A Gammator was a gamma irradiator made by the Radiation Machinery Corporation during the U.S. Atoms for Peace project of the 1950s and 1960s. The gammator was distributed by the "Atomic Energy Commission to schools, hospitals, and private firms to promote nuclear understanding."^[1] Around 120-140 Gammators were distributed throughout the U.S. and the whereabouts of several of them are unknown, although the Department of Energy has removed and destroyed many of the units. Atoms for Peace was the title of a speech delivered by Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in New York City on December 8, 1953. ... Almost a year after World War II ended, Congress established the United States Atomic Energy Commission to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. ... The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy and nuclear safety. ...

Specifications

A Gammator weighed about 1,850 pounds and contained about 400 curies of cesium-137 in a pellet roughly the size of a pen.^[2] The curie (symbol Ci) is a former unit of radioactivity, defined as 3. ... Cesium 137 is an American synthpop musical group composed of Isaac Glendening and Vince Guzzardo. ...

Concerns

Because of the massive shielding of a Gammator, the machine is very safe when used as intended (e.g. school science experiments); according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, it is similar to machines used to irradiate blood.^[3] However, this amount of nuclear material could pose a significant problem if used as the radioactive component in a dirty bomb. The term dirty bomb is primarily used to refer to a radiological dispersal device (RDD), a radiological weapon which combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. ...

References