While the levels aren't anything crazy, it's funny how places like Japan and Ukraine will limit access to even lower-level pollution zones (10 microSV/h) while the US allows literally anyone to walk up and touch raw uranium ore if they want. Just a little, as a treat. Appreciate the videos, you've earned a sub and I hope you keep them coming for a long time!
@@essentials1016 You'd need to be exposed for a fairly long time in order to suffer proper radiation poisoning, though uranium dust from those mines is also a concern as it can stick to your body and clothes which would increase exposure times drastically. There's also the chance of inhaling it which is fairly dangerous as well.
Uranium ore isn’t dangerous. Maybe if you were taking handfuls and eating it…yeah, that wouldn’t be good. Uranium deposits are everywhere and it would be close to impossible closing down all those areas. Thanks for the sub.
The uranium mineralization is localized in the various channel scours of the basal Triassic Chinle formation. A well-known source of uranium in the Colorado Plateau.
This is my new favorite channel. Former National Park Ranger here and huge rockhound/radiation nerd. Your videos are stellar. You would have made a great interpretive Ranger yourself. A natural. I tried applying at Manhattan Project NHS here in Oak Ridge, TN to no avail. Now I am going for Computer Science at the local college so we can afford to move back out west where I left my heart 4 years ago… i miss all of the years of rockhounding in east UT and west CO.
I just found this channel a few days ago. I love it so much. Radiation history/science is niche interest of mine so I’m glad there’s a whole channel dedicated to it.
Love your adventures throughout the west . We used to ride our dirt bikes all over where you been . But didn’t know about this Now I’m old guy still loving geology and enthuse more about radioactive material ore and useful electronics. Would love to discuss more with you . Thank you for the vast info you provide on your Excursions . Thumbs up! Just purchased a Radacode 102 to add to my arsenal
@@Chemiolis you do too it seems, love your videos and the shade you keep throwing at Tom from explosions and fire and that chemist lol I saw that chemist trying to stir up drama in one of his community posts about if you were trustworthy and feeling like you need to get stuff you make tested the other day so it especially cracked me up that you brought him up alongside Tom this time cause part of me feels like he's incredibly overconfident in himself whereas even when you're throwing the jokes about showing them how it's done around it doesn't feel overconfident it feels like you just know your skill level better lol that's why I love Tom too cause he never claims to be super great at this stuff he just does it cause it's fun lol
@@noodlelynoodle. Hahaha don't worry about any drama, me and TC are friends! He paid the cost for analysis of some of my products and he will make a video on it.
Hello Drew. There are so many things I want to compliment you on and a couple of questions that have been pressing on my mind. It would mean so much to me if you would take a couple of seconds to read my comment. I wanted to start off by saying that I find what you are doing to be extraordinary beneficial to countering the wast amount of misinformation that exists about radioactivity and things that are radioactive. I personally believe that, especially in these days, there is a high amount of misinformation that is circulation around revolving radiation that causes a lot of unnecessary fear and discomfort. I think that these videos show that radiation can be safe, and in many cases, fun when understood correctly and managed safely. I originally was looking for Geiger counters to buy when I came across your video explaining on the benefits of certain Geiger counters over others. You in turn convinced me that the GQ gmc-320 was the best option for me and also introduced me to the wide world of dosimetry. Over the next couple of months, I would add a few more Geiger counters to my collection and soon realised that I wanted to be serious about this. It was then that I decided I wanted a Radeye B20-er and began on my quest to obtain one. The process took a while, but I was able to obtain one for a extremely good price and as I am writing this, I am just a few days from shipping it to Thermo Fisher to be serviced and calibrated. Now, when it first arrived, I played around with it for a while and noticed that I could figure out how to change the units that it was reading in. I was wondering if you could provide me any insights on that as this is completely new to me. Along with that, I was wondering if you knew any tips or tricks for the Radeye as I can assume that the B20-er and the B20 are very similar. If you have made your way to the end of this, then I want to thank you very much for giving me the time and making some of the most amazing and educational videos there are about radiation. I hope that you have a wonderful day and keep up the amazing, high quality work. Thank you for your time. Also, here’s a video of everything not do do with radiation where bionerd23 finds an old Chernobyl fuel pellet fragment at over 100mSv/h. th-cam.com/video/ejZyDvtX85Y/w-d-xo.html.
Another good one; got caught up on the end of the video with that blue green "box" in the background. Hoping this is in your home state. Need some clackety clack sound efx.
That was an awesome video! You are brave climbing up and down from the nines with a camera in your hand! That area is really beautiful and the geology of the rocks is neat! Those lower nines have a lot of radioactivity outside the bat gates! It's pretty amazing! Thanks for sharing Drew! Can't wait for the Oppenheimer video!
I’m working on the edit for that Oppenheimer video while I’m running the 70mm film. So it’s slow going because I check the film all the time and have my favorite parts I like to watch. But hopefully the video will be ready by the end of the week.
Fascinating video, beautiful photography as always. I had to hold onto my chair as you were descending. Looking forward to your 70mm/Oppenheimer video.
If you find a horizontal adit near Moab with a petrified tree you had to climb over to reach the back of the mine..LOL I was six years old at the time and would camp with my dad and cousin in the summer..found fossils all over the place in the slot canyons. We would picnic at Arches Monument when it took a jeep to get to the cavern..watch out for rattlesnakes under the eock slabs in back...LOL
Thanks Drew! Speaking of Oppenheimer, I did something you would get a chuckle out of. I took my piece of Trinitite to see Oppenheimer. Wanted to help it celebrate its birthday & let it see a movie about how it was born!!
