The United States Radium Corporation was a company, most notorious for its operations between the years 1917 to 1926 in Orange, New Jersey , in the United States that led to stronger worker protection laws. After initial success in developing a glow-in-the-dark radioactive paint, the company was subject to several lawsuits in the late 1920s in the wake of severe illnesses and deaths of workers (the Radium Girls ) who had ingested radioactive material. The workers had been told that the paint was harmless. During World War I and World War II, the company produced luminous watches and gauges for the United States Army for use by soldiers.
69-678: U.S. Radium workers, especially women who painted the dials of watches and other instruments with luminous paint, suffered serious radioactive contamination . Lawyer Edward Markley was in charge of defending the company in these cases. The company was founded in 1914 in New York City, by Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky and Dr. George S. Willis, as the Radium Luminous Material Corporation . The company produced uranium from carnotite ore and eventually moved into
138-820: A contamination hazard. Access to such areas is controlled by a variety of barrier techniques, sometimes involving changes of clothing and footwear as required. The contamination within a controlled area is normally regularly monitored. Radiological protection instrumentation (RPI) plays a key role in monitoring and detecting any potential contamination spread, and combinations of hand held survey instruments and permanently installed area monitors such as Airborne particulate monitors and area gamma monitors are often installed. Detection and measurement of surface contamination of personnel and plant are normally by Geiger counter , scintillation counter or proportional counter . Proportional counters and dual phosphor scintillation counters can discriminate between alpha and beta contamination, but
207-404: A discussion of environmental contamination by alpha emitters please see actinides in the environment . Nuclear fallout is the distribution of radioactive contamination by the 520 atmospheric nuclear explosions that took place from the 1950s to the 1980s. In nuclear accidents, a measure of the type and amount of radioactivity released, such as from a reactor containment failure, is known as
276-420: A hazard because the radioactive decay of the contaminants produces ionizing radiation (namely alpha , beta , gamma rays and free neutrons ). The degree of hazard is determined by the concentration of the contaminants, the energy of the radiation being emitted, the type of radiation, and the proximity of the contamination to organs of the body. It is important to be clear that the contamination gives rise to
345-488: A low external risk due to the shielding effect of the top layers of skin. See the article on sievert for more information on how this is calculated. Radioactive contamination can be ingested into the human body if it is airborne or is taken in as contamination of food or drink, and will irradiate the body internally. The art and science of assessing internally generated radiation dose is Internal dosimetry . The biological effects of ingested radionuclides depend greatly on
414-420: A major contamination incident, all potential pathways of internal exposure should be considered. Successfully used on Harold McCluskey , chelation therapy and other treatments exist for internal radionuclide contamination. Cleaning up contamination results in radioactive waste unless the radioactive material can be returned to commercial use by reprocessing . In some cases of large areas of contamination,
483-509: A new holding company , USR Industries, Inc., and merged itself into it. The Safety Light Corporation , in turn, was sold to its management and spun off as an independent entity in 1982. Tritium-illuminated signs were marketed under the name Isolite, which also became the name of new subsidiary to market and distribute Safety Light Corporation's products. In 2005, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission declined to renew
552-764: A new facility at the Bloomsburg plant opened for the manufacturing of "tritiated metal foils and tritium activated self-luminous light tubes," and the company switched focus to the manufacture of glow-in-the-dark exit and aircraft signs using tritium . Starting in 1979, the company underwent an extensive reorganization. A new corporation, Metreal, Inc., was created to hold the assets of the Bloomsburg plant. Manufacturing operations were subsequently moved into new wholly owned subsidiary corporations: Safety Light Corporation, USR Chemical Products, USR Lighting, USR Metals, and U.S. Natural Resources. Finally, in May 1980, U.S. Radium created
621-430: A particular inhalation hazard. Respirators with suitable air filters or completely self-contained suits with their own air supply can mitigate these dangers. Airborne contamination is measured by specialist radiological instruments that continuously pump the sampled air through a filter. Airborne particles accumulate on the filter and can be measured in a number of ways: Commonly a semiconductor radiation detection sensor
690-580: A short half-life, the best course of action may be to simply allow the material to naturally decay . Longer-lived isotopes should be cleaned up and properly disposed of because even a very low level of radiation can be life-threatening when in long exposure to it. Facilities and physical locations that are deemed to be contaminated may be cordoned off by a health physicist and labeled "Contaminated area." Persons coming near such an area would typically require anti-contamination clothing ("anti-Cs"). High levels of contamination may pose major risks to people and
