Were Dangerous
They were the ones located by the Sound Powered Phones
At Night they glowed in the dark
Yah, I know, that's a modern phone box - what ever.
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USS Kawishiwi AO-146 Quarter
Deck - 1972
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Did you ever
hear about the "radiological survey" that the navy did
of all the ships home ported in Pearl Harbor
(this must have been around 1977). The survey was primarily
designed to
ensure that warships capable of carrying "special weapons" were not
experiencing any increased levels of radio active exposure to
personnel.
As a mere formality, the survey was extended to all ships in
port. Well.
. . the guys with the Geiger counters show up at the Kawishiwi,
expecting, I'm
sure, to wave them around for 5 minutes and depart. Big Surprise.
. . it
turns out that many of our sound powered telephone stations (of WW II
vintage)
had directory plaques that were treated with Radium so that they would
glow in
the dark. Lots of Radium! These guys got real excited when
their
instruments virtually pegged. Of special concern were the
stations beside
the beds of the CO, XO, Chief Engineer and Ops Boss (about 18 inches
from their
pillows).
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folks were (and had been for 20+ years) been exposed to
higher levels of radiation than anyone was getting on a nuclear
submarine (or
anywhere else in the navy). The next day a team of guys in yellow
suits
and 55 gallon HAZMAT drums descended on the Kawishiwi to "cleanse"
the offending radium laced plaques. There was never a dull day on
the
Kawishiwi. Best wishes, Lary
Harris LTJG 75-78 6-19-2004
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Notice large ship immage on the cover of Manual
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Pre WW2, most
people would only have come across radioactive
substances in the form of Radium dials on clocks and watches. Radium
itself does not emit light, it causes other chemicals
to glow when exposed to them (primarily by reacting to beta particles,
which
are simply high-energy electrons). Ironically even before it had been
named as
an element Uranium was used to colour ceramics; it makes one of the
best yellow
glazes, but they don't glow. Radium is no longer used because as well
as being
a beta emitter it is also a strong gamma source, however it has a
modern
replacement in the betalight, which uses
Tritium (a hydrogen isotope) as a beta emitter, and can be thought of
as a
flourescent tube without requiring electricity (usually green as that
gives
strongest light intensity). They are used when it would be inconvenient
to have
an electrical supply, and have the added benefit of been permanently
lit. Past
uses have been telephone dials and watches; currently the
major use is in Emergency Exit signs, especially in aircraft.
Before
the dangers of radioactivity
was known, it was common to use
non-luminous radiative elements as quack medicine, for example you
could buy
fizzy drinks with Radon bubbles!! In the 1920s,
paint used to inscribe the numbers on watch dials was
composed of a luminescent (glow-in-the-dark) mixture. The
powdered-paint base was a
mixture of radium salts and zinc sulfide. As
the paint was mixed, the powdered base
became airborne and drifted throughout the
workroom causing the contents of the workroom,
including the painters’ clothes and bodies, to
glow in the dark. The paint is luminescent
because radiation from the radium salts
strikes a scintillator. A scintillator is a
material that emits visible light in response to
ionizing radiation. In watch-dial paint, zinc
sulfide acts as the scintillator. Radium
present in the radium salts decomposes spontaneously, emitting
alpha particles. These particles can cause
damage to the body when they enter
human tissue. Alpha particles are especially
harmful to the blood, liver, lungs, and
spleen because they can alter genetic
information in the cells. Radium can be deposited in the
bones because it substitutes for calcium
In 1910, the medical community was using radioactive radium extensively for therapy. Radium was also used industrially, to make glow-in-the-dark watch dials, dolls' eyes, fish bait, gun sights and other items. However, in the mid-1920s it became clear that many young women painting radium onto watch dials were dying. Their employer, U.S. Radium in West Orange, N.J., insisted the young women were dying because of poor personal hygiene, but studies of the workplace concluded in 1924 and 1925 that all workers were being exposed to excessive radiation. Thus humans learned by trial and error that alpha and gamma radiation from radium can be extremely dangerous even in small quantities. Another story: David, a boy scout, held a series of after-school
jobs at fast-food joints, grocery stores and furniture warehouses, but
work was
merely a means of financing his experiments. Never an
enthusiastic
student, he fell behind in school, scoring poorly on state math and
reading
tests (he did, however, ace the test in science). Wanting radium
for a
new gun, David began visiting junkyards and antique stores in search of
radium-coated clocks. He'd chip paint from them and collect
it. It
was slow going until one day, while driving through Clinton Township,
he says he came across an old table clock in an antique shop. In
the back
of the clock he discovered a vial of radium paint. He bought the
clock
for $10. Next he concentrated the radium and dried it into a salt
form. Whether he fully realised it or not, he was putting himself
in danger. Links |
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