Answer to Question #13661 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Category: Environmental and Background Radiation

The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field:

Q

I have a small wooden jewelry box that I purchased at an outdoor market in Finland about 15 years ago. It was from a small vendor so I don't know if it was handmade or made by a company but I find myself worried that if it was wood harvested in Finland it might contain some "fallout" from Chernobyl. I don't know if I'm being overly worried about having this. A few years ago I checked it with a Geiger counter (halogen-quenched GM tube with a 45 mm window) and I found it to be the same counts per minute as my normal background (33 cpm) so I assume that it isn't really dangerous. But part of me still worries that if I accidently scratch it, material from deeper in the wood would be brought out that might be. Should I be concerned if it externally doesn't measure at all above background? If I should be concerned, is there a way that I can get something like this tested? Are there labs out there that will test an individual's stuff?

A

This question really piqued my curiosity. The bottom line is that your wooden jewelry box is safe from a radiological perspective.

While I could not find any definitive information about potential fallout contamination in Finnish wood due to the Chernobyl accident, there is a significant amount of recent data from the Fukushima accident in Japan. A study of the forests around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant showed that fallout was detected in trees in the area. However, the fallout was concentrated in the bark, not so much in the wood. Even at the highest concentration found in the wood, the radiation dose to an individual living in a room made from contaminated timber was estimated to be only 0.3% of natural background to which we are all exposed. It is not surprising that you did not detect any elevated radiation from the wooden jewelry box. 

One of the major concerns with the trees in the immediate vicinity of the Chernobyl site is the potential for major forest fires that could release to the air the fallout radioactivity that remains in the wood. Trees do contain very low levels of naturally occurring radioactivity that can be released during forest fires. However, the levels of natural radioactivity in wood are not detectable using the Geiger counter. 

With regard to your other question, there are several laboratories that could test your jewelry box for radioactivity but in order to collect an adequate sample, your box would be damaged and it is highly unlikely that fallout radionuclides would be detected. I would not recommend going down that road. You can be assured that your jewelry box is safe to use and enjoy even if it is scratched.

Again, thanks for the question. 

Jan Johnson, PhD, CHP (emeritus)

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