759-422: A sign, shielded with bags of lead shot , or cordoned off with warning tape containing the radioactive trefoil symbol . The hazard from contamination is the emission of ionizing radiation. The principal radiations which will be encountered are alpha, beta and gamma, but these have quite different characteristics. They have widely differing penetrating powers and radiation effects, and the accompanying diagram shows
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#1732798062361828-475: A state-of-the-art radium refinery in Port Hope , Ontario in 1933. In addition to radium, Eldorado also produced silver , copper , and uranium salts. Radium production halted in 1940 when World War II closed European markets for radium material. Uranium was useless until scientists realized the enormous energy potential of the uranium atom. The company reopened the mine at Port Radium in 1942 to supply
897-619: A variety of causes. It may occur due to the release of radioactive gases, liquids or particles. For example, if a radionuclide used in nuclear medicine is spilled (accidentally or, as in the case of the Goiânia accident , through ignorance), the material could be spread by people as they walk around. Radioactive contamination may also be an inevitable result of certain processes, such as the release of radioactive xenon in nuclear fuel reprocessing . In cases that radioactive material cannot be contained, it may be diluted to safe concentrations. For
966-685: Is a useful comparative guide for selecting the correct technology for the contamination type. The UK NPL publishes a guide on the alarm levels to be used with instruments for checking personnel exiting controlled areas in which contamination may be encountered. Surface contamination is usually expressed in units of radioactivity per unit of area for alpha or beta emitters. For SI , this is becquerels per square meter (or Bq/m ). Other units such as picoCuries per 100 cm or disintegrations per minute per square centimeter (1 dpm/cm = 167 Bq/m ) may be used. The air can be contaminated with radioactive isotopes in particulate form, which poses
1035-434: Is encountered with naturally generated radon gas which can affect instruments that are set to detect contamination close to normal background levels and can cause false alarms. Because of this skill is required by the operator of radiological survey equipment to differentiate between background radiation and the radiation which emanates from contamination. Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) can be brought to
1104-540: Is monitored by specialised installed exit control instruments such as frisk probes, hand contamination monitors and whole body exit monitors. These are used to check that persons exiting controlled areas do not carry contamination on their bodies or clothes. In the United Kingdom , HSE has issued a user guidance note on selecting the correct portable radiation measurement instrument for the application concerned. This covers all radiation instrument technologies and
1173-449: Is used that can also provide spectrographic information on the contamination being collected. A particular problem with airborne contamination monitors designed to detect alpha particles is that naturally occurring radon can be quite prevalent and may appear as contamination when low contamination levels are being sought. Modern instruments consequently have "radon compensation" to overcome this effect. Radioactive contamination can enter
1242-528: The Fukushima nuclear accident of March 2011 from as much land as possible so that some of the 110,000 displaced people can return. Stripping out the key radioisotope threatening health ( caesium-137 ) from low-level waste could also dramatically decrease the volume of waste requiring special disposal. A goal is to find techniques that might be able to strip out 80 to 95% of the caesium from contaminated soil and other materials, efficiently and without destroying
1311-704: The International Commission on Radiological Protection has published a guide: "Publication 111 – Application of the Commission's Recommendations to the Protection of People Living in Long-term Contaminated Areas after a Nuclear Accident or a Radiation Emergency". The hazards to people and the environment from radioactive contamination depend on the nature of the radioactive contaminant, the level of contamination, and
1380-568: The Office of Strategic Services enlisted the company's help for tests of a psychological-warfare scheme to release foxes with glowing paint in Japan. After the war came another period of retrenchment. Not only did military supply contracts end, but luminous dial manufacturing shifted to promethium-147 and tritium . Also, radium mining in Canada ceased in 1954, driving up supply costs. In that year,
1449-669: The United States military with uranium products. The Government of Canada nationalized the company by purchasing share control in 1943. and in early 1944 the name was changed to Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited. In mid-1943 the District Engineer of the Manhattan Engineer District , Lt-Col Kenneth Nichols had several queries from Canada relating to contracts Canadian firms Eldorado Gold Mines and Consolidated Mining and Smelting (CMS) had for
