Meh.
The comments about it being "dangerous if disassembled", the general tone of "this is really important/urgent!" and the follow-up saying that it's more dangerous than a smoke detector because these devices contain "considerably more" Am241, lead me to believe that if they do actually "work in civilian nuclear" (and it's not as an accountant, sysadmin, or janitor) they are trying to milk this for attention, even if they know better.
The source could be the size of a golf ball and it'd be completely harmless if you were more than a few inches away because alpha particles are stopped by an inch or so of air. Thus, alpha sources are only dangerous if ingested/inhaled. Am241 emits a very small amount of weak gamma radiation that isn't really worth mentioning.
They mention risk of dust inside the chamber of the device from self-sputtering. That seems like a non-issue given the likely purity of Am241 used and the fact that Am241 sources (such as those in a smoke detector) are bound in a matrix of another material, so if there's sputtering, a good bit of ti will be the matrix, not the Am241. Even if it wasn't in a matrix, the quantity of any self-sputtered material would still be completely inconsequential. We're talking about single atoms of the source being boinked off at a time here, in a really-not-that-radioactive source.
Given that there are no warnings or markings about there being a radioactive source inside, my guess is that the case is just, well, a case - an outer shell, and the actual instrument is inside the outer shell- and if there are any warnings, they'd be on that instrument, which you would see if you were to open it up.
Everyone really needs to understand that this was a near complete non-issue and that the person who retrieved it exposed themselves (and the people around them) to more risk of injury/death just driving to and from where the source ended up.
This is just some furry doing what furries do best - seek attention.
Edit: the person in question is now referring in other 'toots' to themselves as a "protagonist" in "the story of orphan sources." This fuss was definitely for attention. I'm guessing the wikipedia article already exists...
The comments about it being "dangerous if disassembled", the general tone of "this is really important/urgent!" and the follow-up saying that it's more dangerous than a smoke detector because these devices contain "considerably more" Am241, lead me to believe that if they do actually "work in civilian nuclear" (and it's not as an accountant, sysadmin, or janitor) they are trying to milk this for attention, even if they know better.
The source could be the size of a golf ball and it'd be completely harmless if you were more than a few inches away because alpha particles are stopped by an inch or so of air. Thus, alpha sources are only dangerous if ingested/inhaled. Am241 emits a very small amount of weak gamma radiation that isn't really worth mentioning.
They mention risk of dust inside the chamber of the device from self-sputtering. That seems like a non-issue given the likely purity of Am241 used and the fact that Am241 sources (such as those in a smoke detector) are bound in a matrix of another material, so if there's sputtering, a good bit of ti will be the matrix, not the Am241. Even if it wasn't in a matrix, the quantity of any self-sputtered material would still be completely inconsequential. We're talking about single atoms of the source being boinked off at a time here, in a really-not-that-radioactive source.
Given that there are no warnings or markings about there being a radioactive source inside, my guess is that the case is just, well, a case - an outer shell, and the actual instrument is inside the outer shell- and if there are any warnings, they'd be on that instrument, which you would see if you were to open it up.
Everyone really needs to understand that this was a near complete non-issue and that the person who retrieved it exposed themselves (and the people around them) to more risk of injury/death just driving to and from where the source ended up.
This is just some furry doing what furries do best - seek attention.
Edit: the person in question is now referring in other 'toots' to themselves as a "protagonist" in "the story of orphan sources." This fuss was definitely for attention. I'm guessing the wikipedia article already exists...