Radio-isotope OTP generators

[Douglas Sinclair <dsinclai@acs.ucalgary.ca>]

I got some mail from someone on the list who told me that about a year ago
there had been much discussion of radio-isotope OTP random number generators,
and that the conclusion had been that they were too dangerous to use.  I replied
to that message, but my reply bounced for some reason.  So, could anybody please
send me a synopsis of the discussion?  Thanks.

I was talking to my father about this, and we concluded that a simple exposed-
silicon photodiode put in reverse bias should provide adequate detection.
Put it in darkness, and no current will flow.  Hit it with and alpha, and you
get a cascade on the order of a million electrons.  The alpha source need
only be some radium paint on the front of the diode.  This is not dangerous
stuff.  You'd have to go very far out of your way to do yourself any damage
with it.  If you eat it then bad things might happen, but I can say the same
thing about AA batteries...
My father designs and builds particle detectors for a living, so he probably
knows what he's talking about.

BTW: one error in my last message.  There is not Californium in a smoke
detector, it is Amerecium.  Same difference...
-- 
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Interviewer: What did he do?
Vercotti: He used sarcasm.  He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony,
          metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and satire.
			-- Monty Python, Episode 14
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