I bought a Radiacode 102 on your recommendation, perhaps before they were sponsoring videos. I've had the chance to use it in the field and it's great!
@@mikestewart4752 I never heard much about Canada. I can take you places in Utah where there mining claims every 200 yards that are under claim by the Australians.
This might be my favorite of all your videos. Something about the magic of the music (even if you're huffing & puffing a little) and that little "dental x-ray" chunk next to the 2nd door. It also makes me wonder if the bats that roost there have dvp'd resistance to radiation over generations.
I don’t think they have developed a resistance to radiation. It’s more they don’t live long enough for it to effect them and the radiation isn’t that high. Glad to liked the video. I huff and buff because it’s hard work.
I'd like to see you go back to a mine you can actually get inside. I know they can be dangerous and tricky to find, but I enjoy living vicariously through you. :)
@@pazsion sounds like it's moderately warm but pretty low radiation actually compared to some of the other areas he's gone, even pressed right up onto the rocks at the entrance of the mine it was only 62k cpm and he's been places where the rocks are off the scale which I believe goes to 500k cpm on that detector, the equivalent of half a dental x-ray an hour is pretty light even the worst area of 14/hour really isn't that much and that's such a tiny space that if you're a few feet away you're fine
Hello Drew, great video as always. Could you explain what is the difference between CPM and standard radiation measure units, like uSv? How many "counts per minute" are actually dangerous?
@@fredharvey2720there’s a lot of units used for radiation that aren’t all interchangeable. Gray and rad are not measuring the same thing as sieverts and rem, which are not measuring the same thing as CPM, becquerels, and curies.
Forgot to say that it really blew my mind when you got a higher radiation reading out in the dirt road in front of the mine, than you did at the actual mine as well!!! You've got WAY more balls than I do!!
How was the stuff mined? Was it high enough of a dose that workers had to work in short shifts and swap out? Edit: oops, commented to soon. I see you answered later. I’m only 4min into vid.
Gamma spectroscopy is built into the Radiacode 102. You can run it and get a rough spectrum with just the detector. But to really identify anything you need to get that spectrum into a computer or in the smartphone app. It showed the decay products for uranium, there are a bunch of them that get identified.
@@RadioactiveDrew Thanks for the reply. I have Radex Obsidian bought before the Ukraine invasion. It is also a scintillation detector may be by the same company.
Do you have any history or photos of the Rio Agum Lisbon Valley mine? My dad and mom's cousin struck that claim in 1952...ran 24/7 for years with refinery at the site..250 employees lost their jobs when it closed and buried.. .
@RadioactiveDrew, I'm going to be driving back west on i70 in a month, any relatively easy uranium mines and camping in the Moab region you might recommend? I won't be in a 4x4, but I don't mine driving on dirt/gravel.
Capitol Reef National Park has the Oyler Uranium Mines in the park. Those might be the easiest to drive up to with a very short walk. They are bared up but you can look inside and they are fairly radioactive from the outside. Just saw that this comment was on a video about those mines. In the Moab area you could go to the UMTRA site right when you get into Moab from the West. I did a video about it. Its a mine tailings site that is being cleaned up. But you can detect additional radiation from the fence. As far as a uranium mine close to the road...I don't know of any.
@@RadioactiveDrew Thanks man, really appreciate it! Also tagged you on a post on Reddit, but this answers my questions nicely :) Might spend a bit more time in the Rockies this time around and maybe check out the oyler mines briefly on my way back home.
@@RadioactiveDrew my family loved visiting capitol reef many years ago. tree-ripened apricots were a highlight of the trip. I think we hiked the grand wash trail, but were not aware of the mines.
My father and my moms cousin staked the claim to what later became The Rio Algum Lisbon Valley mine near Moab 17 years 24/7 until prices dropped. 250 employees lost their jobs when itt shut down Refinery for the Western slope of the Rockies built at that site. At six years old I would camp with my dad when he was doing small deposits. My dad in 1962 said the Lisbon valley claim would never amount to anything and gave it to my moms cousin..LOL An attorney in Denver ended up getting the royalties. I visited the mine when it was shutting down..one guy in the office complex doing paperwork for the EPA and tending the dewatering pumps. The offices, shop and headframe were still in place. All that is visible now is three small lakes. As a six year old I loved camping and exploring the desert around the small mines...I'm 77 now...
Really enjoy the style of your videos and your enthusiasm. I need to move out west to explore, so intriguing to me. This is the place that redefined the world that it is today, for better or for worse. I think our country could be more constructive with this than produce things destructive…just a thought.
@@RadioactiveDrew completely agree sir…a gold mine of energy, if not many other things undiscovered. I hope you have, or are planning on seeing Oppenheimer in a theater…working on doing that very soon here
I’m sure they had more of a trail cut to get up there that has eroded over the years. But I think the lower mines were the ones that got all the action.
Not yet. I want to do a video about general contamination of ground water and how it’s a natural thing that happens. Also the steps that municipal water services take to mitigate that natural contamination.
Having worked for the City of West Chicago for thirty years and the Thorium clean up project from the KerrMagee factory it would be very interesting. I seldom drank the water there. @@RadioactiveDrew
This might be a dumb question that I could probably find the answer to by Googling. But are there any active uranium mines around the U.S.? Or have they all pretty much been shutdown?
Cool stuff as usual! In my opinion it would be beneficial to start mining the uranium again we could really use some safe nuclear power to help boost our electric grid’s.
Just curious, could you do a video explaining generally how uranium is deposited into rocks? Just mainly interested in why certain sedimentary rock is radioactive.
