The Finding of the Four Seasons Slab, 13.1 mR/hr
This video was shot the day we found the Four Seasons slab, over 800 uR/hr (6 uR/hr is background radiation, so 133 times background). You can watch the CDV data logger work. This color of granite is available in much lower radiation levels, some around 20 uR/hr which is pretty good for a granite with so much movement.
Remember, don’t reject a color or a country of origin, reject the slab.
LENi Geiger Counter Measuring Granite
This video shows the various controls on the LENi Geiger Counter and how they affect the reading. Shows some Niagara Gold granite being tested.
Video On Granite Radiation Measurements, Niagara Gold
This video shows Niagara Gold being measured with a Geiger Counter. Explains some of the meters functions and shows some readings.
Four Seasons Granite Slab Cut up and Ready to Ship To the Scientists
This video covers some hot core samples from this slab, the slab remnant after cutting the samples out, and shows the boxes of samples ready to ship to the scientists and Radon labs.
Videos On Measuring Radiation From Granite Countertops
Not sure how to host the videos on our site, so we are linking to Youtube.com . These videos have been up a couple of months, but there are a couple of new ones showing black light/uranium glowing in the dark. How cool is that? Unless it is in your kitchen.
Another video show how far Gamma radiation can reach.
So We Have a Radiation Problem, What does a Countertop Shop Do?
Many shops and slab yards are getting past the shock and admitting there is a problem. A problem with existing inventory and a problem with past sales. Now what?
The first thing that was started was a method of measuring granite blocks prior to purchase. Many of these stone operations are not vertically intergrated, slab processers buy the blocks from quarry owners, saw them then polish them. Importers buy the bundles and ship them to the slab yards who sell to the fabricators. By testing the block with a scintillator or geiger counter, the slab processor can increase his yeild of low radiation slabs. Stop as much of the bad stuff from reaching the saw as possible, then as it starts into the polishing line, another reading needs done to reject any slabs that have hot spots. Or mark them so that the hot spots can be cut out.
We are working with an instrument maker to develop a process, both to read 6′ thick blocks and 1 1/8″ thick slabs. It will be possible to do a Cat Scan type reading, showing where the radiation is coming from so a decision can be made to buy or reject the block.
So if the material is culled twice before polishing, then a final check is done before loading into the container for shipment, a lot of the cost has been eliminated. Fewer hot slabs…
From that point, we are working on developing a testing standard coupled with some sort of certification for the slab yards that makes sure they have proper meters, proper methods, yearly callibration, as well as spot checks by a third party. In return, the slab yard gets a sticker program showing that they are testing and being proactive on the issues. Each slab yard will have their own equipment to check the radiation level of each slab and stickers for a range of values, from low level up to the maxium level allowed.
A series of visits will be part of the program, spot checking that the slab yard is measuring properly, their meter is still accurate, and that records are being kept. Visits will be random, unannounced, making every effort to motivate the slab yard to keep on top the process.
The final test will be before a slab is sold, every customer seeing with their own eyes a quick scan of THEIR slab.
The purpose of all this is to provide fabricators a safe haven from future problems. Stand with us, help us get the hot granite out of inventory and out of homes, and we are your best friend. No doubt there will be some installed granite tops that need removed. Slab yards will have to provide the material and the fabricator the labor, no way out of that. Far better to deal with this head on than to wait for someone to hire a lawyer.
Really this is so simple. Business will go on for the smart businesses and those who continue to deny the issues will reap what they sow.
Slab yards and fabricators have already started signing on. If you wish to join, send us an email. We will help.
Preliminary Test Results are Beginning to Come In
The latest shipment of samples to the scientists and Radon techicians have arrived and some preliminary results are coming in. These results should not be taken as 100% accurate until others have reproduced the same result in other tests, but they are a important first step toward proving that some granites are indeed high enough level to be of concern.
First file is a Radon test result of a normal, low level radon granite countertop material,
Cosmos Brown
Pretty safe stuff.
This test result was on a section of Juparana Bordeaux that was tested a few weeks ago. A bit more concerning. The Houston Juparana Bordeaux granite counterop in the TV reports was a bit hotter than this one. The lab report on the Houston granite countertop is here.
Here is the Radon graph on two of the Four Seasons granite slab that was cut up and sent out for testing late last month.
And here is a Radon graph on a section of Niagara Gold sent out for study
This test found that if you had a 15′ x 15′ x 8′ tall room containing 26.5 of Niagara Gold,with no air exchange at all, the Radon levels would hit 5.9 in 24 hours. If allowed to remain unventilated and build up to maximum levels, it would hit 35.4 pCi/L in the room
So you can have very elevated radon but it has to be very air tight and a small room that is not circulating. My concern is more that there is an elevated Radon level in the air you breath while using the countertop.
Here are some pictures of one of the tests being done. Double click on the picture for a larger view.
The equipment being used are a Ludlum Geiger counter, a RadElec H chamber is for Radon surface emanation, the open e-perm Radon canister is to get a Radon level between surface & 2″ above the counter, the upside e-perm in a radon collection container sealed to surface to simulate testing with a bowl over the device, and the closed e-perm is a quality control blank.
This test is being conducted by Bill Levy of Associated Radon Services out of Stuart, Florida. If you are in the area and need a countertop tested, they have a huge lab. They have a link in our Associate menu.
The MIA Responds to the New York Times Article on Radiation and Granite countertops
The MIA have this on their website expressing their responce to what they claim are inaccuracies in the article. I will link to the entire page at the bottom of this page, pasting in the relevant parts and my comments in bold interspersed.
