[meteorite-list] large, radioactive ebay brahins from chenobyl area

[JKGwilliam]

List,
I suppose it was just a matter of time before radiation contaminated Brahin 
started showing up on the market.

Several years ago, I talked with Ivan K. about the issues concerning the 
Brahin strewn field including its overlapping the Chernobyl contamination 
site.  According to Ivan, there are large, highly visible monuments 
surrounding the restricted area making it quite impossible for a meteorite 
hunter to wander into the area by accident. Anyone who spent much time 
inside this area would have to be a fool or desperate for money. Reputable 
meteorite hunters would never knowingly sell contaminated meteorites.

  And to further complicate the matter, this same area was the site of a 
huge Russian/German battle(s) during World War II and a local cottage 
industry exists where buried soldiers are located and repatriated to their 
respective countries. If my memory is correct, the German government was 
paying the equivalent of $200 apiece for the remains of  their soldiers, 
which makes detecting and digging in the restricted area a big temptation.

It could be possible that some of these folks are finding pieces of the 
Brahin meteorite and finding a buyer for them.  After all, who's going to 
pass up the opportunity to make several hundreds, even thousands, of 
dollars when the average monthly income in Russia is about $200.00?

I'm guessing that the only thing that's preventing more of the contaminated 
Brahin from showing up on the meteorite market is the current price.  If 
this pallasite was still selling for $8.00 to $12.00 per gram, a lot of it 
would be making its way to the collectors market.

Best,

JKGwilliam

At 12:32 AM 10/22/2004, mark ford wrote:

>Harlan,
>
>Ive often wondered about this too!
>
>If someone has measured an 'increase over background' then clearly the 
>potential at least exists for a serious health issue..
>
>I am an engineer in the nuclear industry, so I have access to Geiger 
>counters and MCA's etc and I have extensively checked my Brahin but found 
>no abnormal contamination, but that's not to say it isn't a potential issue.
>
>As far as I know the Brahin strewn field extends reasonably far into the 
>restricted zone, much of the land has never been surveyed, so the levels 
>are unknown, I doubt much contamination would have penetrated deep into 
>the metal, more likely most danger would be from any residual surface 
>soil/moisture, that is still on the outer surface of the metal.
>
>What would worry me more is the workshops that are cutting the stuff, 
>airborne radioactive dust being an even more serious issue!
>
>Just goes to show, every home should have a Geiger counter imho...
>
>Mark Ford
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: harlan trammell [mailto:skyrox at hotmail.com]
>Sent: 21 October 2004 16:23
>To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>Subject: [meteorite-list] large, radioactive ebay brahins from chenobyl area
>
>i noticed a very large , whole brahin piece on ebay. in the ad, it stated 
>that there was an additional amount of radiation over the backgeound 
>radiation rate from it due to the fact that it was collected in the 
>chernobyl area. a.) is this a concern for health risks? b.) just HOW MUCH 
>of this used-to-be$25/g, but-now-is-50cents/g (hmmm...), huge pieces of 
>brahin is or may be being collected illegally from the chernobyl radiation 
>area? i do not have a gieger counter, so i  can't check mine. all 
>documented info appreciated.
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