Radioactive control in knife manufacture

[navajasound]

Hi to everybody!First of all I would like to say that the situation in Japan is horrifying and everybody should help with whatever they can ! If you don't have money to send then just pray for the people of Japan!
But the point of this thread is knives made in Japan after the Fukushima disaster if it gets worse than now.What if the reactors melt and there is a huge dose of radiation in the air and in the soil ?And the particles from the air will fall down on scrap metal, which is used in the production of steel. VG-10 is made in Japan as well as many other steels?How can we be certain that when we buy a knife it is not radioactive ?

[The Deacon]

[CENTER]

[/CENTER]

[SolidState]

Bananas are radioactive. Watch out at the grocery store!!!

By the way, this is fact.

[KBR]

You beat me to it, Paul....just going to hang back now and see where this thread goes from here.

[navajasound]

I don't know why you think that is absurd ,maybe you haven't heard of Cernobil ,and that the nearby town of Pripyat which was evacuated . This is a copy i found in the net about the subject :
The presence of spent radioactive materials in the ferrous scrap supply presents significant health and safety risks to steel workers and to the general public.

In the past fifteen years, over 50 known incidents have occurred worldwide in which metals companies inadvertently melted shielded radioactive sources. Fortunately, none of these incidents resulted in worker injuries or loss of life. But they have caused major economic injury.

Current US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations for generally licensed devices do not provide for tracking of individual owners. The lack of accountability makes it easy for licensees negligently to discard sealed sources in scrap and evade prosecution. In response to this regulatory gap, steel companies have installed sophisticated radiation detection systems to monitor all incoming shipments of scrap by truck , rail and vessel. However, no system is airtight.

The economic effects of inadequate control of radioactive sources include: the purchase of sophisticated detection systems, training personnel in detection, delays in steelmaking operations, costs for disposal of sources that steel companies find, and worst of all, for a company that has inadvertently melted a radioactive source, millions of dollars of business interruption losses and clean-up costs.

Historically, penalties for improper source disposal have been minuscule – often a fine of a few thousand dollars levied against the negligent licensee for a source that, if inadvertently melted, would cost a steel company many millions of dollars. (The total cost associated with decontaminating a facility after an inadvertent melting of a radioactive device can range up to $15 million). Recently, NRC amended its enforcement policy to allow fines equal to the cost of proper disposal. The SMA lauds this change in policy. Also, NRC recently proposed an annual registration program for generally licensed sources. SMA has been working with NRC for almost a decade on this issue and urges the Commission to proceed expeditiously with a final rule.

[Donut]

Please see this news article:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80bea ... overblown/

[Rudeco]

dang, i'm sure japan has more important things to think about at this time.

[cosmo7809]

I can see it now... Threads created asking "How can I assure my spydie isn't radioactive" Response: "Duh... Check the date code!" or " Why is first spyderco giving me nausea and vomiting"






:)

[xavierdoc]

How can we be certain that when we buy a knife it is not radioactive ?

If you can find it in the dark, don't.








Unless it is the GITD Manix II.

[JNewell]

If you can find it in the dark, don't.








Unless it is the GITD Manix II.

Missed that the first time.

For the OP, if you are asking a serious question, you can at least take some comfort by checking country of origin and date code information on the box. But, frankly... :rolleyes:

[tonydahose]

while my sentiments are very similiar to the bear above but if you are really worried about your knife Japanese :spyder: being radioactive go to to your local fire dept and ask them to put their meter by it. after they are done laughing they might check it for you. Beware that there is background radiation everywhere. In Chicago it is less than Golden where the American :spyder: s are made because of its higher elevation of the city.

[ChrisR]

I don't know why you think that is absurd ,maybe you haven't heard of Cernobil

Except that Chernobyl was a completely different kind of situation. At Chernobyl they had a massive, violent explosion inside one of the reactor cores, which blew a large plume of radioactive dust up into the air and that was blown/carried across a lot of Northern Europe.

In Japan they have a different issue - there they have reactor cores that are teetering on the edge of meltdown - but the cores have not and will not explode. It's actually difficult to assess whether the rods are melting or not because the cores themselves have been shut down using the control rods and they are still contained. There is still a slight chance that pressure could build up and an explosion could happen but the Japanese technicians are in some form of control and they are bravely trying to bring temperatures down while also keeping steam pressures low.

Now, if there was an explosion do you think that steel would be so contaminated that it would pose even a slight risk to heath? Not a chance. Seki City is way further south and there is not even any evidence that any north-European industries were affected by Chernobyl fall-out. Basically, as you move away from a radioactive source or you give that source some time to age the risk to health goes down massively - and it will be starting at an almost undetectable level anyway.

Basically, don't worry about it ... the only people I worry for at the moment are the brave souls that are manning their posts in the reactors and trying to bring the situation under control. They all deserve our prayers - and medals when they finish.

[bohica1998]

Well said, Paul! :D :D

[Evil D]

Paul i'll see your face palms and raise you a couple double face palms





There's radiation in everything. On the news just this morning they had a guy going around with a geiger counter showing that everything around us emits radiation. One thing in particular that has a lot of it is granite. They went into a train station that is completely made of granite and it pegged the geiger counter, but they said it still wasn't enough to get you sick. Our own bodies emit radiation. Bananas emit radiation due to the potassium content.

[c.joe]

Cccombo breakerr


Haha. From what I understand, Iodine 131 and cesium 137 has a half life of 8 days. So by the time it does get here (assuming it somehoww contaminates our blades...), it should not have any effects on us.

Yes, I believe we are all contributing as much as we can to Japan. I really wish I could do more than donate. My local Urban Search and Rescue Team was recently sent to Japan to help out. I hope I can join their team one day for future disasters.

[clovisc]

actually, a nuclear knife would be a great addition to mall ninja edc. think of the damage it could inflict!

hope to be able to buy one and start running "spine overstrike" tests ASAP !!!!

[xavierdoc]

It might be helpful if Spyderco could include half-life in the steel charts from now on.

[The Mastiff]

navajasound, The article you brought up had nothing to do with radiation from the reactor event in the then soviet union. It is about companies getting rid of contaminated and sometimes radioactive materials from old medical or commercial sources. There have been incidents where radioactive sources meant for cancer treatment went to scrap by mistake and got people who didn't know what they were riding around in the truck with contaminated.

I wouldn't worry about the steel supply.

[bammann45]

This thread gave me a good giggle that I was needing.

[tonydahose]

i just thought of this, have Mike at the pharmacy send you the knife along with some potassium iodine pills :D