Are nightsights dangerous because of the radiation they emit?

[Alan Fud]

http://www.blackcatsystems.com/science/radprod.html ...

... They may not be quite so safe. I decided to place one on a pancake GM detector. The readings went from 55 CPM background to about 210 CM. I then removed the actual glass tube (with the tritium and phosphors) from the plastic holder, and the reading jumped to about 690 CPM. I suspect that the betas are hitting the glass, and creating x-rays, with a peak energy of 18 keV. The plastic absorbs most, but not all, of them ...

... found the above when doing general reserch on radiation. What does everyone think?

I carry one in an inside the waist belly band right up against my skin -- wonder if I might be slowly killing myself.

 

[Jim March]

Well you didn't post the picture of the Tritium source he was actually testing:



If those are key rings at the top of the pic, then a), these are WAY bigger than gunsight tritium vials (by a factor of 4+) and b), gunsight tritium vials are mostly surrounded by metal, instead of plastic.

I would assume both factors make a difference.

 

[madhatta]

I am exposed to some radiation sources due to my job- so, I have taken great pains in researching the topic. We are all exposed to natural and man-made background radiation everyday. The nite sights on any gun are of absolutely no concern-- same goes for the glowing dials of many watches. If you really want to see a detector get pegged, go put any camping lantern's mantle up next to it. I am not sure of the how and why of this, but mantles are pretty 'hot'. Another interesting item is the loudly colored plate ware from the 70's- "Fiestaware" it was called. The coatings on these have uranium in them, and they are 'screaming'... but these and many other examples are nothing to get alarmed about.

 

[buzz_knox]

I'm an idiot. I meant to say "no, they're not" and completely turned the question around in my head. Night sights don't emit enough radiation to be of a concern.

 

[LAWDOGKMS]

I was a Radiographer for 10 yrs..

I worked with live radioactive sources, some of them up to 150 curies, which is 885 RAD/HR @ 1 foot. Enough to melt the skin off your fingers in seconds..

That said, I was very safe and received less than 200 mr measured over 10 yrs from the radiation work.

Normal background radiation in nature is 360 mr/yr per person..

You will get this dose from the sun, antique vaseline glass, lantern mantles, spark plugs from the 40's, thoriated tungsten tig welding rods, luminous watches, computer monitors, smoke detectors, brick building etc etc etc........

In my opinion, these keychains are not any more dangerous than sunbathing........

 

[Double Naught Spy]

While tritium is radioactive, you have to understand that not all radioactivity is the same. Tritium gives off weak beta particles that apparently cannot penetrate the skin. Where one gets into trouble is by introducing tritium to the interior of the body. This can be through breathing in tritium gas or drinking tritiated water.

Being cautious around radioactive materials is a good thing. In the case of tritium gas inside keyrings, watches, and weapons sights, there should be no risk short of breaking open one of the vials and breathing the gas contained inside.

See the following sources for more information...


http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cach...eets/het.pdf+tritium+radiation&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/tritium.htm

http://www.isolite.com/abouttritium.htm

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/EHS/prod/researchlab/radlaser/manual/appendices/safety/h3.htm

 

[Handy]

FYI, Every time you fly at 30,000 feet (like on an airliner), it's like getting a chest xray.

I'm mainly pointing out that this is small potatoes compared to all the other radiation sources you are encountering that you haven't noticed - yet.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

Handy, are you sure you still get radiation flying at 30,000 feet inside an airplane? or would it just apply if you are flying Super Man style without the benefit of an airframe?

 

[Handy]

Yep. A double wall beer can and plexiglas windows aren't like wearing lead underpants.

 

[Penforhire]

Hmm, I did wonder a little about my tritium-vial watch. But as others have said, weak beta (electron) radiation is easily stopped by skin.

When I went through rad safety training one of the things I remember is how the eyes (and gonads) are especially sensitive to radiation, compared to the rest of our bodies.

So it may not be a "good thing" to stare at your night sights from an inch away all night long. But even that probably won't hurt... Anyone here worried about your cell phone frying your head?

 

[Handy]

I do not own a portable microwave emitter and noggin warmer.


People get really upset if you talk about the cell phone problem. They'll talk about some of the studies (commisioned by ATT, MCI and the like) that say it doesn't hurt you. Do enough digging and you'll see a lot of data suggesting that it can, and that no really good long term data yet exists.

You all are free to do the first generation tests for the rest of us.

 

[Mal H]

The radiation Handy is talking about at 30,000 ft is gamma rays. The airplane might as well not be there, since it isn't much of a shield against gamma.

