Where to buy tritium keychain/smallvials online shipped from US?

[Twisted]

There are no LEGAL US-made tritium keyrings.

Asinine as it is, tritium glow vials are relegated to "Non Trivial Use" by the US department of energy.

The allowable uses are:

Gunsights
Compass needle and watch markers
Emergency glow EXIT signs etc.

Keychains and "find your camping gear in the dark" tabs are not allowed.

There is however a huge grey market in them, and I don't think the US .gov cares too much knowing how minor the actual radioactivity risk is. Some natural stone used in building construction is a much more powerful emitter than the beta electrons from the tritium infused paste in a glow vial.

So there are US gray-market re-sellers for tritium keychains/markers, but they all came from China or Europe anyway.

Hey, Is the radioactivity slightly dangerious from these or is it completely safe and I can put it on my head all day without getting a tumor lol, I think this could be very intresting and fun to play with, I'm in Calgary, AB Canada do you think I could get one?

 

[joeyss]

It's safe provided you have something like the vial and stuff have glass or something to block the beat particles that aren't absorbed by the phospher. Is there any natural small trace amount beta emmiters I can easily get hold of? I just wanna try some with a phospher myself and other things a 405nm excites.

 

[AJ_Dual]

Yep, it's safe. The tritium is a beta emitter, which is a high velocity electron. That's what makes the phosphors in the tube glow with visible light. Just like the electrons striking the phosphor dots in a CRT tube TV or computer monitor. A tritium tube in a plastic keychain, you can't even detect it when it's laid right on the sensor of a Geiger counter.

The tube's glass, the phosphors the beta electrons are striking, the plastic in the keychain, a few inches of air, a sheet of paper, or cloth is more than enough to stop a beta particle.

The only way a tritium vial would hurt you is if you smashed it open. While tritium is just an isotope of Hydrogen gas, and would float away, it's usually bound up in some sort of grease for the tubes, and if you got a dab of it on your skin, you'd eventually get a little black blistered spot where the cells were killed by the beta particles.

David Hahn aka "The Nuclear Boy Scout" had some tritium burns when as a teen, he conned a mail-order hunting place to send him dozens of tritium tube bowhunting sights, from which he extracted the tritium enriched grease/paste, and then returned as "defective" to the supplier.

If you actually did smash open the vial, and just threw it out, and didn't eat it, and washed your hands afterward, you'd be fine. The average home in the US, UK, or Canada has household chemicals, insecticides, petrochemicals etc. that are much more toxic and dangerous than tritium is.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

Yep, it's safe. The tritium is a beta emitter, which is a high velocity electron. That's what makes the phosphors in the tube glow with visible light. Just like the electrons striking the phosphor dots in a CRT tube TV or computer monitor. A tritium tube in a plastic keychain, you can't even detect it when it's laid right on the sensor of a Geiger counter.

The tube's glass, the phosphors the beta electrons are striking, the plastic in the keychain, a few inches of air, a sheet of paper, or cloth is more than enough to stop a beta particle.

The only way a tritium vial would hurt you is if you smashed it open. While tritium is just an isotope of Hydrogen gas, and would float away, it's usually bound up in some sort of grease for the tubes, and if you got a dab of it on your skin, you'd eventually get a little black blistered spot where the cells were killed by the beta particles.

David Hahn aka "The Nuclear Boy Scout" had some tritium burns when as a teen, he conned a mail-order hunting place to send him dozens of tritium tube bowhunting sights, from which he extracted the tritium enriched grease/paste, and then returned as "defective" to the supplier.

If you actually did smash open the vial, and just threw it out, and didn't eat it, and washed your hands afterward, you'd be fine. The average home in the US, UK, or Canada has household chemicals, insecticides, petrochemicals etc. that are much more toxic and dangerous than tritium is.

Tritium is NOT dangerous nor Toxic even in the amount confined within the vial. It is a Beta emitter but a weak one. The Energy from a Beta Electron of H3 atom can not penetrate even the 1st layer of skin. You'd need a huge amount (swimming pool sized) to pose any sort of health risk and even that might be stretching things a bit. (unless you jumped in)
Water (naturally occurring) has very minute (trace) amounts of both Tritium and Deuterium in it. You get far more exposure from Radioactive (Potassium 40) K40 from Potassium in iodized salt than you would Tritium. Truth is stranger than fiction...

 

[GBD]

+1 for the merkava ones, they are very nice. (he also sells bare vails pretty cheap, just right now he is out of stock for the large greens )

Hey, Is the radioactivity slightly dangerious from these or is it completely safe and I can put it on my head all day without getting a tumor lol, I think this could be very intresting and fun to play with, I'm in Calgary, AB Canada do you think I could get one?

I don't know what the deal in US is, but Im in the same province as you. From the vails and keychains Ive ordered, I never had an issue with customs, so I say go for it.

Other then that, what those guys said. You must do something exceptionally stupid with these vails for it to harm you.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

I heard all sorts of BS about Beta-lights being dangerous or unavailable in Canada due to Radioactivity and so-on ... total BS. The primary reason why beta-lights aren't more common in Canada or US is that they are used by military and LEO. Quite a few Beta-light distributors do large orders only and aren't set up for small time distribution.