Quote:
Originally Posted by suebutcher
Was thorium the radioactive material in the gas regulator tubes, or something else? Are valves like the 0A2 going to stop working eventually even if they're unused?
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There are various materials listed as used. Not sure about OA2 (must check one). They won't stop working in general, but the strike voltage will go up. This kind of thing was mainly done for specialist gas-filled tubes e.g. used for radar, but it may have been done for ordinary voltage stabilisers to make them more predictable.
BTW do not assume that alpha emitters do not emit gamma too. You get secondary nuclear reactions so the end result is often a bit of everything!
Old aircraft instruments are often very radioactive. The worst I have met is the BABS indicator. If you don't have a radiation meter then you can check by shining UV light onto anything that has that characteristic brown/yellow coloured paint. If it does NOT glow then assume the worst!
Later instruments had the phosphors but no radioactive material so needed a UV illuminator to work.
Some of the army sets were bad too. WS62 is very bad!