So, there's a place in Dawsonville, GA that is pretty well known for being essentially a failed government nuclear experiment. They flooded most of the underground tunnels and blocked up more tunnels with rubble, and the reactor block is still standing, but with the equipment long gone, and mostly filled in with rubble as well.

The issue is that I've heard conflicting reports as to whether the reactor core is still lurking inside one of the tunnels. I'm pretty sure the government would've disposed of it, but I also don't want to take any chances. There's apparently also Cobalt-60 traces in the soil, and while I'm not planning on ingesting any soil, what are some precautions that I should take to minimize any radioactive exposure?

Not so much worried about getting caught, it's out in the middle of the woods and is close to some hiking trails, and as far as I can tell it's not guarded, and the only thing to worry about is clearing a 10ft barbed wire fence. If anyone has been to this place and could give me some pointers/advice, I'd appreciate it!

If you're that concerned, just take a handheld geiger counter with you.

Iodine

Well speaking as someone living rather close to this location and having done much research on the history I'll say that any radiation is not an issue to be overly concerned about here. All that kind of stuff was (mostly) cleaned up and contained. They even buried the train and rail cars used for the irradiation experiments not far away. State universities are still using this site to monitor the long-term effects of heavy exposure in plants and animals and all that stuff is available from those studies as open source info, no big secrets there.

People have gotten into the flooded upper level and explored extensively with rafts off and on for years now with no radiation issues. There's even video of people lowering a Go Pro underwater to view the lower levels, kinda neat stuff there. There's lots of video of explorz and a good bit of historical stuff to research out there and I encourage you to check out all that first.

Your most serious concern here is not any residual radiation, it's the fact that it's now an active park. There are a lot of folks on the trails now and yes they will call in on you if they think you look weird. Also be aware that if you are caught on the wrong side of the fence they will actually arrest you. From everyone I've spoken with it seems like the park police are aggressive if you get their attention, so don't.

Thanks for keeping the location name out of the thread title, that prevents it being publicly searched. In fact we try not to mention location at all unless in private message. Hope this helps and good explorz!





~o

I’ll throw in some theoretical information, in case you find it interesting or useful.

Radiation can be emitted both by the radioactive material itself and by any surface or container (or object in general) in close proximity to the radioactive source

The former can emit alpha, beta, X-ray, and gamma radiation, as well as shoot off neutrons.

The latter can absorb/capture those neutrons thus turning stable nuclei to unstable radioactive isotopes of the original atom. This is called neutron activation/capture. They, in turn, emit the same kind of radiation as they decay into more stable nuclei.
This is the reason why the rail cars (among others) have been buried.

I agree that the Geiger counter is the safest way to go, and just avoid any higher than normal radiation areas.

I’d also recommend avoidance of deposition of potentially hazardous material from the site on your clothes

Cheers!

Here's a diagram displaying the penetrating power of different types of radiation.

click to view

But in all seriousness, your real concern is going to be ingesting radioactive particulate over simple radiation exposure. And anything you can do to prevent yourself from inhaling dust will help with that. Typical levels of radiation in an industrial setting are still relatively low even at a nuclear power plant. So basically, you'll probably be fine with just a geiger counter and a dust mask. Just make sure the counter doesn't go over 200 cpm. The most radioactive place I've ever been maxed out at around 180 and that was an abandoned uranium mine.