Precious and semi-precious stones are at risk from radiation. Stones and minerals

Refining stones with radioactive irradiation is a method of improving their external characteristics, which the average consumer, unfortunately, knows little or is not aware of at all. The method is effective, but extremely dangerous for the health of the person who will wear these radioactive stones.

Why are radioactive stones dangerous?

Signs of previous irradiation include not only an unusually bright color of the stone, but also a color that is not entirely characteristic of it, and a strange pattern. This does not always mean that the mineral was irradiated uncontrollably, but it is worth being wary. For example, relatively small pale pink morganites (one of the varieties of beryl) can be enriched with microdoses of compounds of the radioactive element cesium. Moreover, their level of radioactivity usually does not exceed 0.19-0.24 µSv/h or 19-24 µR/h.

But, if you see margonite in front of you too big size and unusually bright color, there is a high probability that this is a radioactive stone hazardous to health, since uncontrolled irradiation methods were used during its processing.

Normally, the exposure dose of ionizing radiation near a stone should not exceed the natural radiation background of the area in which you are located. Usually this is no more than 0.10 -0.25 μSv/h or 10 - 25 μR/h. A level of radioactivity in a mineral exceeding 0.3 μSv/h or 30 μR/h is considered dangerous. Such stones cannot only be worn on the body, but also kept in the house or office. In contact with the skin for a long time, they can cause serious deterioration in health, including the formation of cancerous tumors in organs located near the point of contact.

Naturally radioactive stones

Most non-irradiated stones and minerals are safe for humans. But there are specimens with increased radioactivity, which are dangerous to your health if you keep them with you or wear them on your body. In particular, these include:

Celestine (strontium sulfate). It is more often found on sale in the form of interior decorations rather than jewelry.
Zircon (zirconium silicate). You should not purchase this stone on the black market or in a store with a dubious reputation unless you have a radiation dosimeter with you.
Heliodor (a type of beryl). The darker and larger the stone, the higher the likelihood of danger emanating from it.

The level of radioactivity of these minerals does not always exceed the norm, but it does not hurt to check the purchased samples with a dosimeter.

Measuring the radioactivity of stones as a method of protection

Sellers of jewelry with radioactive stones do not always intentionally deceive buyers. Often they are not aware of the danger that comes from such a product. Even being aware that the mineral was irradiated, many remain completely unaware of the consequences of such refining. Reasons: lack of special knowledge and education, lack of understanding of the very essence of this phenomenon. And how can you prove that the product you are buying is dangerous to wear?

It is truly impossible to do this without special devices. That is why many jewelers and craftsmen who work with stones always carry a portable radiation dosimeter with them. It helps to measure the dose rate of ionizing radiation near the object of interest. In this case - in close proximity to the decorative stone.

This is how they work with a dosimeter. First, the radiation background of the room is measured at a distance from the intended source of radiation. It is advisable to take measurements in several places and calculate average. Then they begin to check the dose rate of the radiation that comes from the stones. If their level of radioactivity matches the background, then everything is fine. If there is a steady increase in the level of the natural background of the room, you should get rid of the stone immediately.

Which dosimeter is best to use to check the radiation safety of a stone?

It is most wise to use a dosimeter at the purchase stage, so as not to bring into the house ornamental raw materials or decorations that are hazardous to health. The optimal device for these purposes is a miniature radiation dosimeter RADEX ONE. The SBM-20 sensor installed in it detects beta and gamma radiation, taking into account x-ray radiation. The device is comparable in size and weight to a regular highlighter marker, so it will even fit in your pocket.

It’s even better to take a dosimeter to check RADEX RD1008, which also senses alpha radiation. Its dimensions are larger, but it will help identify stones irradiated not only in X-ray installations, but also in a nuclear reactor. The same dosimeters are suitable for measuring the level of radioactivity of previously purchased stones.

When buying jewelry, we rarely think about the fact that it can be deadly. Indeed, what could be hidden in a transparent crystal or gold chain? It's radiation! She cannot be seen, heard, felt, but she is capable of killing slowly and mercilessly. A modern technologies stone processing greatly contributes to this.

Refining stones in nuclear reactors

The radioactive method of refining precious and semi-precious stones is currently very popular. It is carried out by irradiating minerals in a nuclear reactor fueled by uranium or plutonium. This processing method is usually hidden from the consumer, despite the fact that it is very dangerous to human health. The stones obtained as a result of such “processing” in the reactor are too expensive. They acquire an unusual bright color and look incredibly beautiful, which is why they are more expensive than their environmentally friendly counterparts. If you are very lucky, they will casually tell you that the mineral has been irradiated, but you are unlikely to pay any attention to this, and the seller may not know all the intricacies of processing. By wearing jewelry with stones treated with radiation every day, you are putting your health at great risk.