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#17327980623611518-496: The Westclox Clock Company . Several workers died, and the health risks associated with radium were allegedly known, but this company continued dial painting operations until 1940. U.S. Radium's management and scientists took precautions such as masks, gloves, and screens, but did not similarly equip the workers. Unbeknownst to the women, the paint was highly radioactive and therefore, carcinogenic. The ingestion of
1587-430: The absorbed dose . When radioactive contamination is being measured or mapped in situ , any location that appears to be a point source of radiation is likely to be heavily contaminated. A highly contaminated location is colloquially referred to as a "hot spot." On a map of a contaminated place, hot spots may be labeled with their "on contact" dose rate in mSv/h. In a contaminated facility, hot spots may be marked with
1656-513: The thyroid gland takes up a large percentage of any iodine that enters the body. Large quantities of inhaled or ingested radioactive iodine may impair or destroy the thyroid, while other tissues are affected to a lesser extent. Radioactive iodine-131 is a common fission product ; it was a major component of the radioactivity released from the Chernobyl disaster , leading to nine fatal cases of pediatric thyroid cancer and hypothyroidism . On
1725-582: The 1930s and uranium beginning in the 1940s. The company was nationalized into a Crown corporation in 1943 when the Canadian federal government purchased share control. Eldorado Resources was merged with the Saskatchewan Mining Development Corporation in 1988 and the resulting entity was privatized as Cameco Corporation . The remediation of some mining sites and low-level nuclear waste continue to be overseen by
1794-468: The Geiger counter cannot. Scintillation detectors are generally preferred for hand-held monitoring instruments and are designed with a large detection window to make monitoring of large areas faster. Geiger detectors tend to have small windows, which are more suited to small areas of contamination. The spread of contamination by personnel exiting controlled areas in which nuclear material is used or processed
1863-685: The Government of Canada through Canada Eldor Inc., a subsidiary of the Canada Development Investment Corporation . Eldorado was originally established as Eldorado Gold Mines but, after finding radioactive deposits at Great Bear Lake , Northwest Territories in 1930, the company transitioned to primarily mining radioactive materials. Gilbert LaBine directed the company's development of the Eldorado Mine at Port Radium, Northwest Territories and built
1932-455: The Orange plant and selling off other property. But demand for luminescent products surged again during World War II; by 1942, it employed as many as 1,000 workers, and in 1944 was reported to have radium mining, processing, and application facilities in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania; Bernardsville, New Jersey ; Whippany, New Jersey ; and North Hollywood, California as well as New York City. In 1945
2001-472: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the commercial nuclear industry for decades to minimize contamination on radioactive equipment and surfaces and fix contamination in place. "Contamination control products" is a broad term that includes fixatives, strippable coatings, and decontamination gels . A fixative product functions as a permanent coating to stabilize residual loose/transferable radioactive contamination by fixing it in place; this aids in preventing
2070-750: The U.S. Radium facility processed half a ton of ore per day. The ore was obtained from "Undark mines" in Paradox Valley , Colorado and in Utah . A notable employee from 1921 to 1923 was Victor Francis Hess , who would later receive the Nobel Prize in Physics. The company's luminescent paint, marketed as Undark , was a mixture of radium and zinc sulfide ; the radiation causing the sulfide to fluoresce. During World War I, demand for dials, watches, and aircraft instruments painted with Undark surged, and
2139-539: The United States military ceased purchasing of Canadian uranium ores for the purpose of atomic weapons, and from then on uranium was produced for power plants. During this period the name of the company was changed to Eldorado Nuclear Limited, with Eldorado Aviation Limited operating flights to Port Radium. The Eldorado corporate records are housed in the National Archives of Canada . Port Hope has
United States Radium Corporation - Misplaced Pages Continue
2208-558: The activity, the biodistribution, and the removal rates of the radionuclide, which in turn depends on its chemical form, the particle size, and route of entry. Effects may also depend on the chemical toxicity of the deposited material, independent of its radioactivity. Some radionuclides may be generally distributed throughout the body and rapidly removed, as is the case with tritiated water . Some organs concentrate certain elements and hence radionuclide variants of those elements. This action may lead to much lower removal rates. For instance,
2277-411: The area affected is generally referred to as "contaminated". There are a large number of techniques for containing radioactive materials so that it does not spread beyond the containment and become contaminated. In the case of liquids, this is by the use of high integrity tanks or containers, usually with a sump system so that leakage can be detected by radiometric or conventional instrumentation. Where
