"I'm gonna hold my breath cause there's shit on the floor" You went to explore abandoned uranium mines which are adjacent to an abandoned asbestos mine, and you didn't even bring so much as a respirator?
The funny part is many people think the sound in this video is him changing the ISO on the camera. It's actually the rads per second he is getting before popping another radaway offscreen
I would not recommend going into those mines. The radon levels from the decay of the uranium can be fairly extreme in these old mines that lack ventilation. Radon is some nasty stuff when you inhale it.
+Chase ___ The radon is not dangerous.The problem of radon are elements after radon radioactive decay. However in most old buildings around my country there are moderate to high radon risks(depends on area) due use of radioactive materials mainly during industrial revolution and communist era. Around 200-400bq/m3. New houses are safe due strict prebuild inspections and building materials are inspected more often than in germany. Also radiation exposure is little bit high there 4times more than in rest of the country. And i have my all 23 fingers. I can see it right with my one eye.
This is false. Radon is an alpha emitter. When calculating the radiation dose of an alpha emitter that is taken internally, you use a 10x multiplier for dose. Ten times more damaging than a beta emitter like the progeny of Radon. There are also several other daughters that decay by alpha as well. Radon is most certainly dangerous.
Goddamnit is there anywhere on Earth where there isn't a beer bottle? All the way out in the middle of uranium contaminated Arizona desert and people still go out there just to drink.
Is there anywhere on Earth where there is no graffiti sprayed everywhere? In the subways, deserted areas, on roof tops, and even on bridges there is layers and layers of graffiti sprayed everywhere; most of which is inappropriate. It's embarrassing to society.
uranium and asbestos right next to each other? good luck with that, and thanks for filming it. i will never visit. i want to know for sure it was the cigarettes that killed me when i get cancer and die.
Really not a good idea. Inhalation of uranium and other heavy metals, plus radon... this is really a good example of what not to do. If you know what to look for, you see uranium all throughout this video. Nasty stuff too, very high in uranium.
@@robbieedwardsayers3209 If your serious about wanting to know, there's a whole host of reasons. To sum it up though, you can boil it down to mining for power. Economic power, political power and literally just plain old power, generated by your trusty, rusty neighborhood nuclear reactor. Following the end of WWII, and the declassification of the existence of nuclear weapons, what we see today as radioactive hazards were pretty hot stuff. Atomic anything was the new sexiness - even down to the lowly bikini, named for an atoll in the Pacific where we used to test nuclear weapons. Government programs (as well as industry, at least later on) were hungry for uranium and prospecting for uranium bearing ore became a new gold rush. The asbestos talked about in the video as well are pretty nasty, but for a long time they were deemed essential in industry. They were one of the best non-flammable thermal insulation known to man at the time and were used in everything from pipe insulation on steam ships to use in automotive brake linings to even fireproof home coverings (as a side note, one of the larger hazards to decommissioning nuclear reactors can be asbestos - used as thermal insulation there as well). The long and the short of it though is we didn't really understand a lot of the long term effects of exposure to these materials at the time they were industrialized, and government studies/knowledge of many of the effects were still classified. We knew that radiation could be bad (Marie Curie died of radiation induced anemia in 1934, incurred from her research into radium and related elements, and there were a few serious accidents during the Manhattan project) but it was thought that radiation producing devices could still be used for good. Rightfully so, in some cases, as radiation spewing machines are still used today to treat cancer, sterilize food and medical instruments, etc. Eisenhower, looking toward the future, sponsored the Atoms for Peace program beginning with his speech to the UN in 1953 He was hoping for civil construction and industrial use of radiation, including using nuclear weapons for civil construction projects and even a nuclear powered merchant vessel (NS Savannah, she's sitting in Baltimore awaiting funds to be turned into a museum ship.). From that speech, a whole host of project were schemed - ranging from artificial harbor construction to nuclear "fracking" to increase gas well production, though many never progressed past that stage. As the dangers of radiation became clearer, and particularly, as the dangers became household knowledge, there were understandably a lot of people who thought the risks just weren't worth the potential benefit. Ergo, we now have a nuclear heritage - abandoned mines, large amounts of mine tailings and waste rock that still pose a hazard, nuclear waste from weapons and power generation programs but still no consensus as to how to handle them. So they sit there, waiting for decisions yet to be made. Granted, that's a pretty slimmed down version of things, but it hits most of the high points.
The yellowish oxides around the reddish oxides were the Uranium oxide they mined in the first shaft you walked in. The dark stuff on the wall will contain dirty radiation some of it was pitchblende in dolomite (can be really nasty). Wear a mask if you go in their (which is not smart) in fact wear one outside I saw contaminated soil on the view. Uranium oxide is more dangerous than other forms because it is more likely to contaminate the air and soil (that was dirty for a uranium mine they should have been shutdown). In Arizona and California Uraninite and Torbernite which I think I saw some Uraninite can often be found in rock layers. The areas of NM, AZ and SoCal are loaded with uranium and it is a major security concern. It is a lot easier to refine crudely (not easy but very doable) than it should be. I wouldn't make it a profession of going to uranium mines because you will get sick and die and also end up on the no fly list. If you want to see uranium some forms of low grade ore can be purchased from science stores or you can safely look at pictures. It is of low radiation level so it won't cause much risk without repeat direct contact. This stuff is normally legal and somewhat safe to own though you should avoid skin contact.
