History United States Radium Corporation

radium crystallization laboratory, orange, nj

u.s. radium s management , scientists took precautions such masks, gloves, , screens, did not equip workers. unbeknownst women, paint highly radioactive , therefore, carcinogenic. ingestion of paint women, brought while licking brushes, resulted in condition called radium jaw (radium necrosis), painful swelling , porosity of upper , lower jaws led many of deaths. led litigation against u.s. radium so-called radium girls, starting former dial painter grace fryer in 1927. case settled in 1928. company did not stop hand painting of dials until 1947.

the company struggled after world war i: loss of military contracts sharply reduced demand luminescent paint , dials, , in 1922, high-grade ore discovered in katanga, driving u.s. suppliers out of business except u.s. radium , standard chemical company. u.s. radium consolidated operations in manhattan in 1927, leasing out orange plant , selling off other property. demand luminescent products surged again during world war ii; 1942, employed many 1000 workers, , in 1944 reported have radium mining, processing, , application facilities in bloomsburg, pennsylvania; bernardsville, new jersey; whippany, new jersey; , north hollywood, california new york city.

after war came period of retrenchment. not did military supply contracts end, luminous dial manufacturing shifted promethium-147 , tritium. also, radium mining in canada ceased in 1954, driving supply costs. in year, company consolidated operations @ facilities in morristown, new jersey , south centre township east of bloomsburg, pennsylvania. in bloomsburg, continued produce items luminescent paint using radium, strontium-90 , cesium-137 such watch dials, instrument gauge faces, deck markers, , paint. ceased radium processing altogether in 1968, spinning off operations nuclear radiation development corporation, llc, based in grand island, new york. following year, new facility @ bloomsburg plant opened manufacturing of tritiated metal foils , tritium activated self-luminous light tubes, , company switched focus manufacture of glow-in-the-dark exit , aircraft signs using tritium.

starting in 1979, company underwent extensive reorganization. new corporation, metreal, inc., created hold assets of bloomsburg plant. manufacturing operations subsequently moved new wholly owned subsidiary corporations: safety light corporation, usr chemical products, usr lighting, usr metals, , u.s. natural resources. finally, in may 1980, u.s. radium created new holding company, usr industries, inc., , merged it.

safety light corporation, in turn, sold management , spun off independent entity in 1982. tritium-illuminated signs marketed under name isolite, became name of new subsidiary market , distribute safety light corporation s products.

in 2005, nuclear regulatory commission declined renew licenses bloomsburg facility, , shortly thereafter epa added bloomsburg facility national priorities list remediation through superfund. tritium operations @ plant ceased end of 2007.