Question... I had a Vietnam Era military compass painted with radium stored in a plastic container near my bed for over a decade. How dangerous would this be in retrospect for my health? I am quite worried about the radiation from my research.... very worried in fact. My grandfather gave this to me not knowing it was painted with radium. Should I be concerned? Thanks
To be honest you should be fine. Radium can give off a decent amount of gamma radiation. But usually radium is a problem when it’s ingested. If you were carrying it around in your pocket for a years and years I would be a little concerned.
Thank you. Radon gas is one thing, but I was and am still worried about the gamma radiation I was exposed to. Especially being that this thing was under my bed in a container for years and then stored on a shelf in my room for even longer. What are your thoughts on the level of exposure from gamma, and health risk from both radon gas and gamma radiation, from this compass?
Well the easiest way to know how much radiation you were exposed to is to measure it. Get a sensitive enough Geiger counter or scintillation detector. Put the compass back under the bed in the same way it’s been stored and take a measurement. Then you could figure out how much extra radiation you were getting, if any. A good detector to look at would be the Better Geiger or the Radiacode 102. The first one is about $130 and it’s great for the price.
@@RadioactiveDrew that would be a great idea. Unfortunately, the compass was thrown out. Without knowing the exact measurements, is there any way to determine risk to any degree? Understanding how this element works, would I have been exposed to an amount of radiation that would increase risk of cancer or other health issues in your opinion?
My opinion is that if you do end up getting some type of cancer in life it won’t be from that compass. Usually cancer from radiation comes from high doses…usually. A good way to think about radiation is that it gets exponentially stronger the closer you get to an object or point source of radiation. So it being maybe 3 feet from you with material between you and it…I think you should be okay. Of course I’m not a doctor. If your worried get check out and let them know your concerns.
I’ve always wanted to know / calculate the dose rate per HOUR on a dental xray. We know how much you get, yes…but what is the shutter speed?? See what I am saying or getting at? If I knew the shutter speed, I could calculate what it would be as if the shutter was left open for an hour. Food for thought. Awesome video Drew, thanks for posting. I actually just sold my SEI Rad Alert Ranger (super nice unit though) - I want something with a higher range for a “bad situation meter” I don’t think a max of 1,000 micro sieverts is going to be useful in a bad situation. A lot of these survey meters have a max of 1,0000 micro sieverts. Looking at the gmc-500plus, it has a high range of 47,000 micro or 47 mili sieverts. Which would be more useful as a “bad situation” survey meter. They are tools, and there is not a “do it all” model available really, I plan on having two. One with high sensitivity, like s radiacode 101 and one with a higher range (possibly the 500plus or something else)
A good high level meter would be a Ludlum Model 14C. It has an internal high range detector. I think it might go up to 20 mSv/hr. They pop up on ebay every once in a while. I also have my Radiacode 102 running in my pocket at the time. I've already found a couple things that I didn't know were radioactive.
You spend a lot of time at abandoned mines. I would be interested in seeing a video about how modern uranium mining is done. Any mining company that has seen your videos will know that you're not hostile to the industry.
@@RadioactiveDrewToo bad the White House decided today to end uranium mining in the USA. No problem... I'm sure our Russian friends will sell us all we want.
Just so happened to find your channel a few minutes ago and saw this video was just uploaded, which is super cool. Quick question, how do you protect yourself against the radiation you expose yourself to in these videos? The Geiger counter screaming at you while your arms are exposed with just a t-shirt kinda freaks me out haha. Is the radiation more insignificant than I'm thinking it is? Anywho, your channel is really interesting!
Probably far less dangerous than you assumed. That is a fairly sensitive radiation counter. Thanks to the anti-nuke idiots and a media industry dedicated to alarmist scare stories about everything, most people have a very distorted view of the hazards of radiation.
The only way to really protect yourself against radiation like this is with time and distance. As long as you don’t spend a lot of time there it will have no effect on you. It’s also not very intense even though my Geiger counter is screaming in certain parts. When my detector reaches its upper limit of 500,000 CPM…then I start getting concerned.
I know you've done this a couple of times, would you mind in your next video going over how much radiation is too much ? Thanks! Keep the videos coming.😊
Lots of people have been asking for this and I plan to do a video talking about radioactivity and dose rates. I figured it would be good for people to have a baseline as to what is dangerous.
I've been out there at night with a UV light and didn't see glowing like what I've seen at other sites. There might have been some areas with a very slight glow but nothing that stands out.
Forgive me if this is a rude question (yes, I could search myself), I'm interested in your videos of UV active and radioactive minerals. Which areas do they occur in and/or titles of your videos? TIA
how come radiation increases at 2:06 ? i thought alpha and beta particles only travelled a few feet. and i dont think uranium puts off than many gamma rays.
Well uranium ore can put off a lot of gamma radiation. It’s because of the decay products inside of uranium. Radium and the isotopes that come after can emit a lot of gamma radiation.
From Australia, nice video, and the US does look a nice place there. Unfortunately we have a lot of bed wetters scared of nuclear power so guess we just mine it for Uncle Sam and other friends.
Your videos are super interesting, just subbed. Would you not be concerned about breathing in rock dust at that place though? I'm sure you know what you're doing, and honestly; the apparent riskiness is part of the appeal of your channel anyway. That and your able cinematography.
Thanks for the sub. I’m not very concerned about the dust in that area. If I was in a mine and kicking up a bunch of dust I would be much more concerned about that. Most mines aren’t very dusty in my experience.
They would look for yellow carnotite and there are some plants that grow near uranium deposits. Wooly Milk Veltch is something uranium miners in Temple Mountain would look for. Also if you find an area with a bunch of petrified wood that would also be a good place to check.
