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Ralf Sudowe

@rsudowe.bsky.social

510 followers 160 following 92 posts

Nuclear Chemistry, Radiochemistry and Health Physics at Colorado State University | Science, Sci-Fi & Scotch | All views are mine

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Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · 2d

The New York Times posted an obituary for Darleane.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/s...

Darleane Hoffman, Innovator in Nuclear Chemistry, Dies at 98

www.nytimes.com

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · 10d

Thank you for that information. I had assumed that it was below the intervention level, but that is higher than I would have guessed.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · 10d

Hello #nukesky community, has anyone been able to find an actual Cs-137 activity concentration for the shipment of cloves that the FDA flagged for contamination last week? I have only been able to find notices for shrimp.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · 29d

When Darleane invited me to come to the US to work as a postdoc for her, it literally changed the course of my life. I would not be where I am now without her. She was an incredible scientist and an amazing human being. She will be deeply missed by by all of her students, postdocs and colleagues.

Berkeley Lab @berkeleylab.lbl.gov · 29d

🧪 Remembering Darleane Hoffman (1926–2025) — a pioneering nuclear chemist whose discoveries included primordial plutonium and seaborgium. A barrier-breaker and mentor, she reshaped nuclear science and inspired generations of women to pursue careers in STEM. 🖤

2023 Enrico Fermi Presidential Award Winner: Darleane Hoffman, Berkeley Lab Faculty Scientist

YouTube video by Berkeley Lab

www.youtube.com

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Sep 9

Did he bring the cutouts of Oppenheimer and Roosevelt and handed out T-shirts and newspapers? He put on quite the show at the MARC conference.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Sep 9

Sounds like you were exposed to a hefty dose of Steinhauser. 😉

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Aug 19

This is below the FDA’s Derived Intervention Level for Cs-137 of 1200 Bq/kg as well as below the more stringent Japanese standard of 100 Bq/kg.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Aug 19

I stand corrected. The most recent update to the press release states that radionuclide analysis confirmed the presence of Cs-137 in one sample of breaded shrimp at a level of 68 Bq/kg.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Aug 19

We usually teach the students about the "Goiania incident" as one of the worst case scenarios for a lost source.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Aug 19

If you had a leaking Cs-137 capsule with sufficient activity to be used in food irradiation, then the shrimp would be the least of your concern. It would help to know if the contamination was on the food packaging or on the walls of the shipping containers.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Aug 19

Mantis Shrimp Takeover?

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Aug 19

There was no Cs-137 found in the food, but the fact that multiple shipping containers at four ports showed up contaminated can give you nightmares. Makes you wonder what the containers were used for previously.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Aug 19

Especially if multiple containers are contaminated simultaneously. Makes you wonder what the containers were used for last.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Aug 19

No traces of Cs-137 were found in the food. The concerning part is that multiple shipping containers were contaminated at the same time.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Aug 6

A very sobering piece by former LANL director Sig Hecker.
thebulletin.org/2025/08/refl...

Reflections on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years on

Siegfried Hecker, former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, expresses concern that, 80 years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that the world is on the wrong path—instead of c...

thebulletin.org

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Mar 14

Couch companion

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Mar 3

New group picture - Sudowe Research Group 2025

Picture of a group of people standing in front of a sign that says Colorado State University

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Feb 17

#nukesky

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Feb 17

In it we continue to expand our work on the separation of americium from curium using sodium bismuthate both as a oxidizer as well as a chromatographic material. In this paper the effect of different dispersal agents as well as of the ratio of sodium bismuthate to dispersal material is investigated.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Feb 17

Very happy to say that the second paper from @slabbxo.bsky.social's dissertation was just published online in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Adsorption and Chromatographic Behavior of Dispersed Sodium Bismuthate Systems for the Separation of Americium from Curium

The selective partitioning of americium (Am) and curium (Cm) is integral for nuclear science areas such as the nuclear fuel cycle, stockpile stewardship, and isotope production but remains a long-stan...

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Feb 14

Nothing says we care about the workforce pipeline than letting go of the newer employees.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Jan 29

In particular, funding for health physics, i.e., radiation safety and radiochemistry has suffered while nuclear engineering has been favored.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Jan 29

More funding for university programs would help with that. 😉 Seriously though, funding opportunities for nuclear science at universities have been decreasing or limited to a select few universities due to the consortium approach.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Jan 29

Let me know if you have travel finding some. Our program is located in Colorado, but there are several other programs across the country (although not as many as needed). The demand for health physicists is great right now. In 2022 there were close to 1000 jobs posted and only 78 students graduated.

Ralf Sudowe @rsudowe.bsky.social · Jan 29

In that case you should look for Health Physics programs. The name is a little misleading, but Health Physics is the science of radiation protection. We train students that work, e.g., as radiation safety officers for companies or the government. We also provide training on how to measure radiation.