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Here is something I would like to put in your newsletter. It's
a 'Be on the lookout for..' and a 'What the heck is
this?'
A load of scrap metal had been rejected at a
local recycling company and we were called out to survey the dumpster and
retrieve the offending article. An hour later, after extensive
dumpster-diving, we located a heavy rectangular piece of equipment about 5 X 10 in. with a long
telemetry cord. After taking it to a Radioactive
Material Storage area, we disassembled it slowly, surveying it as we went. We found it was a film gate from an old high-speed film camera and the dose
rate was coming from a small electronics box attached to the side. Further disassembly revealed the dose rate (about 5 millirem/hr)
was coming from two metal brackets that were placed under two orange plastic
diodes in the film gate. Isotopic analysis revealed
Ra-226. There were no markings or
labels of any kind. It’s possible
no markings or labels were required on
articles with radium at the time
this camera was made. This
particular camera corporation received federal funding during World War II and
this camera was found in the dumpster of an Army contractor that films the
firing of missiles. We believe the
radium was used either as a static
eliminator or to make fiduciary marks on the film (or both). Does anyone have any information or
insight as to what the radium in this camera
was used for?
Thanks,
Jean C.
Moore
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