Because they detect different types of radiation. The yellow one, Radeye B20, can detect alpha, beta and gamma. The Radiacode 102 is very sensitive to gamma radiation and can do gamma spectroscopy. So it’s more of a different tools for different jobs. Plus the Radiacode can make a radiation map using GPS coordinates from a phone it’s connected to.
My wife asked me a really good question yesterday about these uranium mines. Wondered how the workers protected themselves from the radiation while mining these deposits out? I know things back in the day with safety was non existent in most industrial work environments compared to todays work safety standards. Any help with this would be appreciated.
The radiation in most cases isn’t intense enough to be a problem. Most of the danger came from breathing the heavy concentrations of radon gas down in the mines. Once that was found to be a problem they started requiring mines to have airflow to move the radon out.
I talk about it at the end of the video. It’s the Radiacode 102. There’s a link to the site in the video’s description. I have the detector connected to a smart phone so it can show me that interface.
While the levels aren't anything crazy, it's funny how places like Japan and Ukraine will limit access to even lower-level pollution zones (10 microSV/h) while the US allows literally anyone to walk up and touch raw uranium ore if they want. Just a little, as a treat.
Appreciate the videos, you've earned a sub and I hope you keep them coming for a long time!
Would one get radiation poisoning from touching it?
@@essentials1016 You'd need to be exposed for a fairly long time in order to suffer proper radiation poisoning, though uranium dust from those mines is also a concern as it can stick to your body and clothes which would increase exposure times drastically. There's also the chance of inhaling it which is fairly dangerous as well.
Uranium ore isn’t dangerous. Maybe if you were taking handfuls and eating it…yeah, that wouldn’t be good. Uranium deposits are everywhere and it would be close to impossible closing down all those areas.
Thanks for the sub.
It's sad, everyone deserves a little uranium as a treat.
@ZachCarr1991 uranium is much easier to find than most people realize. You can find it in the ground, in antique shops and extract it from sea water.
I’m glad they put bat gates on the mines so we can have radioactive bats.
The uranium mineralization is localized in the various channel scours of the basal Triassic Chinle formation. A well-known source of uranium in the Colorado Plateau.
Found this Channel a week ago, absolutely love the quality of these videos, and the history of them. 10/10 keep it up.
Sorry, leftist safety culture and lawyers are in control. They know what’s best for us. Right?
Glad you found the channel.
I see a video from Radioactive Drew and I immediately watch.
I’m glad you’re such a fan.
least they put those signs in there so the bats know it's radioactive too
This is my new favorite channel. Former National Park Ranger here and huge rockhound/radiation nerd.
Your videos are stellar. You would have made a great interpretive Ranger yourself. A natural. I tried applying at Manhattan Project NHS here in Oak Ridge, TN to no avail. Now I am going for Computer Science at the local college so we can afford to move back out west where I left my heart 4 years ago… i miss all of the years of rockhounding in east UT and west CO.
Utah and Colorado have some of the best rock hounding spots. Especially for fossils and radioactive rocks.
I was waiting for this one! I live pretty close to Capital Reef and I've spent a decent amount of time checking out this site
I just found this channel a few days ago. I love it so much. Radiation history/science is niche interest of mine so I’m glad there’s a whole channel dedicated to it.
It’s a subject that I find super interesting. Being able to see an unseen world is eye opening.
What an amazing looking place , looks like the set from 1960s startrek series :)
Best radiation hunt channel of youtube.
Love your adventures throughout the west .
We used to ride our dirt bikes all over where you been . But didn’t know about this
Now I’m old guy still loving geology and enthuse more about radioactive material ore and useful electronics. Would love to discuss more with you .
Thank you for the vast info you provide on your
Excursions . Thumbs up!
Just purchased a Radacode 102 to add to my arsenal
Utah is such an amazing place to adventure. So much history…human history and prehistoric.
Just found your channel and man you are a legend ! Fking love your video
Thanks so much. Every time I see someone willing to financially help this channel make videos it really makes me happy. Again, thank you so much.
I love this, I really want to visit a spot like this someday. Also love the shots and sound quality, it's really immersive and calming.
Thanks. Glad you like it.
Woah the video I watched right before this was your adrenaline one and here ya are lmao
@@noodlelynoodle. You have great taste
@@Chemiolis you do too it seems, love your videos and the shade you keep throwing at Tom from explosions and fire and that chemist lol I saw that chemist trying to stir up drama in one of his community posts about if you were trustworthy and feeling like you need to get stuff you make tested the other day so it especially cracked me up that you brought him up alongside Tom this time cause part of me feels like he's incredibly overconfident in himself whereas even when you're throwing the jokes about showing them how it's done around it doesn't feel overconfident it feels like you just know your skill level better lol that's why I love Tom too cause he never claims to be super great at this stuff he just does it cause it's fun lol
@@noodlelynoodle. Hahaha don't worry about any drama, me and TC are friends! He paid the cost for analysis of some of my products and he will make a video on it.
I so wish I lived closer to one of the 70mm IMAX theaters showing Oppenheimer. Very cool that those two parts of your life have intersected right now!
It’s very interesting that those two parts have come together in this point in time.
Hello Drew. There are so many things I want to compliment you on and a couple of questions that have been pressing on my mind. It would mean so much to me if you would take a couple of seconds to read my comment. I wanted to start off by saying that I find what you are doing to be extraordinary beneficial to countering the wast amount of misinformation that exists about radioactivity and things that are radioactive. I personally believe that, especially in these days, there is a high amount of misinformation that is circulation around revolving radiation that causes a lot of unnecessary fear and discomfort. I think that these videos show that radiation can be safe, and in many cases, fun when understood correctly and managed safely.
