Airworthy wartime instruments

[QUOTE=Vega ECM;1908768]Ah no… The only way surrounding materials can be turned radioactive is if they were transformed into isotopes of the original. For this to occur Raduim would have radiate neutrons which it does not.

Apologies my doctorate is in organic chemistry rather than nuclear physics.

I had assumed that Low Level Waste was due to the interaction of the energetic particles with other nuclei with the result in the emission of various sub atomic particles with the resultant creation of nuclei that subsequently degrade further.

It is clear that the energetic emissions have a negative effect on atomic bonds which may also result in unstable species e.g. free radicals etc.

If I paraphrase what you are saying – all low level waste is solely due to particulates of the parent radioactive nuclei and its degradation products ?

I dont think its wise to belittle safety risks online simply on the “I smoke & I’m still alive at 90” evidence based model.

Radium is radio-active, prolonged exposure to radiation can be harmful, thats pretty well established and proven.

I’m not sure its presence on aircraft instruments has yet been proven to have resulted in a pilots death or poor health, simply due to flying behind an instrument panel, but playing with loose or broken instruments, even to remove the coating “to make it safe”, is clearly a different risk.

The real risk is ingesting the particles as stated earlier, and they obviously havent been rushed with volunteers to determine how much is safe to ingest.

Its sad story has its origins in the “Radium Girls” – 70 women who worked in the instrument and clock factory in the US painting the stuff onto the hands and faces of various devices just after word war I and died of radiation poisoning.

Of course there was none of that “occupational health and safety rubbish” to get in the way of making a buck back then, and the girls were apparently told it was safe, and licked their brushes to sharpen them as they worked and some apparantly painted their finger nails with it too, and perhaps later licked their fingers and certainly ate with it over their hands.

while the owners and the scientists familiar with the effects of radium carefully avoided any exposure to it themselves;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls

The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with glow-in-the-dark paint at the United States Radium factory in Orange, New Jersey around 1917. The women, who had been told the paint was harmless, ingested deadly amounts of radium by licking their paintbrushes to sharpen them; some also painted their fingernails and teeth with the glowing substance.

Five of the women challenged their employer in a case that established the right of individual workers who contract occupational diseases to sue their employers.

From 1917 to 1926, U.S. Radium Corporation, originally called the Radium Luminous Material Corporation was engaged in the extraction and purification of radium from carnotite ore to produce luminous paints, which were marketed under the brand name ‘Undark’. As a defense contractor, U.S. Radium was a major supplier of radioluminescent watches to the military. Their plant in New Jersey employed over a hundred workers, mainly women, to paint radium-lit watch faces and instruments, believing it to be safe.

Radiation exposure
The U.S. Radium Corporation hired some 70 women to perform various tasks including the handling of radium, while the owners and the scientists familiar with the effects of radium carefully avoided any exposure to it themselves; chemists at the plant used lead screens, masks and tongs.[1] US Radium had even distributed literature to the medical community describing the “injurious effects” of radium.

An estimated 4,000 workers were hired by corporations in the U.S. and Canada to paint watch faces with radium. They mixed glue, water and radium powder, and then used camel hair brushes to apply the glowing paint onto dials. The then-current rate of pay, for painting 250 dials a day, was about a penny and a half per dial ($0.27 per dial in today’s terms). The brushes would lose shape after a few strokes, so the U.S. Radium supervisors encouraged their workers to point the brushes with their lips, or use their tongues to keep them sharp. For fun, the Radium Girls painted their nails, teeth and faces with the deadly paint produced at the factory.[2] Many of the workers became sick. It is unknown how many died from exposure to radiation. The American factory sites became Superfund cleanup sites.[citation needed]

Radiation sickness
Many of the women later began to suffer from anemia, bone fractures and necrosis of the jaw, a condition now known as radium jaw. It is thought that the X-ray machines used by the medical investigators may have contributed to some of the sickened workers’ ill-health by subjecting them to additional radiation. It turned out at least one of the examinations was a ruse, part of a campaign of disinformation started by the defense contractor.[1] U.S. Radium and other watch-dial companies rejected claims that the afflicted workers were suffering from exposure to radium. For some time, doctors, dentists, and researchers complied with requests from the companies not to release their data. At the urging of the companies, worker deaths were attributed by medical professionals to other causes; syphilis, a notorious sexually transmitted disease at the time, was often cited in attempts to smear the reputations of the women.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium

Radium was formerly used in self-luminous paints for watches, nuclear panels, aircraft switches, clocks, and instrument dials. A typical self-luminous watch that uses radium paint contains around 1 microgram of radium.[13] In the mid-1920s, a lawsuit was filed by five dying “Radium Girl” dial painters who had painted radium-based luminous paint on the dials of watches and clocks. The dial painters’ exposure to radium caused serious health effects which included sores, anemia, and bone cancer. This is because radium is treated as calcium by the body, and deposited in the bones, where radioactivity degrades marrow and can mutate bone cells.

