A friend of mine has a newspaper from Chernobyl - is that safe to have in your house?

Question

It is part of a copy of the state-run Pravda newspaper. It was obtained from someone who had been on a visit to Pripyat, Ukraine (probably around 2006-2007) and is dated from the day of the accident (well, the day before - the accident happened in the early hours of the day after it was published). It consists of one sheet (both pages) and is currently displayed in a glass frame.

Would this still have the potential to emit a dangerous level of radiation? What could the effects be.

I would appreciate a balanced, scientific answer - no nuclear scaremongering or political discussions please!

Answer 1

I doubt it would have an significant radiation at this point, if it ever did.

But if I had it, I would check it with a radiation meter, just to be sure.

Check your local high school or college, their physics lab would have a radiation meter, perhaps someone there would check it.

.

Answer 2

Simply put, if the paper was properly quarrantined, then opening it in your house is not a smart idea because it would still emmit some sort of radiation (although, i suspect, not intense enough to be a hazard)!

However, if it had been in the open all this time then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Radioactive radiation would have already escaped as reactive as they tend to be.

Answer 3

It is safe. It can also be easily found in the dark, as it glows.

Answer 4

If this former soviet paper was dated the day before the Chernobyl accident, which occurred on the 26th April 1986 at 1: 23. 44 am, then it may well have been stored indoors when the radio isotopes were released. When reactor number 4 exploded, it released nearly thirty to forty times more radioisotope fall out than the combined effect of the two nuclear weapons dropped on Japan in August 1945.

It is impossible to say whether the old newspaper is contaminated with radioisotopes or not. The glass frame it is contained in will block alpha radiation and reduce beta emissions but not gamma. You could place an unexposed canister of C41 process emulsion (Black and white or colour) film next to the glass frame and leave it for a week. Then take the film for development and see if the film is fogged ‘a la’ Antoine Henri Becquerel (December 15, 1852 ; August 25, 1908) a French physicist and one of the discoverers of radioactivity.

Wikipedia, comments about the released isotopes, '...Like many other releases of radioactivity into the environment, the Chernobyl release was controlled by the physical and chemical properties of the radioactive elements in its core. While plutonium is often perceived as particularly dangerous nuclear fuel by the general population, its effects are almost eclipsed by those of its fission products. Particularly dangerous are highly radioactive compounds that accumulate in the food chain, such as some isotopes of iodine and strontium.



Two reports on the release of radioisotopes from the site were made available, one by the OSTI, and a more detailed report by OECD, both in 1998.  At different times after the accident, different isotopes were responsible for the majority of the external dose. The dose that was calculated is that received from external gamma irradiation for a person standing in the open. The dose to a person in a shelter or the internal dose is harder to estimate.

The release of the radioisotopes from the nuclear fuel was largely controlled by their boiling points, and the majority of the radioactivity present in the core was retained in the reactor.

All of the noble gases, including krypton and xenon, contained within the reactor were released immediately into the atmosphere by the first steam explosion.

About 55% of the radioactive iodine in the reactor was released, as a mixture of vapour, solid particles and as organic iodine compounds.

Caesium and tellurium were released in aerosol form.

Two sizes of particles were released: small particles of 0.3 to 1.5 micrometers (aerodynamic diameter) and large particles of 10 micrometers. The large particles contained about 80% to 90% of the released non-volatile radioisotopes zirconium-95, niobium-95, lanthanum-140, cerium-144 and the transuranic elements, including neptunium, plutonium and the minor actinides), embedded in a uranium oxide matrix.

The IAEA and the former soviets maintain that less than 5% of the fuel was lost due to the explosion.'  

However, this accident occurred 22 years ago and so the rapidly decaying and therefore very active/dangerous isotopes will have lost much of their peak activity as a number of half-lives’ have been passed or approached in the elapsed time.  For example, Caesium-137 has a half-life of 30.17 years.

To summarise - I don't believe that your friend’s old paper is dangerous but it should perhaps be treated with respect as it records the day before one of the world's and, thus, mankind's worst disasters!

Answer 5

If it were contaminated with a radioactive source, it could conceivably still be somewhat hot.  I doubt it.  It's simple to check--just run a geiger counter over it and see if the levels are dangerous.  Even a junior high school physical science lab should have one.

It may turn out that the paper is too weak to do you any damage by irradiating you directly, but could still pose a risk of contamination.  Suppose the glass breaks and gets alpha sources all over your house and they get on your hands and you ingest some.  Even a fairly weak source may be bad if you eat it.  And if you get contamination around your house, you'll have to wash everything very thoroughly and then go around your house with a geiger counter to make sure you cleaned it all up.

Succinct--glass doesn't hold in radiation (maybe blocks a few alphas).  It just keeps in the source of the radioactivity.  Whether or not the paper has been under glass has no bearing whatsoever on the half-lives which determine how long it remains hot.