Fiesta Ware (ca. 1930s) General ‘The accompanying photo shows two pieces of Festa wate produced by the Homer Laughlin Company of West Vigna: a Fista red saucer and an ory bow In each ease, uranium wae Ueda provide the color ofthe glaze Athough the rasioacviy of oth easy detectable, that ofthe Fiesta regis head and shoulders above the Woy. “The Fiesta dinnerware ne was troduced in 1095 wth a choice of fv colors: ed, blue, aveen,yelow and Wry. Redas the fist color thatthe company selected when designing the Product and blue was the second (these were the cols ofthe Fiesta ware that Andy Wathol cok Tested). Since the ea was to mic and match the dnnenvare the fve clare had to be compat Fiesta rea has always been the most popular colo! even though Ras the most expensive ‘The higher pice wae duet the cost ofthe rw mata andthe factthatthe producton ofthe {ed requied » greater lve of conrl during the feng process. “The fed color as achieved by adding uranium oxide in the glaze ~ measurements have - cated tet by weight up to 14% ofthe glaze might be uranium. Hon much gaze was err ployed per pate unclear butt hat been estimated that a single plat contains 45 grame of ‘ranien (Buckley eta) Pesch etal estimated the glaze tides at0.2 mm, ‘Since this uranium eould be used in the producton ofan atomic bom, Festa ed became a ‘tim of Werld Wari when the US government confiscated the companys stocks of uranium. Fr ‘stared ds appeared unt 1950 when producbon resumed, ths te using depleted uranium (OU) Fatherthan the orginal natural uranium. The Pesta ted plate inthe above photo was made for ‘depleted uranium hie the wary plate was made fom natural uranium. In 1000 the ene Fiesta ware ne wae discontinued, and ne place the company pro duced whatwas known as Fiestalnstone. The later which was ony manufactured in Festa Yea (aka Mango Red), did lastlong. twas discontinued in 1973. Ths was the end of Fiesta ‘ed, Yeats late, in 1085, 2 nev ne of Fiesta wate wae invoduoed butwithout the red cla. Ris worth noting that the use of uranium to produce ard ceramic glaze was not ited to Fiesta ware. Almost any antique esramicwith a deep orangeled color kel tobe radioactive, ‘9. that produced bythe Bauer Pottery Company. In addon, various manufactures, cluding ‘the Homer Laughlin Company, have used uranium te give the ceramics othe colors, eg. yea, green, brown. Buckley et al estimated that2 mien peces of dinnemate beeen 1050 and 1060 that employed uranium containing glaze Estimates of the Radiation Exposures ‘Avery detaled analysis of te adation exposures due to uranium in dinner can be ound nthe Nuclear Regulatory Commission publcaton Systemabe Radiological Assessment of Exemptions fo Soutce and Byproduct Mateias"(NUREG 1717) 1936 — 1943 Fiesta red was produced using natural uranium ‘There ae thee principal radiation exposure pathways associated with Festa Ware and other ua. nium containing tableware: 1 Exposure tothe body fom the gamma rays emited by radanuclds inthe ceramic glaze Bushey etal reprtad exposure rates of and 18 mfr atthe surface ofa dinner plate and 1959 - 1969 Fiesta red Fiesta Ware (0.002 and 0.3 mir at one meter ‘ . ‘The folloning efectve dase equivalent rates were reported in NUREG-1717 forthe gamma rays was produced using depleted uranium cerned by uranium containing dinnenvare 20 % by weight uranium): Distance 10" Piste 35 Cup 1969 - 1973 Fiesta red Fiesta Ironstone ‘foot 85x 10-4 mem 37x 10-4membv i, . Bfeet 77 x105 ment 410108 meme was produced using depleted uranium Gfeet 18x 105 menvar 1.4% 10-5 meme 2. Exposure tothe hands fom the beta patclesemited by radionuclides inthe ceramic glaze ‘Using fim badges, Menczsr measured beta gamma dose rates of05 to 20 mrad on contactwih vaious Rens of glazed ceramic dinenvae, He calulted that ‘the hands would receve approximately 2to 10 em per yeat a 2 1esuE of handling such dinnerware 15 houts pet day Piesch etal measured 32 mem pet hour atthe surface of aed eeramie teacup. Assuming daly use ofthe cup, they estimated an annual dase to the Eps of 400 fiver and 1200 mem tothe fingers NUREG- 1717 ealeulated the beta dose ates ata depth of mplem2 (Le. the nominal depth ofthe getminallaer ofthe shin) a5 wel asthe estimated effective dose equivalent. tas assumed that the source vas 210 inch damete plate with 220 % by weight uranium content. Datance Dose Rate Efecve Dose Equivalent Rate Contact 2amad, (0.0024 mere ‘oot Oss mad 2.002% serv Beet 0.060 rade 45x 104 mvenvhe ‘The tate benveen the efectve dose equvalent ate and dose rates vary wih dstance because the further away fom the soutc, the greater the tea of skin that nas exposed 3. Ingestion of uaniom thathas leached ito food thathas been in contactoith the ceramic gaze ienalg and Schmit measured uranium concentiatons of 18198 ppm (8 x 10-6 to 2.9% 10-6 uC) in acetic acid hatha been i cortactvth red glazed ce ‘amie dnneare for24 hous. The range of concenvaions went upto 41 to ppm (14x 10-5 to 17x 10-5 ui) for 60 hous of contact ‘Landa and Councel measured uranium concemtationsof3.9 to 106 uglite (13x 100 38 x 10-9 uGim) in wate, 470 to 31300 upiter (18 x 10-7 1.4 10-5 uC in acete ac, and 8,00 to 904000 uglier (3:2 x 10-5 to 1 10-3 uC) in nie aid In each case, the sehtons had been contact withthe dinnerware fo 24 hous. Landa and Councell noted that repeated exposure to these solutons resulted ina reduced leaching of uranium. Based an the above leaching fates fr 24 hour contact periods, NUREG-1717 estimated that an individual using thing but is ype of dinnetate might consume 0.21 glams of a nium per year. Then, using an ingestion dose fatr of 19. 10-4 mremug, NUREG-1717 estimated that such anindvidual mighthave an effective dose equiva Tent of 40 mem per yea. The wae the highest dose calulted in any ofthe exposure pathnays considered by NUREG-1717. Pameneugsouens crea. tntporantgiant sf souce mae {Guay pron iseemperan he egunw i prTatd40® De equanen Ret cer sch t2 fe Ar Re amnesty eens Ls 8s oF RSE: (Biotic mebelotane se logpnach oncom soci, pom Bere ee emnaraoeta poy eine BeBe ‘icky era eumen Asesenente Consumer Prac Conming Racbacte Nebel Muck Regu my Commis NUREGICA775. 1080. ‘ina sna count Lscangct Lu fo ss 4nd Sami Pood andar fie fens ea Pcs @) SONU 1008 Nate! uncon Races Posen sudan? Foden Pour of be US. Pople fn Coser Pacis ata Mceaneous SUES MCRD Report. 5.187 [Neaor Say Commi, sjeenax Peangtal Ascanen ff emp ou ata bystoschrbi WIRES TTY es) FRE eta ne rae reso bebe fob sn Ue Psd od microg Unni Pant Pc Dane 1