Radiation Videos

Field Tests and Demonstrations



BEST/MATRR began our Community Radiation Monitoring Project aka Radiation Detectives in the fall of 2012 with a training session led by Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) director, Lou Zeller. Our local group has established 50 monitoring sites surrounding and downwind of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in north Alabama, 28 miles west of Huntsville's city center; and we are increasing monitoring of Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant in Tennessee, which is about 18 miles north of Chattanooga.


Our group is fortunate to have a highly trained specialist in nuclear contamination and medical response, Garry Morgan, as our project director and monitoring trainer. Garry has assembled, utilized and maintained our equipment kits, and has expanded our methods over numerous field testing sessions, incorporating his training and studies of Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and State Radiation Health Control protocols.


Garry Morgan is also the group videographer and has carefully documented many of our monitoring efforts, which may prove helpful to those beginning their own monitoring projects. Garry offers in-the-field training for groups across the country, only charging for expenses, if you want to begin monitoring radiation in your area.


5/8/13

Another Radioactive Rainout Event with Beta & Gamma Tests on Jan 14, 2013



A continuation of the BREDL/BEST/MATRR Community Radiation Monitoring Program. Over the past 3 days we have been witnessing moderate to heavy rainfall with radionuclides present at levels over 730 Counts Per Minute (CPM) in Scottsboro, AL, 70 miles east of Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant. The current weather system is moving from west-northwest to east-southeast.

Radon daughters (progenies): the concentration of radon gas and its decay products depends greatly on temperature and weather patterns. When the air is cooler, or when there is an inversion layer "holding down" air near the ground, there can be a higher concentration of radon gas and its decay products -- especially Lead-214 and Bismuth-214, which are strong gamma and beta emitters and are quite radioactive. Other weather conditions can cause large variations as well, especially rain. Rain washes the radon progeny out of the air. So when it rains, there should generally be a short spike in the gamma and beta counts followed by a period of lower counts. http://www.radonserv.com/message.asp?...

There may be other radionuclides present such as Iodine 131 or Iodine 135 and their progenies. Without spectrographic analysis it is not possible to identify the specific offending radionuclide.

A non-profit Windows Media Video (WMV) Production by BREDL/BEST/MATRR member Garry Morgan. WMV systems license for background music.

Supporting environmental stewardship and open government. For more information about BREDL/BEST/MATRR go to http://www.matrr.org

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