I originally was looking for Geiger counters to buy when I came across your video explaining on the benefits of certain Geiger counters over others. You in turn convinced me that the GQ gmc-320 was the best option for me and also introduced me to the wide world of dosimetry.
Over the next couple of months, I would add a few more Geiger counters to my collection and soon realised that I wanted to be serious about this.
It was then that I decided I wanted a Radeye B20-er and began on my quest to obtain one. The process took a while, but I was able to obtain one for a extremely good price and as I am writing this, I am just a few days from shipping it to Thermo Fisher to be serviced and calibrated.
Now, when it first arrived, I played around with it for a while and noticed that I could figure out how to change the units that it was reading in. I was wondering if you could provide me any insights on that as this is completely new to me.
Along with that, I was wondering if you knew any tips or tricks for the Radeye as I can assume that the B20-er and the B20 are very similar.
If you have made your way to the end of this, then I want to thank you very much for giving me the time and making some of the most amazing and educational videos there are about radiation. I hope that you have a wonderful day and keep up the amazing, high quality work. Thank you for your time.
Also, here’s a video of everything not do do with radiation where bionerd23 finds an old Chernobyl fuel pellet fragment at over 100mSv/h. th-cam.com/video/ejZyDvtX85Y/w-d-xo.html.
Another good one; got caught up on the end of the video with that blue green "box" in the background. Hoping this is in your home state. Need some clackety clack sound efx.
Your brilliant keep up the brilliant video only just started watching today and I already love your Chanel keep up the amazing work
Glad you found the channel.
I got myself a Radiacode 102 and I love it keep up the awesome videos Drew 😃
I will…hopefully you enjoy using the 102. I carry mine around all the time.
Thanks Drew!
No problem.
Great job, enjoy seeing the many old mines and the beautiful surroundings.
That was an awesome video! You are brave climbing up and down from the nines with a camera in your hand!
That area is really beautiful and the geology of the rocks is neat! Those lower nines have a lot of radioactivity outside the bat gates! It's pretty amazing! Thanks for sharing Drew! Can't wait for the Oppenheimer video!
I’m working on the edit for that Oppenheimer video while I’m running the 70mm film. So it’s slow going because I check the film all the time and have my favorite parts I like to watch. But hopefully the video will be ready by the end of the week.
Fascinating video, beautiful photography as always. I had to hold onto my chair as you were descending. Looking forward to your 70mm/Oppenheimer video.
I’m glad I could capture that level of suspense.
What is the bag you are using? I'm always looking for a good bag to carry when I explore. Thank you for your wonderful videos.
Here's the bag I bought. amzn.to/4baBW62
If you find a horizontal adit near Moab with a petrified tree you had to climb over to reach the back of the mine..LOL
I was six years old at the time and would camp with my dad and cousin in the summer..found fossils all over the place in the slot canyons.
We would picnic at Arches Monument when it took a jeep to get to the cavern..watch out for rattlesnakes under the eock slabs in back...LOL
I usually find petrified wood around uranium mines. Sometimes other types of fossils are around.
Another great video Drew! You be safe out there and try not to fall off any cliffs!
Always a good day Radioactive Drew drops a new video!
Glad you think so.
Thanks Drew! Speaking of Oppenheimer, I did something you would get a chuckle out of. I took my piece of Trinitite to see Oppenheimer. Wanted to help it celebrate its birthday & let it see a movie about how it was born!!
Hahaha…sounds like a good field trip for your trinitite.
Epic how you film this in 4K, quality is great thanks for uploading. Haven't seen content like this since BioNerd !
Glad you like it.
That's some spicy rock at the 2nd entrance you checked out.
Am I the only one that would totally like a sample of the rocks around video marker 3:10? That would be so awesome!
I bought a Radiacode 102 on your recommendation, perhaps before they were sponsoring videos. I've had the chance to use it in the field and it's great!
Awesome! :D I recently bought a gmc-300s, and I found some uranium glass in an antique shop.
Always enjoy your videos man!! Thanks again for sharing! 👍
No problem. Thanks for watching.
Nice little Uraninite patch there.
Sick video, really glad I found your channel Drew!
UTAH,,LOOK DOWN IN INDIAN CREEK/ROAD TO CANYONLANDS...NEVER SEEN RADION SIGNS BUT LOTS SUDAMS YELLOW CAKE AND MINES..THANK YOU
I’ll have to check it out.
What killed the uranium mining in Utah was it was all low grade. We get better stuff out of Australia.
The nuclear disarmament treaty between Russia and the U.S. created a supply of enriched Uranium that came from the disassembled missiles.
And Canada 😉
Even the dirt in Australia is trying to kill people.
@@mikestewart4752 I never heard much about Canada. I can take you places in Utah where there mining claims every 200 yards that are under claim by the Australians.
@@robdgonz LOL!
This might be my favorite of all your videos. Something about the magic of the music (even if you're huffing & puffing a little) and that little "dental x-ray" chunk next to the 2nd door. It also makes me wonder if the bats that roost there have dvp'd resistance to radiation over generations.
I don’t think they have developed a resistance to radiation. It’s more they don’t live long enough for it to effect them and the radiation isn’t that high. Glad to liked the video. I huff and buff because it’s hard work.
Decently Radioactive --- Love this content.
Thanks...I'm glad.
I'd like to see you go back to a mine you can actually get inside. I know they can be dangerous and tricky to find, but I enjoy living vicariously through you. :)
I have plans to visit some I can go inside.
The fall hazard is definitely a higher risk than the radiation dose.