2346-463: The body by a Reference Person, where t is the integration time in years. This refers specifically to the dose in a specific tissue or organ, in a similar way to external equivalent dose. Eldorado Resources Eldorado Resources was a Canadian mining company active between 1926 and 1988. The company was originally established by brothers Charles and Gilbert LaBine as a gold mining enterprise in 1926, but transitioned to focus on radium in
2415-402: The body through ingestion , inhalation , absorption , or injection . This will result in a committed dose . For this reason, it is important to use personal protective equipment when working with radioactive materials. Radioactive contamination may also be ingested as the result of eating contaminated plants and animals or drinking contaminated water or milk from exposed animals. Following
2484-561: The business of producing radioluminescent paint , and then to the application of that paint. Over the next several years, it opened facilities in Newark , Jersey City , and Orange. In August 1921, von Sochocky was forced from the presidency, and the company was renamed the United States Radium Corporation, Arthur Roeder became the president of the company. In Orange, where radium was extracted from 1917 to 1926,
2553-492: The case of fixed contamination, the radioactive material cannot by definition be spread, but its radiation is still measurable. In the case of free contamination, there is the hazard of contamination spread to other surfaces such as skin or clothing, or entrainment in the air. A concrete surface contaminated by radioactivity can be shaved to a specific depth, removing the contaminated material for disposal. For occupational workers, controlled areas are established where there may be
2622-631: The company consolidated its operations at facilities in Morristown, New Jersey and South Centre Township east of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania . In Bloomsburg, it continued to produce items with luminescent paint using radium, strontium-90 and cesium-137 such as watch dials, instrument gauge faces, deck markers, and paint. It ceased radium processing altogether in 1968, spinning off those operations as Nuclear Radiation Development Corporation, LLC, based in Grand Island, New York . The following year,
2691-729: The company expanded operations considerably. The delicate task of painting watch and gauge faces was done mostly by young women, who were instructed to maintain a fine tip on their paintbrushes by licking them. At the time, the dangers of radiation were not well understood. Around 1920, a similar radium dial business, known as the Radium Dial Company , a division of the Standard Chemical Company , opened in Chicago. It soon moved its dial painting operation to Ottawa, Illinois to be closer to its major customer,
2760-668: The company in 1927 by Grace Fryer and Katherine Schaub. The company did not stop the hand painting of dials until 1947. The company struggled after World War I: the loss of military contracts sharply reduced demand for luminescent paint and dials, and in 1922, high-grade ore was discovered in Katanga , driving all U.S. suppliers out of business except U.S. Radium and the Standard Chemical Company. U.S. Radium consolidated its operations in Manhattan in 1927, leasing out
2829-407: The contamination may be mitigated by burying and covering the contaminated substances with concrete, soil, or rock to prevent further spread of the contamination to the environment. If a person's body is contaminated by ingestion or by injury and standard cleaning cannot reduce the contamination further, then the person may be permanently contaminated. Contamination control products have been used by
United States Radium Corporation - Misplaced Pages Continue
2898-458: The environment. Elements like uranium and thorium , and their decay products , are present in rock and soil. Potassium-40 , a primordial nuclide , makes up a small percentage of all potassium and is present in the human body. Other nuclides, like carbon-14 , which is present in all living organisms, are continuously created by cosmic rays . These levels of radioactivity pose little bit danger but can confuse measurement. A particular problem
2967-475: The environment. People can be exposed to potentially lethal radiation levels, both externally and internally, from the spread of contamination following an accident (or a deliberate initiation ) involving large quantities of radioactive material. The biological effects of external exposure to radioactive contamination are generally the same as those from an external radiation source not involving radioactive materials, such as x-ray machines, and are dependent on
3036-450: The extent of the spread of contamination. Low levels of radioactive contamination pose little risk, but can still be detected by radiation instrumentation. If a survey or map is made of a contaminated area, random sampling locations may be labeled with their activity in becquerels or curies on contact. Low levels may be reported in counts per minute using a scintillation counter . In the case of low-level contamination by isotopes with
3105-706: The floor and any rags used to wipe up the spill. Cases of widespread radioactive contamination include the Bikini Atoll , the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado, the area near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster , the area near the Chernobyl disaster , and the area near the Mayak disaster . The sources of radioactive pollution can be natural or man-made. Radioactive contamination can be due to
