Will there be any damaging radiation effects to the electronics of a drone flying over uranium mine tailings or out-of-commission open pit uranium mines, some 20 cm–50 cm above the ground?
While the external radiation dose rates above an accumulation of uranium mine/mill tailings and/or possibly over an open pit uranium mine are typically considerably above background levels, they are nowhere near high enough to produce any detectable damage to electronics in a drone aircraft flying above such locations, even if the drone spends many hours flying in proximity to the tailings.
The external radiation dose rate from typical background radiation near the surface of the earth is typically in the range from 0.05 to 0.2 µSv per hour; dose rates associated with tailings and mines may be hundreds of times greater than normal background dose rates, but the doses needed to produce observable effects on electronic components by having a drone fly in proximity to such sites would be more than 50,000 times greater than the annual dose from normal background radiation.
There is no need to be concerned about possible radiation effects on drone operation because of damage to electronic components. I hope this is helpful.
George Chabot, PhD, CHP
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