Definitely one of the hottest places he’s visited not even close to it and it’s screams…
It’s a river of radiation flowing out of there
@@pazsion sounds like it's moderately warm but pretty low radiation actually compared to some of the other areas he's gone, even pressed right up onto the rocks at the entrance of the mine it was only 62k cpm and he's been places where the rocks are off the scale which I believe goes to 500k cpm on that detector, the equivalent of half a dental x-ray an hour is pretty light even the worst area of 14/hour really isn't that much and that's such a tiny space that if you're a few feet away you're fine
Well my Radeye B20 goes up to 2 mSv/hr, which is about 400 dental X-rays.
Hello Drew, great video as always. Could you explain what is the difference between CPM and standard radiation measure units, like uSv? How many "counts per minute" are actually dangerous?
I’m planning on doing a video about this very subject.
@@RadioactiveDrewI grew up in the 80s and due to the Cold War, they taught us about doses in rad and rem. Very outdated!
Rem is still used in the nuclear industry for their dose rates.
@@fredharvey2720there’s a lot of units used for radiation that aren’t all interchangeable. Gray and rad are not measuring the same thing as sieverts and rem, which are not measuring the same thing as CPM, becquerels, and curies.
@@evanjohnson8418 That confuses me
Forgot to say that it really blew my mind when you got a higher radiation reading out in the dirt road in front of the mine, than you did at the actual mine as well!!! You've got WAY more balls than I do!!
It sounds scary but it’s not that bad.
The radiation made them bigger. 😂
Great video, I always wanted to see a mine. Thanks.
No problem, glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you Drew, great video of an interesting area. I enjoyed your video and information. I would like to borrow your tella-port transport device.
I wish I could use my teleport device a bit more. Would make things much easier.
I'm literally resarching for new uranium mines rn and you upload a video xD
How was the stuff mined? Was it high enough of a dose that workers had to work in short shifts and swap out?
Edit: oops, commented to soon. I see you answered later. I’m only 4min into vid.
thanks for the interesting videos. did the gamma spectroscopy came with the radiacode 102? Which elements did it show at the mine? Thanks.
Gamma spectroscopy is built into the Radiacode 102. You can run it and get a rough spectrum with just the detector. But to really identify anything you need to get that spectrum into a computer or in the smartphone app. It showed the decay products for uranium, there are a bunch of them that get identified.
@@RadioactiveDrew Thanks for the reply. I have Radex Obsidian bought before the Ukraine invasion. It is also a scintillation detector may be by the same company.
Radex is a different company than the Radiacode 102.
Do you have any history or photos of the Rio Agum Lisbon Valley mine? My dad and mom's cousin struck that claim in 1952...ran 24/7 for years with refinery at the site..250 employees lost their jobs when it closed and buried..
.
I don’t know that mine. Unless it was in one of my videos under a different name.
My favorite part of my favorite state.
@RadioactiveDrew, I'm going to be driving back west on i70 in a month, any relatively easy uranium mines and camping in the Moab region you might recommend? I won't be in a 4x4, but I don't mine driving on dirt/gravel.
Capitol Reef National Park has the Oyler Uranium Mines in the park. Those might be the easiest to drive up to with a very short walk. They are bared up but you can look inside and they are fairly radioactive from the outside. Just saw that this comment was on a video about those mines. In the Moab area you could go to the UMTRA site right when you get into Moab from the West. I did a video about it. Its a mine tailings site that is being cleaned up. But you can detect additional radiation from the fence. As far as a uranium mine close to the road...I don't know of any.
@@RadioactiveDrew Thanks man, really appreciate it! Also tagged you on a post on Reddit, but this answers my questions nicely :) Might spend a bit more time in the Rockies this time around and maybe check out the oyler mines briefly on my way back home.
another awesome video!
Capital Reef was my favorite park - I didnt know about the mines through.
It’s right by the Grand Wash.
@@RadioactiveDrew my family loved visiting capitol reef many years ago. tree-ripened apricots were a highlight of the trip. I think we hiked the grand wash trail, but were not aware of the mines.
The Oyler mines are right at the beginning of the road heading out to the Grand Wash.
My father and my moms cousin staked the claim to what later became The Rio Algum Lisbon Valley mine near Moab
17 years 24/7 until prices dropped. 250 employees lost their jobs when itt shut down
Refinery for the Western slope of the Rockies built at that site.
At six years old I would camp with my dad when he was doing small deposits.
My dad in 1962 said the Lisbon valley claim would never amount to anything and gave it to my moms cousin..LOL
An attorney in Denver ended up getting the royalties.
I visited the mine when it was shutting down..one guy in the office complex doing paperwork for the EPA and tending the dewatering pumps.
The offices, shop and headframe were still in place.
All that is visible now is three small lakes.
As a six year old I loved camping and exploring the desert around the small mines...I'm 77 now...
Really enjoy the style of your videos and your enthusiasm. I need to move out west to explore, so intriguing to me. This is the place that redefined the world that it is today, for better or for worse. I think our country could be more constructive with this than produce things destructive…just a thought.
I agree. Atomic weapons are horrific. But we never know when something like that might save humanity. Kind of have to take the good with the bad.
@@RadioactiveDrew completely agree sir…a gold mine of energy, if not many other things undiscovered. I hope you have, or are planning on seeing Oppenheimer in a theater…working on doing that very soon here
I’ve seen the movie 20 or so times now, with about 60 or more times to see it. I’m the projectionist for the 70mm film version at a location.
Wow! When I drove through Capitol Reef I had no idea! :O I wonder how the miners got up to the mine with their equipment.