3174-478: The human body from an external or internal origin. This is due to radiation from contamination located outside the human body. The source can be in the vicinity of the body or can be on the skin surface. The level of health risk is dependent on duration and the type and strength of irradiation. Penetrating radiation such as gamma rays, X-rays, neutrons or beta particles pose the greatest risk from an external source. Low penetrating radiation such as alpha particles have
3243-529: The human body irradiate the tissues over time periods determined by their physical half-life and their biological retention within the body. Thus they may give rise to doses to body tissues for many months or years after the intake. The need to regulate exposures to radionuclides and the accumulation of radiation dose over extended periods of time has led to the definition of committed dose quantities". The ICRP further states "For internal exposure, committed effective doses are generally determined from an assessment of
3312-502: The intakes of radionuclides from bioassay measurements or other quantities (e.g., activity retained in the body or in daily excreta). The radiation dose is determined from the intake using recommended dose coefficients". The ICRP defines two dose quantities for individual committed dose: Committed equivalent dose , H T ( t ) is the time integral of the equivalent dose rate in a particular tissue or organ that will be received by an individual following intake of radioactive material into
3381-593: The interpretation of the results. The methodological and technical details of the design and operation of environmental radiation monitoring programmes and systems for different radionuclides, environmental media and types of facility are given in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. RS–G-1.8 and in IAEA Safety Reports Series No. 64. Radioactive contamination by definition emits ionizing radiation, which can irradiate
3450-628: The intervening decades. In 2009, the EPA wrapped up their long-running Superfund cleanup effort. Radioactive contamination Radioactive contamination , also called radiological pollution , is the deposition of, or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirable (from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) definition). Such contamination presents
3519-483: The largest volume of historic low-level radioactive wastes in Canada, created by Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited and its private sector predecessors. By 2010 when it was projected that it would cost well over a billion dollars for the soil remediation project of the brownfield , it was the largest such cleanup in Canadian history. The effort is projected to be complete in 2022. According to their 2014 report,
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#17327980623613588-524: The licenses for the Bloomsburg facility, and shortly thereafter the EPA added the Bloomsburg facility to the National Priorities List for remediation through Superfund . All tritium operations at the plant ceased by the end of 2007. The chief medical examiner of Essex County, New Jersey , Harrison Stanford Martland, MD, published a report in 1925 that identified the radioactive material
3657-428: The loose/transferable contamination along with the product. The residual radioactive contamination on the surface is significantly reduced once the strippable coating is removed. Modern strippable coatings show high decontamination efficiency and can rival traditional mechanical and chemical decontamination methods. Decontamination gels work in much the same way as other strippable coatings. The results obtained through
3726-439: The material is likely to become airborne, then extensive use is made of the glovebox , which is a common technique in hazardous laboratory and process operations in many industries. The gloveboxes are kept under slight negative pressure and the vent gas is filtered in high-efficiency filters, which are monitored by radiological instrumentation to ensure they are functioning correctly. A variety of radionuclides occur naturally in
3795-724: The organic content in the soil. One being investigated is termed hydrothermal blasting. The caesium is broken away from soil particles and then precipitated with ferric ferricyanide ( Prussian blue ). It would be the only component of the waste requiring special burial sites. The aim is to get annual exposure from the contaminated environment down to one millisievert (mSv) above background. The most contaminated area where radiation doses are greater than 50 mSv/year must remain off-limits, but some areas that are currently less than 5 mSv/year may be decontaminated allowing 22,000 residents to return. To help protect people living in geographical areas which have been radioactively contaminated,
3864-489: The other hand, radioactive iodine is used in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases of the thyroid precisely because of the thyroid's selective uptake of iodine. The radiation risk proposed by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) predicts that an effective dose of one sievert (100 rem) carries a 5.5% chance of developing cancer. Such a risk is the sum of both internal and external radiation doses. The ICRP states "Radionuclides incorporated in
3933-455: The paint by the women, brought about while licking the brushes, resulted in a condition called radium jaw (radium necrosis), a painful swelling and porosity of the upper and lower jaws that ultimately led to many of their deaths. This led to litigation against U.S. Radium by the so-called Radium Girls , starting with former dial painter Marguerite Carlough in 1925. The case was eventually settled in 1926 and several more suits were brought against