Quote:
“Typical of stories that seek to excite, rather than inform, the article repeatedly talks about “radiation levels” without explaining what they mean. The article plays to the emotions, rather than basing its focus on scientific fact. Hardly, they interviewed leading scientists in the article.
In short, it follows the playbook used by two of the largest synthetic stone manufacturers who seek to increase their own sales by raising fears about natural stone. One of which is one of the larger granite importers in this country, Cosintino.
For example, the piece fails to point out that repeated studies have found that granite most commonly used in home countertops is safe. But these studies were not published, which makes them useless. Indeed no other scientist will use them as footnotes in their own published studies.
Instead, it vaguely mentions one or two stones that someone deemed to be problematic, then goes on to suggest that the only solution is to remove granite from the home. Sure, the scientists in the article say they would be a concern, just like the MIA’s experts in the past offered opinions claiming some granites were safe. The difference is that these new scientists are doing this unpaid, and will publish their studies after peer review.
We all know that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s solution for radon infiltration is venting. But that fact is also absent from the article. That does work for Radon, but at a high utility cost in most parts of this country. It would be cheaper in the long run to remove the top which also removes the concentrated point source when using the counter. Also, ventilation does nothing to mitigate radiation, which the MIA is adamant in not mentioning.
We are disappointed that the New York Times has compromised the ultimate goal of sharing truth with its readers. But it is precisely because individuals and companies seek to prey on consumer fears and confusion that the Marble Institute of America is working with the independent scientific community to set standards to test granite for radon. Independent means they aren’t on your payroll, independent means the studies are published after completion, before the resulsts are released for use. The MIA has a habit of not publishing their purchased studies. I submit that their studies would most likely not survive peer review, other wise the MIA would have insisted on peer review and publication.
We are spearheading this effort because no other group – not in the scientific community, the university community or in government – has chosen to proceed with such standards. Why? Because they don’t see the risk as being significant. Okay, now that is complete B.S. There are plenty of studies done world wide on these issues, studies that show some granites over the recomended safe level, studies that have lead to many other countries enacting standards for granite countertop regulation.
If these groups believed the issue merited attention, I can assure you they would find the resources to do the testing that only the MIA has been willing to fund. Well, surprise! They already did this years ago. The MIA just isn’t admiting these studies exist.
That is why we created the Truth About Granite Fund. And, unfortunately, this article makes our efforts – and support for that fund – so critical. “No doubt this fund will be needed to pay claims against the MIA. As to it being used for PR purposes, the facts are against the MIA in this issue. Spreading missinformation will just make the fall that much harder.
End quote.
A Solid Surface Industry Icon Issues a Call for Action
Joanna Duggan doesn’t have to be introduced to many of those in the solid surface industry, but for those outside the industry she is a Founding Member of International Solid Surface Fabricators Association (ISSFA), a receipiant of the Hall of Fame Award from ISSFA, and holds a Lifetime Achievement Award from ISSFA. She was also the Publisher of SOLIDSURFACE/Surface Fabrication Magazine for many years.
Joanna sent this letter to the community a few days ago and was gracious enough to allow us to reproduce it here. I find that I agree with every word she writes.
Dear Friends,
There is an important movement afoot concerning the radon in granite.
Here are a few facts.
Most granite has very low and safe levels of radon, a radioactive gas founding nature.
In the past 10 years, with granite becoming very popular here in the U.S., millions of tons of it are now being dumped into the U.S. from all over the globe.
Recently, a few pieces of granite tested were found to have very high levels of radioactivity.
This is a serious concern for consumers, and also for fabricators.
How will this affect your business? It could be very damaging, especially if we, the solid surface industry, take a blind eye. I believe that if we are pro-active, step up to the plate, face this and deal with it head on, it would be a powerful sales tool.
Consider this scenario.
After the facts are released, the solid surface industry steps up to the plate and announces the facts to their customer base.
You could do a mailing to your clients saying something like this. “On very rare occasions, radon levels in granite can be high, and could possibly cause serious health problems. The solid surface community is now testing all granite at purchase and before fabrication to be certain that the products they sell are safe for their clients, their workers and themselves.”
This is a powerful sales pitch, having to do with truth and customer safety.
You could offer granite testing (maybe at a discount) by partnering with a tester. You could offer countertop replacements at ‘special pricing’ – even if the counter is not ‘hot’.
When granite testing becomes standard, probably not soon enough, [and hopefully before the products enter the U.S. market,] the solid surface industry will have been the first to lead the charge and make an important commitment to the consumer. How great would that be? Why wait for others to do this?
A non-profit organization called Build Clean is working very hard on this, and they need our support. They have been successful at finding some of the ‘hot’ granites, but their task has just begun.
I have spoken with these people, and they are passionate. They won’t be able to tell you everything they told me, but you can believe me that some very important people in our industry are very concerned about these findings of radioactivity. Build Clean is doing us all a great service.
However, it is not an inexpensive task. THEY NEED OUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT.
Visit www.buildclean.org and help to support them. I’ve already done so.
Joanna Duggan
Joanna.duggan25@gmail.com
The Industry’s Leaders are Addressing the Issues
I am glad that this issue has matured enough that the industry trade journals can discuss it openly. A good editor has to walk a fine line between competing interests of his readers, so taking on a controversial issue is always a risk.
This was a fair article, showed a bit of both sides and encouraged readers to check into the facts.
Surface Fabrication article on the granite/Radon/radiation issues.