On the other hand, it's good that the airplane is there since it sure makes flying at that altitude (or any altitude for that matter) a whole lot easier.

 

[Desert Dog]

It also makes flying at that altitude a lot more comfortable and warmer...

 

[voilsb]

tritium vial systems are quite safe. as one poster said, you average 360mr/yr from normal everyday life. my tritium vial watch (which has way more tritium than any night sights will, because it's got the hour and minute hand, plus the hour markings) emits 4 mr/yr, raising my average annual dosage from 360 to 364 mr/yr. since we don't know if that 360 is 3.6x10^2 or 3.60x10^2, it's safe to say that it is an insignificant exposure difference.

and assuming it's 360.00 vs 4.0000, you're only increasing your exposure by 1.1%, and that's with a watch. a random guess says night sights will be 1/2 that level.

in other words, it's perfectly safe

 

[rebbryan]

i read a story a while back about a california town that wouldn't allow the officers put the night sights on their guns b/c the politicians declared it a "nuclear free zone"

 

[gharsh]

For those of you really worried about radiation damage from you night sites, just send them to me attached to a gun and I'll make sure that you don't have to loose sleep over it.

 

[firestar]

Another interesting item is the loudly colored plate ware from the 70's- "Fiestaware" it was called. The coatings on these have uranium in them, and they are 'screaming'... but these and many other examples are nothing to get alarmed about.

That Fiestaware made in Mexico years ago may also contain lead in the glaze and it is not safe to eat off some of it. The new stuff is O.K.

I remember reading a envirormental paper about nuclear contaminated sites and up in Michigan (where they make Tritium Nite Sights), there have serious serious environmental damage due to contamination of ground water and soil.

From what I have seen, it doesn't appear that night sights pose any real threat to your safety, just don't put you night sights directly next to you nuts if you want normal kids. It only takes one mutated sperm to produce a mutated baby. I think this is what happened to Michael Moore.

 

[AJ Dual]

Keyring...

Hmm,

Is this website in England?

I want one of those Tritium keychains, and all the sites that sell them seem to be in the UK or Australia. I've never seen one for sale in the US.

Probably violates some kind of DOE regs for max allowable Tritium or something.

They probably figure that Osama will buy about a million of them and cut them open all at once.

 

[Waitone]

IIRC tritium is an alpha particle emitter. Alpha particles are successfully shielded with dead skin. Alpha particles have to be ingested to be dangerous either by breathing or eating and even then the level of danger is indetermined.

Tritium night sights are as dangerous as smoke detectors which use alpha particle emitters.

Don't worry about it.

 

[gbelleh]

I once heard that beer contains more radiation than the water of a nuclear cooling tower. Don't know if it's true or not.

Anyone else ever hear of that?

 

[Erik]

"Are nightsights dangerous because of the radiation they emit? "

No, but I find that the third eye I've grown eliminates my need for them anymore.

 

[Mal H]

Waitone - Tritium is a beta particle emitter. It can't be an alpha emitter since an alpha ray is essentially a Helium nucleus (2P + 2N), so, since it only has one proton, it can't expend what it doesn't have unlike the US Congress.

 

[Sisco]

Is Tritium harmful?

From Trijicon's website:
According to documentation by health physicists in statements on file at the US NRC, it would take the simultaneous rupture of 10,000 of these small glass capsules in a small room 10 foot by 10 foot to potentially constitute a radiation health hazard. For this reason, customers need not be concerned about the potential risk of the night sight system. Furthermore, our front sight is 0.018 curies and the two rear sight dots are 0.018 curies each. A complete weapon system is 0.054 curies. This is less than many tritium watches, which have up to 0.200 curies or roughly four times as much radioactivity. In addition, the weapon is not as close to the body, and in less constant use than a watch.

 

[Penforhire]

Of course, you should never really trust the NRC or OSHA permissible exposure limits. If you have any history in the field of hazardous materials you'll notice how the TLV's (threshold limit values) and other exposure limits seem to drop over the years as we know more than we did before.

So what is "10,000 vials" today could be 100 or even 10 tomorrow. Especially for chronic systemic effects.

 

[zpo]

The keyrings are considered a novelty by whoever make these decisions. Thus they cannot be imported by a company. But it does not seem to be illegal to personally ship them in. There are many in preparedness and gadget communities that have ways of getting them. If you search through related forums, you can find people who will sell them to you. I know of someone in Holland that sell the keyrings and Swedish firesteels to raise money for a Boy Scout troop.