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Old 16th Apr 2019, 5:59 pm   #9
dr_nick
Triode
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: South Lakeland, Cumbria, UK.
Posts: 47
Default Re: HP 180A scopes - anything I need to know?

Dear Mr Bungle & Radio Wrangler,

Just to give you, and others, some reassure re the beryllium oxide issue you have been discussing, just in case they come into contact with similar items.

Acute beryllium disease is akin to a chemical pneumonitis and more often associated with inhalation of fumes or contact with soluble beryllium compounds. It requires a relatively high level of exposure to the extent that it has only be reported from beryllium manufacturing workers and even then has been extremely rare since the end of the 1950s with better occupational exposure controls.

Removal from exposure with supportive care is usually curative for acute disease. Fatalities have occurred and reported to be ~10% of cases in the reported 1950s foundry incidents. I'd expect us to do a lot better than that now if an acute case occurred.

Chronic beryllium disease (CBD) is the big problem, and that comes from repeated exposure to levels (usually) above the occupational health limits. These limits have been progressively lowered over the last 50 years to try to eliminate any cases.

CBD is an unusual disease as it is immune mediated and linked to a known gene variant. An inflammatory response in the lungs creates a granulomatous response (Mr Bungle this can be mistaken for sarcoidosis).

You are quite correct, therefore, to discourage any machining of beryllium materials outside of a controlled process area; this includes beryllium metal, beryllium alloys and beryllium ceramics (beryllium oxide).

However, intact beryllium ceramic insulators are perfectly safe to handle, and gross damage is unlikely to yield particles of a size that can be effectively inhaled; therefore risk from such items properly handled is very remote.

Hope that helps to set your minds at rest if you do come across any of these items.

Nick.
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