During the litigation, it was determined that company scientists and management had taken considerable precautions to protect themselves from the effects of radiation, yet had not seen fit to protect their employees. Worse, for several years the companies had attempted to cover up the effects and avoid liability by insisting that the Radium Girls were instead suffering from syphilis. This complete disregard for employee welfare had a significant impact on the formulation of occupational disease labor law.[24]

As a result of the lawsuit, the adverse effects of radioactivity became widely known, and radium-dial painters were instructed in proper safety precautions and provided with protective gear. In particular, dial painters no longer shaped paint brushes by lip (which led to accidental ingestion of the radium salts). Radium was still used in dials as late as the 1960s, but there were no further injuries to dial painters. This further highlighted that the plight of the Radium Girls was completely preventable.

After the 1960s, radium paint was first replaced with promethium paint, and later by tritium bottles which continue to be used today. Although the beta radiation from tritium is potentially dangerous if tritium is ingested, tritium has replaced radium in these applications.

I started life as an Instrument Technician in an Instrument Calibration Lab, and I suspect it would be possible to remove the coating safely without great risk to life, and also perhaps to repair/maintain/test existing instruments with it left intact, but it obviously should be treated with great respect, and approached with more than just rubber gloves.

And if your not too concerned about Radium and aircraft instruments, then hold your breath while you read about Radon smiles

http://www.epa.gov/radon/pubs/citguide.html

regards

Mark Pilkington

Talk about Elf ‘n Sayftee !!
I have been flying with and maintaining luminescent (Radium) instruments for the last 58 years and still hold a Class one medical. What sort of problem can I be expected to be afflicted with in my old age pray tell ??

Easy Tiger….all that glows may not be radio active. As Bruce pointed out there are two types of glow;- Photo Phosphoric luminescent (PLL)and Radio luminescent (RL). Only the RL contains the dangerous Raduim. Most of the instruments you will come across will be the safe PLL. RL & PLL look identical so the only way you can confirm you have Raduim is with a Geiger counter or sometimes if there’s an “L” suffix at the end of the part number. Remember also the survival of just one person who has handled radioactive material maybe statistically insignificant as it’s well proven that an individuals suspectability can vary significantly.

The rules around RL are a little ‘uneven’;- you cannot transport by road without a host of restrictions but currenty you can fly with no restriction.

“Quite lethal”??
I left my allotted three score years and ten behind a few years ago. If the glass is broken, the asi, alt, ah, dg, t&s and vsi are U/S anyway and would be changed.

Quite. I think the biggest danger is ingesting dust, so scratching away at the luminous paint is the last thing one wants to do. If the faces are OK, and the surface is stable, why mess with it.

And that is the core problem isn’t it – if the glass is damaged then the seal is broken and these interesting old antiques become quite lethal.

Glowing with satisfaction.

Talk about Elf ‘n Sayftee !!
I have been flying with and maintaining luminescent (Radium) instruments for the last 58 years and still hold a Class one medical. What sort of problem can I be expected to be afflicted with in my old age pray tell ??

Quite. I think the biggest danger is ingesting dust, so scratching away at the luminous paint is the last thing one wants to do. If the faces are OK, and the surface is stable, why mess with it. I much prefer a nice patina on old instruments anyway….:)

Talk about Elf ‘n Sayftee !!
I have been flying with and maintaining luminescent (Radium) instruments for the last 58 years and still hold a Class one medical. What sort of problem can I be expected to be afflicted with in my old age pray tell ??

Instruments with Radium removed are still radioactive.

60+ years alongside radium affects the surrounding materials.

Ah no… The only way surrounding materials can be turned radioactive is if they were transformed into isotopes of the original. For this to occur Raduim would have radiate neutrons which it does not.

However over the years the paint breaks down and parts within the instrument case get covered in fine grains of Raduim dust which can be extremely difficult to dislodge. Just removing the face/hands without a proper clean will leave inside of the case pretty hot.

Instruments with Radium removed are still radioactive.

60+ years alongside radium affects the surrounding materials.

You’ll be lucky to find anyone who will work on a radioactive instrument in that way – it has been done in the past, but no longer.

As you know, most instruments are available in an either/or state when it comes to radioactive, or safe. The usual course of action is to use the safe type. However, plenty of flying aircraft still use radioactive instruments. It is not mandatory to change them.

Bruce