.

Handled properly. plutonium is safe.

Just please don't blithely assume you know what safe is. There are professionals in hazardous waste that can handle these things. Either employ them or take the time to get certified by an independent agent.

Wow, and I've been playing with Kodak products for over 20 years...ouch...

Not any more.

River

Dave (imported) wrote: Sat May 19, 2012 5:57 pm Yes, plutonium...

I said in another post that the laboratory where I worked had to create an inventory of chemicals for each cabinet in a laboratory.

One of the reasons was that we had to catalog all such devices containing radium (old exit signs), metal tank level detectors, and as we discovered much to our chagrin, smoke detectors with plutonium. All of the radioactive stuff went onto a master inventory at the nuclear regulatory commission with changes requiring immediate updates... This was so that terrorists could not assemble sufficient americium, plutonium, radium, cesium and other isotopes (x-ray machines in hospitals and dentist's offices are other sources) to create a dirty bomb.

Handled properly. plutonium is safe.

Just please don't blithely assume you know what safe is. There are professionals in hazardous waste that can handle these things. Either employ them or take the time to get certified by an independent agent.

In solution, plutonium ions are a very attractive sky-blue, but you have to work wiith it in a glove box.