After nuclear treatment, this piece of diamond would be worth millions of dollars due to its absolute clarity and extraordinary brilliance.

As a rule, agates, carnelians, diamonds, topazes, tourmalines, a number of beryls and other minerals are exposed to radioactive irradiation. One of the signs of irradiation is an unusual, fascinating, too bright or uncharacteristic color for the mineral, but this does not always happen.

The radioactivity of irradiated stones is always higher than the natural background radiation. That is why many “traditional healers” assign them magical properties, recommending treatment for many diseases. However, being a weak source of radiation, such jewelry can only cause harm.

As a rule, the irradiation process occurs completely uncontrollably in nuclear reactors in third world countries. No one cares whether radioactive elements or unstable particles remain in the stone, or in what quantity they got inside. With such processing, no one checks the safety of minerals for human health. Indeed, nuclear upgrading brings in a lot of money!

The photo below shows a sample of agate from South America. Judging by the peculiarities of the coloring, it was X-ray irradiation and bombardment with elementary particles that gave it its beautiful iridescence. This method can add interesting color to even faded and colorless stones. The pursuit of huge profits often leads to violations of mineral irradiation technology; moreover, in many countries there is simply no control over such products. However, given the scale of smuggling, there is no need to say that customs barriers can protect Russians from radioactive stones.

Agate pendant from South America, processed in a nuclear reactor

What can such decorations lead to? Radioactive carnelian or agate, even very beautiful ones, playing with all the colors of the rainbow, worn as a pendant, can cause breast or skin cancer, malignant degeneration of birthmarks and moles into sarcoma. Plain agate or tinted with ordinary dyes is safe.
High natural radiation level of the stone

Danger can arise from wearing on your chest a radioactive piece of granite or basalt, as well as any mineral mined near rocks containing uranium, layers with a high radioactive background, near nuclear waste burial sites, etc., and such places on earth, to unfortunately, quite a lot.

Heavy radioactive elements are often found in ornamental stones such as charoite, evidalite, and some Ural gems. Celestite (pale blue crystal) is a strontium salt that is always radioactive. The half-life of strontium is about 1500 years.

Pieces of radioactive minerals can be found not only in jewelry; they are often found in ordinary crushed stone, which is sprinkled on paths, streets, and railway embankments. They are, of course, safe there, but if they end up in your yard or within the walls of your house in large quantities, they can cause radiation sickness. This is why you should always check the safety of minerals using a household portable dosimeter.

Many crystals have high natural levels of radioactivity and should not be used in jewelry.
Gold and stones from Chernobyl

In addition to the illegal irradiation of stones, scandals about radioactive gold and jewelry periodically flare up in the jewelry industry. When a nuclear reactor exploded in Chernobyl, the population within a radius of more than 30 km was hastily evacuated. People took with them the most valuable things: gold and Jewelry. Due to safety regulations, everything that was taken out of the danger zone had to be destroyed, but it is reliably known that many gold, silver jewelry and stones contaminated with radiation were “distributed” to resellers and ended up in the boxes of residents of the Soviet Union. Many of the jewelry were melted down, which is quite often used in the jewelry industry, so no one knows for sure how many tons of radioactive gold and stones are moving around the country. If you have jewelry that you inherited from your mother or grandmother, I strongly recommend checking it with a portable dosimeter.

Many decorations from Chernobyl were not destroyed, as required by the instructions, and still lie in the boxes of unsuspecting citizens.
X-ray treatment of stones

Another popular method of refining stones is X-ray radiation. This method is known and widely used in the CIS countries. It is more affordable than using a nuclear reactor, but X-rays can also make the stone radioactive. Unfortunately, this process of refining minerals is also carried out uncontrollably. You should pay attention to too dark or saturated blue topazes, too violet amethysts. Most likely, they have been x-rayed, and it is better to refrain from purchasing them.

We all know about such radioactive isotopes of uranium and plutonium, and, and. Many of them are specifically created for medical and scientific use. However, often our acquaintance with them goes unnoticed and at the same time sad for us and our health. Not all of us know how to protect ourselves from radiation at home, but even our favorite jewelry can be a source of radiation.

Charoite. Why is this stone dangerous?

