Old Radiation Source

[Wes Van Pelt <VanPeltW@idt.net>]

Fellow Radsafers,

A collegue found the following when cleaning out some old junk:

3 wooden boxes labeled with "Danger Radioactivity"

The boxes were manufactured by TracerLab Inc, Boston 10, MA. The boxes
are marked with RA-1 Medical Applicator.

They checked the boxes with a Ludlum survey meter with pancake probe and
found nothing above background.  

Close inspection of the boxes indicates that there is a part -- which
probably contained the source (whatever it was) -- missing from each of
the boxes.

The date on the boxes is 1952.

My question is: Does anyone know what the radiation source is/was?

Regards,
Wes
-- 
Wesley R. Van Pelt, Ph.D., CIH, CHP                KF2LG
President, Van Pelt Associates, Inc.     
Consulting in radiological health and safety.
mailto:VanPeltW@IDT.net        
http://shell.idt.net/~vanpeltw/index.html