Greetings, I'm new here and have a question which I hope can be answered.

During the steel-making process large amounts of air are used. Since atmospheric testing of nuclear devices after 1945 has released radiation into the environment, steel manufactured in the post war era reflect that radiation increase. My question is, can this extra radiation be detected with instrumentation that is cheap and readily available? As an example, could I take two identical forgings, one manufactured in 1933, and the other in 1963, and determine which was which without spending a small fortune?

Thanks for your time.


PS- I would like to add that I'm not all that knowledgeable in physics, chemistry, metallurgy, etc. I'm just a humble guy looking for some answers.

Since you are basically looking for radioactivity in air (in steel), the radioactivity in the air around you will probably mask it. It is accepted that due to atomic tests, Chernobyl, etc that the air is now more radioactive than it was pre-1945. What you could try for is to find a sealed container from pre-1945 and measure the atmosphere inside against modern air.


Note. Different areas of the country can have different radiation levels. Near a coal burning power station, radioactive material in coal is not affected by heat and is spewed out of their chimneys. There is also radon gas to be taken into account. Also see:

http://www.blackcatsystems.com/GM/safe_radiation.html