[ RadSafe ] Ra-226 tubing?

Sat Sep 24 14:15:58 CDT 2011

Some clarification on the Ra-226 tubing:  The 0.5 cm diameter matches that
of my uncle's WWII souvenir deck cord, and I misstated the tubing material
composition in my previous post; it was a clear plastic, not rubber.  Also,
I recall that the deck cord's cavity was not completely filled with the
radium phosphor.  I believe the configuration was that only the interior
surface of the tubing was painted.

I agree with Jerry Gels concern about radon progeny contamination.  Given
the long half life of Ra-226 (1600 years), it will be continuously producing
Rn-222 (3.8 day half-life) and approaching secular equilibrium.  The deck
cords could by no means be considered "sealed" sources, and the Rn-222 could
easily leak out, as indicated by Kelly Grahn's post.  Therefore, whatever
confined space the item is stored in can become quite contaminated with
alpha- and beta/gamma-emitting progeny in transient equilibrium with the
Rn-222.

You might want to test if the item is still luminescent in the dark, though
the phospor might have chemically degraded.  If it is a deck cord, the
emitted visible light intensity would not be sufficient to be visible in
daylight conditions.

Your item is yet another example of the many applications of radium-226 that
were developed prior to the advent of fission reactors, when fission and
activation products were substituted for Ra-226.  Those applications ranged
from self-luminescence, to both real and supposed medical therapeutics, to
neutron sources, including initiators.  I remember fondly Paul Frame/ORAU's
Revigator (inhale deeply) and the radium-filled pillow "for a good night's
sleep."

Don't you just love a mystery.  Legacy items can be so much fun!

Ed Johnson

On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 9:22 PM, <grahnk at comcast.net> wrote:

> They already have an entry for this, and explicitly say they don't want any
> for the collection.
>
> http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/radioluminescent/rope.htm
>
> We've encountered 4 of these over the years in our Orphan Source Recovery
> Program and they've all been leakers.
>
> Kelly Grahn
> Illinois Emergency Management Agency
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: alstonchris at netscape.net
> To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
> Sent: Sat, 24 Sep 2011 02:31:25 -0000 (UTC)
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Ra-226 tubing?
>
> Ed
>
> Your answer is so good that it is almost hilarious.  You should write a
> page for the Wikipedia about it.  I would bet money that Paul Frame, the
> curator of ORAU's museum would be interested in the story, and picture, at
> least.  Whether he would want to, or could, take custody of the device is
> another matter.  Rick should be able to link to the HP Historical Museum
> through either ORISE or ORAU.
>
> Cheers
> cja
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ed Johnson
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
>  Sent: Fri, Sep 23, 2011 9:15 pm
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Ra-226 tubing?
>
>
> Hi Rick,
>
> After viewing your photo, it appears to be a deck cord (i.e., barrier) that
> was used during WWII, and for some time after, to warn sailors that they
> were approaching the edge of a ship's deck during night-time ops.  It is
> difficult to be certain of this based on the photo alone, but that's what
> it
> looks like and the radium-226 is good supporting evidence.  There are
> sections of a ship's deck where steel railings are purposely not
> installed to allow ready access and egress of equipment and supplies, and
> this is especially true for aircraft carriers.   Maintaining dark
> operations
> to avoid enemy detection was and still is essential for shipboard
> operations
> during war times.  Before the installation of these cordons, and also
> radium-filled deck markers (typically two-inch diameter disks attached to
> the deck's edge), it was not uncommon for sailors to unwittingly walk right
> off the edge of the deck and be lost to the sea on moonless or overcast
> nights.  When you're steaming along at 20+ knots on a pitch black night and
> on a war mission, the overboard squid's cries for help are either not going
> to be heard or the mission's demands do not permit a rescue.
>
> The cords were strung between vertical stanchions that were bolted to the
> deck.  Typically, the cords and deck markers were filled with Ra-226 that
> was chemically bonded with a phosphorescent material such as a sulfate.
>  The
> design was to create a continuous thermoluminescence whereby the 185 KeV
> photons from the radium-226 were exciting the outer shell electrons of the
> phosphor, which in turn returned to ground state by emitting visible
> wavelelength photons.  The light intensity was low enough so as not to be
> visible by the enemy at a distance, but high enough to be readily visible
> by
> sailors on deck.  The clips on each end of the cord attached to the
> stanchions.  I seem to recall that these devices were replaced with
> tritium-filled markers at some time after the end of WWII.  There would of
> course be less of a hazard with tritium-filled devices due to the much
> shorter radiological half-life, pure beta emitter decay scheme vs. the
> penetrating energy of the Ra-226 gamma photon, the non-bone seeker
> biochemistry, and short effective half-life of the tritium should intake
> occur.  As well, radium filled devices build up a radon-222 gas pressure
> and
> tend to leak over time, resulting in loose contamination of surrounding
> surface s by the radon decay progeny.  If you want to know about leaking
> radon from supposed sealed sources, just ask any of the EPA/Roy F. Weston
> or
> was it Chem Nuclear(?) personnel that performed the Superfund emergency
> removal of 120 or so curies of radium-filled medical devices from the
> "vault" at the Radium Chemical Company facility in Queens back in the late
> 80s.
>
> You may know that  for many decades after WWII ended the Navy was not very
> scrupulous about either acknowledging the hazards associated with this
> material or disposing of the devices in a manner that we would find
> acceptable today.  In fact, the regulatory requirements either did not
> exist
> or were not well-enforced (as a federal agency the Navy was regulated by
> the AEC/NRC), or the material was exempted.  How do I know what your item
> is, you may wonder?  When I was a regulator for the New York State DEC, we
> investigated a Yellow Freight terminal property in Rochester (Erdman
> Street)
> that bordered a landfill where deck markers had been disposed.   Some were
> surfacing.  Also, my uncle served on a light cruiser during WWII and
> brought
> one of these cords home with him after the war.  In the 1960s as a kid, my
> brother and I played with the cord because, "gee, look Wally, it glows in
> the dark."  Neither I nor my parents nor my uncle had any idea that we were
> likely being frequently dosed from the thing.
>
> There were probably many linear miles of that rubber tubing produced during
> the war, and one wonders where it all went!  Hmmmm...old barns, landfills,
> and attics can be such treasure troves of forgotten history.  Like my
> brother's Hot Wheels dragsters that are now worth $50K apiece but are
> buried
> under 150 feet of compacted garbage.  Oh well.  If Oak Ridge Associated
> Universities is still operating and still maintaining their museum of rad
> material relics, you might want to contact them and ask if they want to
> take
> it off your hands.  Anywho, hope this helps you, and I would like to hear
> about your disposition of this item in a follow-up post.
>
> Best of luck,
>
> Carl Ed Johnson
> Still a sometimes HP (unaffiliated)
> Albuquerque, New Mexico
> cejjr56 at gmail.com
> 505-463-6685
>
>
> All,
>
> Please see the attached PDF file (assuming the attachment goes through) of
> a photo of an item that was found in an old barn in New Hampshire, USA.  It
> appears to be a bundle of rubber or plastic tubing with metal clips on the
> ends.  The bundle in the photo is approximately 15 cm in diameter, with a
> tube thickness of approximately 0.5 cm.  The contact exposure rate is 50
> mR/hr, and the isotope was identified to be Ra-226.  Does anyone know what
> this might be or where it might have come from?
>
> (See attached file: Ra-226 tubing3.pdf)
>
> Thank you,
>
> Rick D'Alarcao, Ph.D.
> Health Physicist
> Radiological Health Section
> Bureau of Public Health Protection
> New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services, Department of Health and
> Human Services
> Division of Public Health Services
> 29 Hazen Drive
> Concord, NH 03301-6504
> Phone: (603) 271-7578
> Fax: (603) 225-2325
> Email: rdalarcao at dhhs.state.nh.us
> _______________________________________________
> You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
>
> Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood the
> RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
> http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html
>
> For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
> visit:
> http://health.phys.iit.edu
> _______________________________________________
> You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
>
> Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood the
> RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
> http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html
>
> For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
> visit:
> http://health.phys.iit.edu
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
>
> Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood the
> RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
> http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html
>
> For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
> visit: http://health.phys.iit.edu
>
> _______________________________________________
> You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
>
> Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood the
> RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
> http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html
>
> For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
> visit: http://health.phys.iit.edu
>