Safety of Tritium Vials

[Dogliness]

I mentioned to my wife recently that I ordered a flashlight with a tritium vial. She questioned the wisdom of bringing tritium into our house, and printed an article published by the EPA on tritium and gave it to me.

Does anyone have any information about the saftey of tritium vials used in flashlights?

[ACMarina]

A great deal of us have tritium in one place or another - keyrings, watches, flashlights..

There are even exit signs made with tritium vials on them, and they're never going to fail in a power outage..

Basically, as long as you don't break them vial open and eat/drink it, you'll be okay. There are much, much more dangerous things out there for you. I understand where you're coming from, though - my girlfriend was told horrible things YEARS ago about what made the hands on a clock glow in the dark, and she doesn't even like to touch my watch (Luminox). She's adjusting, though..I think a sweet glowring will help..

[WAVE_PARTICLE]

Tritium is a mildly radioactive gas that releases low-energy rays when decaying. The energy is low enough that it cannot pass through the outer layer of our skin. Just don't ingest it.

WP

[kennyj]

A trip to the dentist or a trans-atlantic flight poses a far greater risk in terms of radioactive exposure. Hell, sitting too close to a TV screen is probably more dangerous than having some tritium indicator lighting on your person.

This has been discussed to death in the past, the search button will find some detailed discussion of exactly how and where tritium vials can be dangerous... but basically, you either have to be extremely unlucky, extremely stupid, or downright suicidal in order to hurt yourself in some way with tritium, and even then, the health risk is minimal.

[John N]

Tritium glowring risk assessment

Are Tritium Traser Glowrings Dangerous?

Tritium detection?

What is a Tritium Vial?

Broken Tritium vial on my Aleph Tailcap

-john

[Dogliness]

Thank you very much for the responses. Thanks in particular to John N for going to the trouble to links to the threads.

[Planterz]

Are there any alarms/detectors commonly used at airports that might be set off by tritium? Like on my H3 watch or a McLux PD? I have no plans to fly anytime soon, but I'm still curious.

[kennyj]

I remember reading in one of the above threads that , in short, only absurdly sensitive equipment can pick up on radiation from H3 vials unless said vial and said equipment are in direct contact with one another. Even then, it's not a sure thing.

The low-energy beta particles that do manage to get past the phosphors and glass will deteriorate very rapidly even in air - a few inches worth of air molecules should stop almost all of them dead. If you have any fabric over the objects in question, chances are that nothing would get by.

A watch would easily be covered by long shirt sleeves, or you could wear it on the inside of your wrist so most of what few particles escape would be sent towards and absorbed by your body rather than the surrounding area. As for the light, a jacket or untucked shirt would take care of it.

Another possible solution: some members have reported that a Maglite switch cover makes a decent cover for the PD's piston, and does a very nice job of holding itself in. My PD seems to be no different; in fact, I plan to test this out in real-world use tonight. Using this "mod" would defeat the purpose of an H3 vial, but if you have any concerns about making it through an airport or subway system, it should do the trick just fine.

[John N]

Originally Posted by kennyj

This has been discussed to death in the past, the search button will find some detailed discussion of exactly how and where tritium vials can be dangerous...

I think search is still foobar. None of the old threads are indexed yet AFAIK.

-john

[42]

Originally Posted by Planterz

Are there any alarms/detectors commonly used at airports that might be set off by tritium? Like on my H3 watch or a McLux PD? I have no plans to fly anytime soon, but I'm still curious.

I have two glowrings that are usually in my carry-on and I have yet to have a problem. Even at Newark International where paranoia runs deep.

Mark