Career Path > Radiation Safety

Radium clock/watch safety? Radon specifically

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lifelongstudent:
My question is at the end, but for some context:

I'm a collector of many things, usually WWII related, and as such I've got some radium painted dials from aircraft instruments and watches/clocks. I've got two Lionel CDV700's to verify things are in fact "hot" even though the CDV's just detect beta and gama. The wisdom I'd always operated by was that radium is primarily an alpha emitter so the risks should be minimal so long as I don't open anything up. I just stumbled across an article that makes me question that though: https://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/wwii-military-watches-potentially-pose-serious-cancer-risk/
There are a thousand clickbait "radiation is evil" mass-hysteria type articles out there, but that one from northhampton is the only thing semi-official I could find regarding radon coming from watches and clocks. So what do you guys think? I'm by no means afraid of radiation, my office is at 45,000 feet, but I just want to get some informed opinions of whether I should look into some options for my 14X20ft man-cave.

Thanks!

Rennhack:

Here is the correct technical reference to the risks of radon. https://www.nap.edu/read/5499/chapter/1#viii
1. Don't eat it, and you will be fine.
2. Don't grind on it and inhale the dust, and you will be fine.
3. Don't sleep on it, and you r exposure to it will be limited.  The more distant you are, and the less time, will significantly reduce your exposure.
4a. Radon is naturally occurring (Part of the decay chain of uranium to lead), and comes from the ground, especially after a rain when the water displaces the gas.  It is prevalent in basements, etc. We are all exposed to radon daily, just like solar radiation, or thorium in sand, potassium in your significant other.
4b. If you live in Denver, built on top of granite and a mile a high, you get about 150 milli-rems a year from naturally occurring background exposure.
4c. Radon is a gas, when you inhale it, it is in you.  When you exhale it, it is no longer in you.
5. The amount of radium or radon you would need to be exposed to to have detectable changes in your physiology are very large, on the order of many magnitudes more than you will ever see.
6. What does your CDV700 say it reads? Does it peg all of the scales? (50 mR/hr is the highest scale on that meter.)  Now hold the detector 3 feet away, what doe sit say?  Its like light, the farther away you get, the dimmer it gets.

Honestly, if you don't sleep on it, eat it, or grind it up and snort it, you will be fine.

If you are a miner, you have a real chance of death form lung cancer from radon.  Other than that.  Not so much. -- DO NOT be a miner.  They die from many things.Smoking + Radon is bad.
And... you are 4 times more likely to die in a car crash.https://www.epa.gov/radon/health-risk-radon
 

Marlin:
Point of interest for relative risk, Radon Therapy mines are still open.

http://www.radonmine.com/

61nomad:
you lost me at "office is at 45,000 ft"

Marlin:

--- Quote from: 61nomad on Jan 20, 2019, 09:29 ---you lost me at "office is at 45,000 ft"

--- End quote ---

Probably means the higher background at higher elevations. Just guessing.

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