4002-401: The penetration of these radiations in simple terms. For an understanding of the different ionising effects of these radiations and the weighting factors applied, see the article on absorbed dose . Radiation monitoring involves the measurement of radiation dose or radionuclide contamination for reasons related to the assessment or control of exposure to radiation or radioactive substances, and
4071-488: The radiation hazard, and the terms "radiation" and "contamination" are not interchangeable. The sources of radioactive pollution can be classified into two groups: natural and man-made. Following an atmospheric nuclear weapon discharge or a nuclear reactor containment breach, the air, soil, people, plants, and animals in the vicinity will become contaminated by nuclear fuel and fission products . A spilled vial of radioactive material like uranyl nitrate may contaminate
4140-492: The secret atomic bomb project; CMS or Cominco was building a heavy water plant at Trail, British Columbia and Eldorado was mining and processing uranium ore. He phoned C. D. Howe in Ottawa and arranged to travel on the overnight train to Ottawa and see Howe the next day (June 14). On arriving at the address given Nichols was surprised to find that Howe was the minister of munitions and supply, and found him most friendly . Howe
4209-442: The source term. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines this as "Types and amounts of radioactive or hazardous material released to the environment following an accident." Contamination does not include residual radioactive material remaining at a site after the completion of decommissioning . Therefore, radioactive material in sealed and designated containers is not properly referred to as contamination, although
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#17327980623614278-454: The spread of contamination and reduces the possibility of the contamination becoming airborne, reducing workforce exposure and facilitating future deactivation and decommissioning (D&D) activities. Strippable coating products are loosely adhered to paint-like films and are used for their decontamination abilities. They are applied to surfaces with loose/transferable radioactive contamination and then, once dried, are peeled off, which removes
4347-506: The surface or concentrated by human activities such as mining, oil and gas extraction, and coal consumption. Radioactive contamination may exist on surfaces or in volumes of material or air, and specialized techniques are used to measure the levels of contamination by detection of the emitted radiation. Contamination monitoring depends entirely upon the correct and appropriate deployment and utilisation of radiation monitoring instruments. Surface contamination may either be fixed or "free". In
4416-403: The units of measurement might be the same. Containment is the primary way of preventing contamination from being released into the environment or coming into contact with or being ingested by humans. Being within the intended Containment differentiates radioactive material from radioactive contamination . When radioactive materials are concentrated to a detectable level outside a containment,
4485-477: The use of contamination control products are variable and depend on the type of substrate, the selected contamination control product, the contaminants, and the environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, etc.). [2] Some of the largest areas committed to be decontaminated are in the Fukushima Prefecture , Japan. The national government is under pressure to clean up radioactivity due to
4554-472: The women had ingested as the cause of their bone disease and aplastic anemia , and ultimately death. Illness and death resulting from ingestion of radium paint and the subsequent legal action taken by the women forced closure of the company's Orange facility in 1927. The case was settled out of court in 1928, but not before a substantial number of the litigants were seriously ill or had died from bone cancer and other radiation-related illnesses. The company, it
4623-481: Was alleged, deliberately delayed settling litigation, leading to further deaths. In November 1928, Dr. von Sochocky, the inventor of the radium-based paint, died of aplastic anemia resulting from his exposure to the radioactive material, "a victim of his own invention." The victims were so contaminated that radiation could still be detected at their graves in 1987 using a Geiger counter . The company processed about 1,000 pounds of ore daily while in operation, which
4692-596: Was dumped on the site. The radon and radiation resulting from the 1,600 tons of material on the abandoned factory resulted in the site's designation as a Superfund site by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1983. From 1997 through 2005, the EPA remediated the site in a process that involved the excavation and off-site disposal of radium-contaminated material at the former plant site, and at 250 residential and commercial properties that had been contaminated in
4761-721: Was told about the Manhattan Project, and Nichols was told that Eldorado was now a Crown company. The Crown corporation held a monopoly on uranium prospecting and development in Canada until 1948. Together with a discovery of the Port Radium deposits, the Eldorado company opened the Beaverlodge Mine at Uranium City , Saskatchewan . It entered production in 1953. In the 1960s the nature of sales changed when
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