[Milsurplus] Milsurplus Radiation - UK Military overreaction

[Roger Basford]

Hi All,

The subject of radioactive equipment markings has been exciting the Health & 
Safety people over here in the UK recently! There have been reports of rare 
radio equipment held in museums that come under military control being 
disposed of to avoid radiation hazards to Joe Public. Apparently, a Royal 
Navy facility that can handle hazardous waste has been used to destroy the 
equipment, rather than it being dumped somewhere. I know of one private 
museum locally that has voluntarily moved smaller radio items into glass 
cases rather than open display to comply with HSE requirements.

There was a thread on the (VMARS) Vintage & Military Amateur Radio Society's 
Yahoo group recently which carried a lot more detailed info, as that's a 
members-only site I could copy the relevant postings to anyone interested, 
but the gist is that unless you pick the paint of the equipment and eat it 
then you're unlikely to suffer more then a minute fraction of the natural 
radiation we're all exposed to. However, it keeps lots of government 
employees in a job so expect the situation to get worse rather than sense 
prevailing..

73,

Roger Basford, G3VKM

 



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