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There's a house in Lansdowne, PA that the government finally had to cart away in lead lined barrels because the family that lived there in the 30s had done some piecework for the radium factory ... I remember something about filling needles with radium.

It's mentioned in this superfund cleanup report, as well as in this PDF file which details another superfund site in the area.

There's also the kid who scraped enough radium off of old clocks to make a nuclear breeder reactor in his garage.

Not quite. He dismantled current production Smoke Detectors.

I knew I shoulda found the link...

edit:

Quote:

Wanting radium for a new gun, David began visiting junkyards and antique stores in search of radium-coated clocks. He'd chip paint from them and collect it.

He did clocks, too.

Don't sweat it. After all, you've blundered into one of my areas of interest. I knew it wasn't old clocks, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what he had used, which is why I had to go find the link.

See my edit - he did both!

Cool, we're both right.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elspode

I have some fused sand, called Trinitite, from the Trinity site.

It is my understanding that I'm not supposed to, but I do.

DHS is currently en route to your house.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolf

Dr. Kabakjian's house was where he radium coated needles they were using in several local hospitals. It was a medical technique he had invented.
He and his whole family died of cancer.
He wasn't entirely stupid though, he had tons and tons of sand he used for shielding. Unfortunately that same sand was sold to masons and used in the cement, stucco and brick mortar of many local projects. :smack:

Quote:

The history of the Austin Avenue Radiation Site is intertwined with that of the former Superfund Site, the Lansdowne Radiation Site, which was a twin house located at 105-107 East Stratford Avenue in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. A former University of Pennsylvania professor, Dr. Dircran Hadjy Kabakjian, owned the house at 105 East Stratford Avenue, and also worked for Cummings while the company conducted its radium refining operation at the warehouse. While a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Kabakjian developed a crystallization process for the refining of radium, and then sold the process to Cummings. He worked as a consultant to Cummings until 1924, when he set up his own radium processing business in the basement of his home at 105 East Stratford Avenue. The major product of hi s home business was radium-filled implant needles which were sold to medical professionals for the treatment of cancer. The radium refining process developed by Dr. Kabakjian and practiced at Cummings? warehouse used yellowish, shale-like material known as carnotite ore which was mined from deposits in Utah and Colorado. One ton of carnotite ore could produce approximately one-tenth of a grain of radium. During Cummings? years of operation at the Union Avenue warehouse, its radium output is estimated to have been three grams per year. The radium extraction process generated waste tailings. These tailings contained two residual radionuclides--radium 226 and thorium 230. The tailings, which are sand-like waste materials, were either given or solid to local building contractors and others. During the seven years that Cummings operated at the warehouse, those persons used the tailings in mortar, stucco, plaster, and concrete used to build or renovate houses in the area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolf

Cool, we're both right.

No, you're both wrong. He really bought uranium from Africa, but Rove, with W's blessing, outed Wilson's wife before she could expose the deal.

Sorry, I couldn't help it. :lol:

Hey, I was pretty close from memory, Jinx. :blush:

Wait a minute, did this kid have Judith Millers aluminum tubes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Hey, I was pretty close from memory, Jinx. :blush:

Very. I didn't know anything about it at all, that's why I went lookin'
Some crazy shit...