Radioactivity and our hobby

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

I did find one US Army document date June 1999 that basically said all vehicles and aircraft produced before 1969 should have the gauges removed before the vehicles are disposed of by the US Government.

That's why the Netherlands Army's GMC CCKW trucks disposed of in the 1980s had their dials removed. They were supplied under MDAP so were handed back to the USA after being struck off service. The US government did the correct thing by having the second careful user remove the hazardous material before selling off the trucks on their behalf.

H.

[Richard Farrant]

I remember back in the 70/80's, a lot of the lorries in Britsh Army had their guages checked for radioactivity. Most "amusing" thing was the air guages on the AEC Militants, they affixed a warning triangle label on the face so you could not read the air brake pressure

[Bob Carriere]

What if the Canadian Guverment finds out the risk of working on CMPs.... dropping axles off the axle stand, smearing ourselves in cancer producing petroleum compounds, sandblasting lead base paint, siphoning gas with our mouthes, and eating breakfast at Rosa without washing our hands......countless mind numbing hours on the web looking at MLU postings....

.... we will all be confiscated !!! bagged and tagged......


We are heading for H*ll .........

Bob

[rob love]

As I recall, when the drivers took their 5 tons over to supply to turn them in, they parked the trucks out back and had to bring the control panels in to the R&D guys. I think all those trucks went to Cold Lake for targets. Most of them were 1976 vintage, so likely would not have had the radium gauges anyway unless some old stock turned up.

Back in the 90s, I helped set up an outdoor museum display at the Moose Jaw armouries. A few years after I left that province, the geiger counter guys went through and if the alarm read any amount of radioactivity from any one of the guages, they undid the four screws on the control panel and ripped the whole thing out.

[Harry Moon]

My CMP set off the radiation detectors at the border a couple of times. Kind of an interesting exercise for them. My speedometer and oil pressure gauge are the only original ones and while they don't even glow after holding a flashlight on them they still set off the detectors. I'm actually quite happy that they can pick up that minute amount.

[cletrac (RIP)]

Those guys should go to Russia. I had a talk with an oilfield worker who worked over there and he told about a glass-like patch of ground they crossed. Oh, that's just where we put out a well fire with a tactical nuke! Nobody even considered that there might be a radiation problem! I told him to get a personal radiation detector and carry it at all times.

[Eric B]

A few years back i borrowed a radiation detector and tested various vehicles and gauges that i had access to.

The 19 set on/off switch (glow in the dark removable cap) and the 1953 M38, 1953 M38A1 Convoy light switch cap had the highest readings while the needles on the original MB gauges were also high. These were very localized and the readings dropped drastically when the detector was moved farther away.

The 1967 M38A1 and 1974 M151A2 gauges did not pick up any substantial radiation.

The original WW2 gauges did have radioactive readings, higher than personal limits permitted.

The reproduction gauges had no readings.

If the gauges are off white, closer to a cream colour, thicker than normal, cracking, flat finish, then there is a good chance that it is original and is radioactive. Do not take these apart to rebuild.

I have talked to US Border Patrol Supervisors and they suggested that we notify them in advance if we plan on taking a MV across the border, which might have radioactive gauges. So that when the sensor alarms go off they have an idea of what it is.

The article was published in CMP #42 2007.

Thanks

Eric