I’m sure they had more of a trail cut to get up there that has eroded over the years. But I think the lower mines were the ones that got all the action.
Pure quality history!!
Thanks for risking your neck so we didn't have to. Very interesting discovery about the 70 mSvrts/hr rock.
That was 70 uSv/hr. Much different from mSv/hr. 70 mSv/hr would be 70,000 uSv/hr
Thanks Drew, how radioactive is the Colorado river, have you made a video on it?
Not yet. I want to do a video about general contamination of ground water and how it’s a natural thing that happens. Also the steps that municipal water services take to mitigate that natural contamination.
Having worked for the City of West Chicago for thirty years and the Thorium clean up project from the KerrMagee factory it would be very interesting. I seldom drank the water there.
@@RadioactiveDrew
@terrybreen3331 now that would be interesting. I’ll have to look into this.
they loaded it into train cars and shipped it out west.@@RadioactiveDrew
I got a rock producing 300 uSv/h of gamma only should I be worried ? Its well contained but still get some X-ray and gamma going through shielding
I wouldn’t worry about it. But it also depends on how close you are to it all the time.
Beautiful park!
This might be a dumb question that I could probably find the answer to by Googling. But are there any active uranium mines around the U.S.? Or have they all pretty much been shutdown?
I don’t think there are any that are being actively mined at the moment. But I could be wrong.
Thanks man
Have you ever been in one thats still operating? Ive had the opportunity to work in a few, all surface though.
I haven’t been in a working uranium mine yet. I would love to make a video on one. I know Canada has some pretty active uranium mines.
I just got myself a radiacode 102. It's pretty cool. Have you ever been to any radioactive places in southern Louisiana?
I haven’t had a chance to explore Louisiana…but I want to.
Cool stuff as usual! In my opinion it would be beneficial to start mining the uranium again we could really use some safe nuclear power to help boost our electric grid’s.
I agree. I know there are mining companies standing by waiting for the price of uranium to go up for them to start mining again.
Just what we need with all the other problems the World faces. Radioactive bats! 🦇 ☢️
Thank you, really enjoyed your video 😀
Glad you enjoy them.
Just curious, could you do a video explaining generally how uranium is deposited into rocks? Just mainly interested in why certain sedimentary rock is radioactive.
I would like to do a video about that.
When you don’t hear counts but a flat line you know it’s serious or your in trouble
Question... I had a Vietnam Era military compass painted with radium stored in a plastic container near my bed for over a decade. How dangerous would this be in retrospect for my health? I am quite worried about the radiation from my research.... very worried in fact. My grandfather gave this to me not knowing it was painted with radium. Should I be concerned? Thanks
To be honest you should be fine. Radium can give off a decent amount of gamma radiation. But usually radium is a problem when it’s ingested. If you were carrying it around in your pocket for a years and years I would be a little concerned.
Thank you. Radon gas is one thing, but I was and am still worried about the gamma radiation I was exposed to. Especially being that this thing was under my bed in a container for years and then stored on a shelf in my room for even longer. What are your thoughts on the level of exposure from gamma, and health risk from both radon gas and gamma radiation, from this compass?
Well the easiest way to know how much radiation you were exposed to is to measure it. Get a sensitive enough Geiger counter or scintillation detector. Put the compass back under the bed in the same way it’s been stored and take a measurement. Then you could figure out how much extra radiation you were getting, if any. A good detector to look at would be the Better Geiger or the Radiacode 102. The first one is about $130 and it’s great for the price.
@@RadioactiveDrew that would be a great idea. Unfortunately, the compass was thrown out. Without knowing the exact measurements, is there any way to determine risk to any degree? Understanding how this element works, would I have been exposed to an amount of radiation that would increase risk of cancer or other health issues in your opinion?
My opinion is that if you do end up getting some type of cancer in life it won’t be from that compass. Usually cancer from radiation comes from high doses…usually. A good way to think about radiation is that it gets exponentially stronger the closer you get to an object or point source of radiation. So it being maybe 3 feet from you with material between you and it…I think you should be okay. Of course I’m not a doctor. If your worried get check out and let them know your concerns.
Big question how dangerous is the counts nearby the mines if not right on top of the mines
I’ve always wanted to know / calculate the dose rate per HOUR on a dental xray. We know how much you get, yes…but what is the shutter speed?? See what I am saying or getting at? If I knew the shutter speed, I could calculate what it would be as if the shutter was left open for an hour. Food for thought. Awesome video Drew, thanks for posting. I actually just sold my SEI Rad Alert Ranger (super nice unit though) - I want something with a higher range for a “bad situation meter” I don’t think a max of 1,000 micro sieverts is going to be useful in a bad situation. A lot of these survey meters have a max of 1,0000 micro sieverts. Looking at the gmc-500plus, it has a high range of 47,000 micro or 47 mili sieverts. Which would be more useful as a “bad situation” survey meter. They are tools, and there is not a “do it all” model available really, I plan on having two. One with high sensitivity, like s radiacode 101 and one with a higher range (possibly the 500plus or something else)
A good high level meter would be a Ludlum Model 14C. It has an internal high range detector. I think it might go up to 20 mSv/hr. They pop up on ebay every once in a while. I also have my Radiacode 102 running in my pocket at the time. I've already found a couple things that I didn't know were radioactive.
You spend a lot of time at abandoned mines. I would be interested in seeing a video about how modern uranium mining is done. Any mining company that has seen your videos will know that you're not hostile to the industry.
That would be a fun video to do.
@@RadioactiveDrewToo bad the White House decided today to end uranium mining in the USA. No problem... I'm sure our Russian friends will sell us all we want.
