Disposal of Old Radioactive Smoke Alarms?

[Carvaged]

Does anyone have any ideas what I should do with this old smoke alarm with Americium 241 in it (ionization chamber type)? I would assume that dumping radioactive waste in the black bin isn't, like, ideal. But there's scarce little I can actually find about what to do with them once their life's over

 

[Puddy_Tat]

try your local council's website - it will have a page or two on recycling.

think i took one to the local recycling centre a while back (although some of these are only open to car owners)

this seems to suggest you can bin them if there's no alternative locally.

 

[Carvaged]

try your local council's website - it will have a page or two on recycling.

think i took one to the local recycling centre a while back (although some of these are only open to car owners)

this seems to suggest you can bin them if there's no alternative locally.

Thanks - I'm gonna email the council and ask them. It's surely hazardous material but strangely not mentioned on their website anywhere.

I saw the website about just dumping it in the black bin but that just seems like a really bad thing to do.

Americium-241 has the same general hazards as other americium isotopes: it is both extremely toxic and radioactive. Although α-particles can be stopped by a sheet of paper, there are serious health concerns for ingestion of α-emitters.

 

[Indeliblelink]

Advice for schools when disposing of radioactive sources used to be put it in an old used paint pot, fill with grout then chuck in general waste.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I imagine Al Qaida has a rolling Blue Peter-style appeal for them

 

[platinumsage]

Bin it, you’d have to be a pro chemist to extract the radioactive bit so it could be inhaled or ingested. No one is going to do that if it’s in a landfill.

 

[dessiato]

If you collect enough you could make a reactor to produce free electricity for the town.

 

[DaveCinzano]

If you collect enough you could make a reactor to produce free electricity for the town compound.

Let's be realistic

 

[dessiato]

Let's be realistic

It was my Sheldon Cooper moment.

 

[quiet guy]

Watch out Scotland looks like someone maybe planning to build their own nuclear fusion reactor.

 

[keybored]

Microwave it for science.