If I recall correctly according to Trijicon a long time ago, it would take exposure to 100x that amount to even pose a risk. The issue is having a license to procure vast amounts of radioactive Tritium necessary to manufacture those vials profitably and safely. If it were a risk then Luminox could not bring the public watches each with 13 separate vials of tritium.

 

As I remember, they were using a radium compound on the watches, that released tritium gas as it decayed, which can be absorbed into the body. The radiation the radium dial watches gave off was absorbed by the metal and glass in the watch.

Don't know what the exact exposure is from modern tritium sights would be, but I'm guessing it is so low as to be near non-existant.

The real hazard in the old radium watches was to the people manufacturing them.

 

...I know that watchmakers stopped using it on watch faces because of the radiation. confused:
Tom

Are you sure you are not thinking of Radium? that stuff was dangerous it could be scraped off and would end up in your food, lungs, you get the idea. Tritium on the other hand is a gas with a very short half life that is as far as radioactive stuff goes. I would rather think that expense and difficulty in the manufacturing process was the issue, I still have an old digital with the stuff in it somewhere.

 

Agreed, pretty sure you are thinking of radium having to be discontinued, which it was in watches in the 1960s, switching to tritium or promethium.

Tritium is not much of an offender if it remains sealed, being only a beta and gamma emitter, and most of that not getting past the watch face or I suppose the sights. The reason this is relevant is that some radiation types make other things radioactive, and that is quite bad, or themselves can get incorporated into the body; but neither beta nor gamma rays do that.

(Not that you want to be exposed to high levels of either, but very low levels are not to be worried about.)

 

Yep, it could have been radium I was thinking about. Very interesting subject though. Thanks for the comments. Anyone else feel free to jump in.

 

I don't think that tritium emits gamma rays...only beta. Could probably find out for sure with a quick Google, but I'm just not that concerned. Radium, on the other hand, does emit gamma rays.

 

Tritium

Tritium is predominantly a beta emitter, with about a 12 year half-life. (12 years later, half of the original amount has decayed.) Radium is what was used in the older watches (have one from my father). Radium is a potential problem being both an alpha and gamma emitter.

The issue with the watch makers was that the people who painted the radium onto the dial and watch hands used to "point" the brush by using their lips, ended up ingesting radium. Also a fair amount of site contamination from the painting operations. An old radium watch will register on a geiger counter through the lens. Tritium is MUCH less energy.

Hope this helps.

 

From Trijicon's website FAQ:

03. Is tritium harmful?
According to documentation by health physicists in statements on file at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (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 sighting 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.

 

You are correct and I was mistaken, tritium is not a gamma emitter but pure beta. I didn't have my CRC handy and, in finding a source for the info on when radium was discontinued in watches, obtained the misinformation. Didn't seem right but I just assumed I had been mistaken (as that has surely happened before) and as a result passed on that mistake instead of, as I should have, seeing if any further sources made the gamma claim. Thanks for the catch.

 

Tritum's decay to Helium-3 releases ~18.5keV, of which 6.5keV in kinetic energy for the emitted electron. This level of energy of beta radiation can not penetrate your skin. You would have to breath/drink it. Even then, it would have to be in significant quantity.

In fact, far larger quanities of tritium gas are used in large, self illuminating exit signs.

 

For workers in the Canadian nuclear plants that used to get gassed up the utility would give out vouchers for six packs of beer, send you home and make you drink it. Next day, no more tritium but I believe they kept you banned from containment for 3 days.

I don't think they still have this policy.

I'm at over 7R for my lifetime dose, with 4 or 5 uptakes and skin contaminations all baby stuff that decayed in the span of a couple of hours or days.

*The average person gets about 1 millirem a day with those working under fluorescent lights for extended periods gathering a tad more.

 

One caveat about Luminox watches: If you're shooting a pistol with Tritium sights, be careful not to get the dial of the watch too close to the sight(s). It's my understanding that the disaster at Chernobyl began when a security guard let his tritium watch-clad wrist rest on his sidearm's tritium sights.

 

One caveat about Luminox watches: If you're shooting a pistol with Tritium sights, be careful not to get the dial of the watch too close to the sight(s). It's my understanding that the disaster at Chernobyl began when a security guard let his tritium watch-clad wrist rest on his sidearm's tritium sights.

Oh, you so funny, GI!

 

...Just curious if anyone knows what the radiation level of tritium sights is? I know that watchmakers stopped using it on watch faces because of the radiation. That may even have been because of P.R. issuesand I'm not sure if they quit using it completely. They may have just decreased the radiation level. It must be very low level and I'm not that concerned about it, just more curious than anything. Anyone out there have the facts on this?

Tom

We carry Radiation detectors at work. They read on a scale of 1-9. I don't remember the dosage levels that each number reads at, but they are very sensitive. The minimum dosage for 9 is still safe to be around, but Procedure says we have to move away from a 9 because it's the top of our scale, and we don't know how much higher it goes.

A person who has gone to the doctor for those heart workup x-rays where they inject radioactive dye will register around a 4 a week or two after the visit. Military compasses will usually register a 5. Just a couple weeks ago, a camper came through with a big bag of treated mantles for their propane lanterns that picked up a 2. We regularly see truckloads of potash, propane, and even cat litter, that set them off.

Anyway, the point of all of this, is that all of these things that are considered safe and acceptable levels, will register on the detectors. We've piled 6 of our duty weapons together, and can't get the detectors to even register a 1.