I have a set of sights I removed from a P220, 2010 manufacture date. They still glow, so what can I do with them? I am pretty sure I can't just throw them away. Any ideas?

I’m sure someone has posted something on the Internet about it, but I don’t know any reason why they can’t just be thrown away. It’s very unlikely that the lamps will release the tritium before it decays completely, but even if it doesn’t, the gas would dissipate almost immediately. Further, I have a statement from one company that I give to my students claiming that one would have to be exposed to the amount of tritium in 10,000 lamps inside a 10 × 10 foot room to reach the danger level.

If you wanted to in order to avoid violating some landfill regulation, you could use an awl or something similar to pierce the lamps yourself. Do that on a windy day outdoors, and I suspect you’d be exposed to less radiation than by picking up a piece of granite rock.

Or you could just offer them up as a karma here; someone would probably be interested.

You could start a charm bracelet.

Send them off to be relamped?

Turn them into mood rings?

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
You could start a charm bracelet.

Or earrings for your wife or daughter?

If the level of radiation isn't that bad, then there's got to be a way to set them up so that you can pee accurately in the dark.

The only NRC requirements, I am aware of, pertain to manufactures and distributors not users or buyers. The largest use of tritium is likely in exit signs.

I would suggest contacting the manufacturer for proper disposal methods if you wish to be environmentally friendly.

I swallow them to kill the polyps in my large intestine.

Thank you for the replies. As intrigued as I am by Il Cattivo's idea, I'm not sure how the whole attaching the sights would go. Of course the I'd need to attach a weapon light to positively identify the target and...I am going to go with Sigfreund's suggestion and karma them off.

Karma them off if they still glow. Somebody might want them and not have the means to purchase a set.

Interesting question. Since I worked with X-ray and some radioactive cobalt in a previous life I'm going to look into this.

I did find these statements on Trijicon's Web site:

What is tritium?

"Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. It is an odorless, tasteless, colorless gas that reacts with the human body in the same manner as natural hydrogen. Beta rays from the tritium hit phosphors to create the glow you see. Tritium has a half-life of 12.5 years, which means that in that time the lamp will be half as bright as it originally was."

Is tritium harmful?

"According to documentation by health physicists in statements on file at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), it would take the simultaneous rupture of 10,000 of these small glass capsules in a small room 10 foot by 10 foot to potentially constitute a radiation health hazard. For this reason, customers need not be concerned about the potential risk of the night sight system. Furthermore, our front sight is 0.018 curies and the two rear sight dots are 0.018 curies each. A complete sighting system is 0.054 curies. This is less than many tritium watches, which have up to 0.200 curies or roughly four times as much radioactivity. In addition, the weapon is not as close to the body, and in less constant use than a watch."

I did learn that fire exit signs contain a much larger quantity of tritium and that many of the sign resellers have facilities to safely recycle depleted signs.

I E-mailed Trijicon about tritium sight disposal and will post their reply when received.

Karma or sell them off. They're still a good set of metal sights. Somebody will want them.

quote:

Originally posted by bonanacroin:
Thank you for the replies. As intrigued as I am by Il Cattivo's idea, I'm not sure how the whole attaching the sights would go. Of course the I'd need to attach a weapon light to positively identify the target and...I am going to go with Sigfreund's suggestion and karma them off.

^Superglue.

Just use them as regular sights.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Just use them as regular sights.

Or dab some "Glo-On" paint on them....

I'd happily take them off your hands, assuming a P6 will accept the same sights as a P220. My P6 has plain steel sights without any dots at all, and I find them difficult to use.

You get more radiation from the sun. They are a sealed source.

There is also such a thing as radon naturally occurring.

The public does not understand radiation or nuclear physics.

There are plenty of people walking around who of had a PET scan or a thyroid ablation that are hotter than a fire cracker. Guess where that isotope goes; down the toilet. It's all about energy and half life.

Karma. One mans junk, is another mans treasure.

I got a few responses back from several tritium sight manufacturers regarding old sight disposal:

XS Sights - "End user is exempt from regulations in the US. You can just chuck it in the trash."

Meprolight - "Dispose of the old tritium sights in the trash."

Truglo - "Legally we are not able to advise you on tritium disposals."

Trijicon - They will issue a return authorization for return of old tritium sights. There is a link for return authorizations on the Trijicon Web site.