Charoite is a completely harmless mineral. The ornamental stone has many shades of purple and is often used in the manufacture of rings, bracelets and other inexpensive jewelry. The danger in this case is represented by inclusions of thorium and uranium, which often accompany charoite deposits. Sometimes they can even be seen by black and dark inclusions on the stones. As a result, prolonged exposure to wearing such radioactive stones has detrimental effects on health. Therefore, responsible manufacturers test the raw materials used in the production of jewelry for radioactivity. At the same time, there are a great many minerals that do not contain radioactive impurities. The list and photos of semi-precious stones of this type are very wide and include such popular ones as sapphires, emeralds, topazes and others.

Radioactive refining of precious stones

In addition to "natural radiation" modern science prepared another surprise for us. Radioactive refining of precious and semi-precious stones, which improves the color of the mineral, is carried out using powerful radioactive isotope accelerators. And even though the dose emitted by such a mineral is small, wearing such jewelry for a long time, as a rule, affects human health.

The higher the concentration of natural radioactive elements in the families of uranium, thorium, and potassium-40, the higher the radioactivity of rocks and ores. Based on radioactivity (radiological properties), rock-forming minerals are divided into four groups.

The minerals that are most radioactive are uranium (primary - uranite, pitchblende, secondary - carbonates, phosphates, uranyl sulfates, etc.), thorium (thorianite, thorite, monazite, etc.), as well as elements of the uranium family, thorium, etc., which are in a dispersed state .

Widespread minerals containing potassium-40 (feldspars, potassium salts) are characterized by high radioactivity.

Minerals such as magnetite, limonite, sulfides, etc. have moderate radioactivity.

Quartz, calcite, gypsum, rock salt, etc. have low radioactivity.

In this classification, the radioactivity of neighboring groups increases by approximately an order of magnitude.

The radioactivity of rocks is determined primarily by the radioactivity of rock-forming minerals. Depending on the qualitative and quantitative composition of minerals, conditions of formation, age and degree of metamorphism, their radioactivity varies within very wide limits. The radioactivity of rocks and ores based on the equivalent percentage of uranium is usually divided into the following groups:

almost non-radioactive rocks (U< 10 -5 %);

rocks of average radioactivity (U< 10 -4 %);

highly radioactive rocks and poor ores (U< 10 -3 %);

low-grade radioactive ores (U< 10 -2 %);

ordinary and high-grade radioactive ores (U< 0,1 %).

Practically non-radioactive include sedimentary rocks such as anhydrite, gypsum, rock salt, limestone, dolomite, quartz sand, etc., as well as ultrabasic, basic and intermediate rocks.

Acid igneous rocks are characterized by average radioactivity, and from sedimentary rocks - sandstone, clay and especially fine marine silt, which has the ability to adsorb radioactive elements dissolved in water.

In general, the content of radioactive elements in the hydrosphere and atmosphere is negligible. Groundwater can have different levels of radioactivity. It is especially high in underground waters of radioactive deposits and waters of sulfide-barium and calcium chloride types.

The radioactivity of soil air depends on the amount of emanations of radioactive gases such as radon, thoron, actinon. It is usually expressed by the coefficient of rock emanation (C e), which is the ratio of the number of long-lived emanations released into the rock (mainly radon with the highest T 1/2) to the total number of emanations.

In massive rocks C e = 5 - 10%, in loose fractured rocks C e = 40 - 50%, i.e. C e increases with increasing diffusion coefficient.

In addition to the total concentration of radioactive elements, an important characteristic of the radioactivity of media is the energy spectrum of the radiation or the energy distribution interval. As noted above, the energy of alpha, beta and gamma radiation from each radioactive element is either constant or contained in a certain spectrum. In particular, according to the hardest and most penetrating gamma radiation, each radioactive element is characterized by a certain energy spectrum.

For example, for the uranium-radium series, the maximum energy of gamma radiation does not exceed 1.76 MeV (megaelectron-volt), and the total spectrum is 0.65 MeV; for the thorium series, similar parameters are 2.62 and 1 MeV. The energy of potassium-40 gamma radiation is constant (1.46 MeV).

Thus, by the total intensity of gamma radiation, the presence and concentration of radioactive elements can be assessed, and by analyzing the spectral characteristics (energy spectrum), it is possible to determine the concentration of uranium, thorium or potassium-40 separately.

Or both of these elements; radium minerals - not reliably established. Variety of R. m. belonging to various classes and groups, due to the presence of uranium in tetra- and hexavalent forms, the isomorphism of tetravalent uranium with Th, rare earth elements (TR), Zr and Ca, as well as the isomorphism of thorium with TR of the cerium subgroup.

