Re: Tritium Watch

["J. J. Rozental" <josrozen@netmedia.net.il>]

At 02:06 PM 11/19/97 -0600, you wrote:
>I recently happened upon a watch that I wore through high school 
>(until 1981) which is a Timex .  On the back is the 3H symbol for  
>tritium.  The small face of the watch dial glows continuously with a 
>dull green glow...
>
>Wondering is anyone has seen a similar watch or might know how much 
>tritium was typically used?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Ron Amoling
>amolingr@joslab.harvard.edu
>

Considering the period should be possible (and still is) the following
possibilities:
Timepieces containing radioactive paint - H-3 --  280 MBq, Pm-147 -- 5.5 MB

References:
H-3 and Pm-147
1 - IAEA, Safety Series 23, Radiation Protection Standards   for
radioluminous timepieces, 1967 
2 - McDowell-Boyer, L.M. and O'Donnel, F. R. Radiation dose estimates from
timepieces containing H-3 or promethium-147 in radioluminous paints,
ORNL/NUREG/TM-150, OANL, 1978
3- Butler, H.M., A Survey of luminiscent clocks in households, Health
Physics 28, 299, 1975

J. J. Rozental <josrozen@netmedia.net.il>
Israel