Question: Do you ever worry about dose over time with effects on your health?
Never. The doses I’m exposed to aren’t enough to cause me serious harm.
@@RadioactiveDrew Thanks for answering. I was just curious about that. I’m not that knowledgeable on radiation doses.
Just so happened to find your channel a few minutes ago and saw this video was just uploaded, which is super cool. Quick question, how do you protect yourself against the radiation you expose yourself to in these videos? The Geiger counter screaming at you while your arms are exposed with just a t-shirt kinda freaks me out haha. Is the radiation more insignificant than I'm thinking it is? Anywho, your channel is really interesting!
SAME!
Drew's last video was a masterpiece.
Probably far less dangerous than you assumed.
That is a fairly sensitive radiation counter.
Thanks to the anti-nuke idiots and a media industry dedicated to alarmist scare stories about everything, most people have a very distorted view of the hazards of radiation.
Unless you have a ten ton lead lined exoskeleton, there's nothing that's going to stop the gamma rays from going right through you.
The only way to really protect yourself against radiation like this is with time and distance. As long as you don’t spend a lot of time there it will have no effect on you. It’s also not very intense even though my Geiger counter is screaming in certain parts. When my detector reaches its upper limit of 500,000 CPM…then I start getting concerned.
Kudos to having to climb that one mine twice
I don’t mind putting in the work for these videos.
Crazy they use to glaze bowls and plates with uranium.
Plus you can still find those items pretty easily.
Radiation doesn't worry me and bats don't worry me... but radioactive bats do worry me! 🦇☢🤣
I know you've done this a couple of times, would you mind in your next video going over how much radiation is too much ?
Thanks! Keep the videos coming.😊
Lots of people have been asking for this and I plan to do a video talking about radioactivity and dose rates. I figured it would be good for people to have a baseline as to what is dangerous.
@RadioactiveDrew Thank you!
Were you there overnight and check the UV?
I've been out there at night with a UV light and didn't see glowing like what I've seen at other sites. There might have been some areas with a very slight glow but nothing that stands out.
Amazing!!
Forgive me if this is a rude question (yes, I could search myself), I'm interested in your videos of UV active and radioactive minerals. Which areas do they occur in and/or titles of your videos? TIA
What does the Radeye do that the Radiacode doesn't and/or visa versa?
The Radeye B20 can detect alpha, beta and gamma radiation. The Radiacode 102 is mainly used for gamma radiation and gamma spectroscopy.
@@RadioactiveDrew copy.....thank you sir.
Have you been to Pima's Titan Missile Museum?
Not yet…but I want to go.
how come radiation increases at 2:06 ? i thought alpha and beta particles only travelled a few feet. and i dont think uranium puts off than many gamma rays.
Well uranium ore can put off a lot of gamma radiation. It’s because of the decay products inside of uranium. Radium and the isotopes that come after can emit a lot of gamma radiation.
@@RadioactiveDrew ah that makes a lot more sense. thank you!
Wonder how much radon is coming out of those holes?
I'm sure some but nothing to worry about.
From Australia, nice video, and the US does look a nice place there. Unfortunately we have a lot of bed wetters scared of nuclear power so guess we just mine it for Uncle Sam and other friends.
Your videos are super interesting, just subbed. Would you not be concerned about breathing in rock dust at that place though? I'm sure you know what you're doing, and honestly; the apparent riskiness is part of the appeal of your channel anyway. That and your able cinematography.
Thanks for the sub. I’m not very concerned about the dust in that area. If I was in a mine and kicking up a bunch of dust I would be much more concerned about that. Most mines aren’t very dusty in my experience.
What geological signs would they look for back in the 40s to determine where to mine? Cool video as Always 👍
They would look for yellow carnotite and there are some plants that grow near uranium deposits. Wooly Milk Veltch is something uranium miners in Temple Mountain would look for. Also if you find an area with a bunch of petrified wood that would also be a good place to check.
@@RadioactiveDrew Very interesting & informative, Thanks Drew👍
No problem. Glad you enjoyed it.
why do you have that yellow counter when you have a Radiacode 102?
Because they detect different types of radiation. The yellow one, Radeye B20, can detect alpha, beta and gamma. The Radiacode 102 is very sensitive to gamma radiation and can do gamma spectroscopy. So it’s more of a different tools for different jobs. Plus the Radiacode can make a radiation map using GPS coordinates from a phone it’s connected to.
My wife asked me a really good question yesterday about these uranium mines. Wondered how the workers protected themselves from the radiation while mining these deposits out? I know things back in the day with safety was non existent in most industrial work environments compared to todays work safety standards.
Any help with this would be appreciated.
The radiation in most cases isn’t intense enough to be a problem. Most of the danger came from breathing the heavy concentrations of radon gas down in the mines. Once that was found to be a problem they started requiring mines to have airflow to move the radon out.
Where did you find that music?
Musicbed.
How is a bat abel to live i radioactiv cave without getting sick? I dont think 2 dental xrays pr hour 24/7 sounds healty.
What does the national parks department mean saying it's gotta pocket of uranium
Where did they say that?
Cool.
So the bats are radioactive.
Anyone know which radiation detector he's using that has a program that will calculate which isotopes he's encountering?
I talk about it at the end of the video. It’s the Radiacode 102. There’s a link to the site in the video’s description. I have the detector connected to a smart phone so it can show me that interface.
How do this uranium mineral deposits form in the sandstone?
I believe they formed from ground water that carried dissolved uranium minerals.
I wonder if the radiation effects the bats at all
I doubt it. They don’t live long enough and the radiation isn’t strong enough.