Just WOW you guys! BTW, if i where u? i take a small spoon of Turmeric mixed with any food for couple of days, it helps just a little to clean up ur system.
this video doesn't even justify how cool that place would be, being there in person! thanks for risking your life for some awesome footage! I could watch hours of this kinda stuff!
LOVING all the vids! Thank UUU for sharing! Most of the abandoned stuff I see here is houses, so it's great to see such a variety :) Also happy to see you have protection in case of snakes ;)
That abandoned house is totally gone now. And the audits are filled in. Looks like there was a big cleanup project. Glad this video exists to document it. So many cool places and structures in AZ are disappearing.
an undeveloped film strip with a bit of lead on it will show when the radiation level is bad enough to get out when the film changes colure around the lead but not under it move like heck out of there, the film method used to be a popular option in nuclear power station at one time
wow amazing job on the footage. Really enjoyed it. Arizona has some really cool locations. Wouldn't find me in an area like this with High radiation levels but i understand why you did it. Good Job
No idea about your mines but here they had a lot of old gold mines and it was common for the reinforcing timbers to be removed to be used in newer mines or as fire wood thus the old workings where a lot more dangerous than would be the case. I suspect your mines are not as old but still. I went down one which had a vertical audit that went down 3000 feet but was full of water from about 100 feet down. Most of these old gold mine where also interconnected underground so miners could escape if something happened to the entry of their own mine. With the price of gold increasing people have shown an interest in reopening some of these but there is one hell of a lot of water to pump out now. Good effort with the camera too it’s hard to get a good results in a dark narrow long passage.
And some of the uranium went to a children's toy lab known as the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab. Where the kit for boys not only contained uranium and other radiation sources, but you could mail order more uranium for it. It sold from 1950-51 but stopped due to fears the kids could swallow the various radiation sources.
The worst I've come across on a mine site (other than a startled copperhead) is severe acid mine drainage at a former open-pit pyrite mine (video on my channel). We took water/fluid samples and will have them analyzed by a friend of a friend. Now, acid is one thing. But the radon generated by uranium mines? You couldn't pay me enough to enter those sorts of conditions.
what he stepped on was the old draw works for the nice cars. They didn drive them selves lol. But from the positioning of them I would bet it was the draw works. One housed the motor and one housed the drive system. I doubt it was a hole.
Cool video! Do you know if a P100 filter + respirator can help with the radon? How much personal danger if you spend maybe 1 hour in this mine? I ask because I have an abandoned uranium mine within reasonable drive but I'm unsure of the risk. It's hard to find good information.
This whole video is like the game Fallout New Vegas in an almost literal sense. Just for shits and gigs I'd go the whole 9 yards with equipment: full fledged surplus radiation suit complete with gasmask, giger counter, MREs (for camping some distance away), rifle and/or shotgun with side arm with extra mags/shells, and a vest, knee, elbow, and shoulder pads, and a riot helmet for that extra Metro 2033 effect. Full post apocalyptic. Edit: What piece is your friend carrying?
Both asbestos and uranium minerals are actually quite beautiful (chrysotil, actinolith, carnotit). The problem with asbestos comes, when it is washed out of the rocks. Then the needles get cracked into pieces and end up as fine dust. Just walking there is no problem but living in the area might be.
I recently explored the Max Delta Mines, we did not enter through the same mine you went through. We continued to hike upwards and found a different one with a very small opening that you had to crawl through and it then opened up. Pretty steep inside though, also very sketch due to the crappy wood pillars "holding" it up. We are planning on going back with better gear and to look for the mine shaft you explored in your video. Where is this mine located, I would like to check it out!
That carin of stones seen at the end is a claim/works marker. Markers like this were commonly used in mining in the south western U.S. Many will have this distinctive shape and size. It is unknown if this design was officially mandated, or was just a widely accepted mining sub-culture feature. Many miners were migratory in their employment and drifted from mine to mine taking with them knowledge and practices from a diverse number of mines.
Good vid UC , Id say you were in more danger from your inexperience in mine exploring than any radiation contamination, as bill rentschier explained, there are lots of folk/groups who explore mines try to hook up with a group and literally learn the ropes, a basic understanding of what the miners were following will help eg, a drift or crosscut , it was obvious from the vid you were some times in drifts which means at any time you could of been in a stope or on a false floor, once you know what to look for , mine exploring can be a fascinating experience, and helping to preserve the history by filming , as you did, We dont have many uranium mines here in the uk, it was normally mined here as a by product of other minerals, (tin) so i dont know what precautions are advised in radio active abstraction areas, the obvious thing you could do is get hold of industrial grade dust masks which seems to be the easiest way to stop yourself being contaminated , thanks very much for the vid
You went out there and didn't even bring a specimen home? Absolute mad lad. You could've at least made the risk of going out there with no mask worth it
+robert When mining they follow the vein of ore. When men are manually picking away at a vein they only remove what is needed to get to it. Other types of ore are found throughout the rock so a different method is used, like blasting large volumes of rock.
Many comments saying why do you have a gun? 2nd Amendment Right what you see here is a man exercising his rights.Me being from AZ I know all at everyone Carey's a guns round down here concealed or not it's legeal
kinda surprised they didnt blast all the entrences they do that here in Australia to cave in the entrences so no one gets lost or hurts themselfs and thus brings up a law suit.