A distinction is made between radioactive materials, in which uranium (uranium minerals) or thorium (thorium minerals) are present as the main component, and radioactive materials, in which radioactive elements are included as an isomorphic impurity (uranium- and/or thorium-containing minerals). . K r. m does not include minerals containing a mechanical impurity of R. m. (mineral mixtures) or radioactive elements in sorbed form.

Uranium minerals are divided into two groups. One unites U 4+ minerals (always containing some U 6+), represented by uranium oxide - Uraninite UO 2 and its silicate - coffinitite U (SiO 4) 1-x (OH) 4x. Nasturanium (a type of uraninite) and coffinitite are the main industrial minerals of hydrothermal and exogenous uranium deposits; uraninite, in addition, is found in pegmatites (See Pegmatites) and Albitite.

Powdery oxides (uranium black) and uranium hydroxides form significant accumulations in the oxidation zones of various uranium deposits (see Uranium ores). Uranium titanates (Brannerite UTi 2 O 6 and others) are known in pegmatites, as well as in some hydrothermal deposits. The second group combines minerals containing U 6+ - these are hydroxides (becquerelite 3UO 3 ․3H 2 O?, curite 2PbO ․5H 2 O 3 ․5H 2 O), silicates (uranophane Ca (H 2 O) 2 U 2 O 4 ( SiO 4)․3H 2 O, casolite Pb ․H 2 O), phosphates (Otenite Ca 2 2 ․8H 2 O, torbernite Cu 2 2 ․12H 2 O), arsenates (zeinerite Cu 2 2 ․12H 2 O), vanadates (Carnotite K 2 2 ․3H 2 O), molybdates (iriginite), sulfates (uranopilite), carbonates (uranothalite); all of them are common in oxidation zones of uranium deposits.

Thorium minerals - oxide (thorianite ThO 2) and silicate (thorite ThSiO 4) - are less common in nature. They are found as accessory minerals (See Accessory Minerals) in granites, syenites and pegmatites; sometimes form significant concentrations in various placers (see Thorium ores). Uranium- and/or thorium-containing minerals - titanates (Davidite), titanotantalniobates (Samarskite, Columbite, - pyrochlore (See Pyrochlores)), phosphates (Monazite), silicates (Zircon)

mostly dispersed in igneous and sedimentary rocks, causing their natural radioactivity (see Radioactivity of rocks). Only a small part of them (Davidite, monazite) forms significant concentrations and is a source of uranium and thorium. In radium-containing barite, isomorphic substitution of radium for barium is assumed. Many minerals are characterized by a metamict state (see Metamict minerals).

Inclusions of radioactive materials in grains of other minerals are accompanied by halos of radiation damage (pleochroic halos, etc.). A specific feature of R. m. is also the ability to form autoradiograms (see Autoradiography). The accumulation of stable isotopes in the ocean at a constant rate makes it possible to use them to determine the absolute age of geological formations (see Geochronology). Getseva R.V., Savelyeva K.T., Guide to the determination of uranium minerals, M., 1956; Soboleva M.V., Pudevkina I.A., Minerals of Uranium, M., 1957; Thorium, its raw materials, chemistry and technology, M., 1960; Heinrich E.U., Mineralogy and geology of radioactive mineral raw materials, trans. from English, M., 1962; Minerals. Directory, vol. 2, v. 3, M., 1967: the same, vol. 3, century. 1, M., 1972; Buryanova E.Z., Determinant of minerals of uranium and thorium, 2nd ed., M., 1972.

B.V. Brodin.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .

See what “Radioactive minerals” are in other dictionaries:

Chemical elements, all isotopes of which are radioactive. To the number of R. e. belong to Technetium (atomic number 43), Promethium (61), Polonium (84) and all subsequent elements in the periodic table of Mendeleev. By 1975, 25 R.E. were known. Those of them... ...

Minerals are solid natural formations that are part of the rocks of the Earth, the Moon and some other planets, as well as meteorites and asteroids. Minerals, as a rule, are fairly homogeneous crystalline substances with an ordered internal... ... Collier's Encyclopedia

RADIOACTIVE ORES contain minerals of radioactive elements. Highest value have uranium ores... Modern encyclopedia

Big Encyclopedic Dictionary Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Contain minerals of radioactive elements (long-lived radionuclides of the 238U, 235U and 232Th series). See Uranium ores, Thorium ores... Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary

Metamict minerals are minerals whose crystals, while maintaining their original appearance, transform completely or partially from a structurally ordered crystalline to a glass-like amorphous state of matter (metamictization).... ... Wikipedia

Minerals included as permanent entities. components in the composition of rocks. P. m. are among the most common minerals in the earth’s crust. Silicates are of greatest importance, constituting at least 75% of all terrestrial... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

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