Tritium and the NRC and Ebay

[mattrg]

Hello all,
I got suspended from ebay for trying to sell some of those vials I had and the email from ebay stated that the NRC had asked for its removal due to its hazard and said reported via FIT. It also stated "clear intent".

Could I be in trouble with more that Ebay here? (USA).

This might be a good thing to consider for all us in the USA.

Serious thoughts?

Matt

[Jumpmaster]

It never occurred to me to sell tritium vials on ebay for that reason. I don't think any good can come from it...

JM-99

[mattrg]

It never occurred to me to sell tritium vials on ebay for that reason. I don't think any good can come from it...

JM-99

I figured that this site would have been just as bad a place if the problem were as real as its turning out to be. There are several USA people here that have trit for sale too.

I just dont see them getting much out of catching one or two USA people selling a few vials. What could they do to me? FIne me $10,000? I have nothing to get, haha!

I also dont see a judge giving them much with no notices from them to me. Ebay is ebay. They cancel all sorts of stuff that is 100% legal to own. Most people dont even know what tritium is, let alone that its restricted to non frivolous use. And what is a non frivalous use anyways?

Oh well, good thing I didnt go and buy any more for those tritium vials for the keychains I wanted to start making and selling.

matt

[Infrared]

We're not supposed to sell Marathon Navigator's on there anymore because of the tritium either.

[ThumperACC]

Tritium vials??? Seriously?!?!?

There is so little radiation there it is a joke.

The NRC and Ebay need to get over themselves, that is pathetic.

I could see if you were trying to sell a 10,000gallon truckload of the stuff, but some vials???

ThumperACC

[mrg02d]

I think that its funny that people in the USA can have guns, but not tritium. (I am for guns, btw).

Just seems silly...We are way over regulated, thats for sure! Try to buy some glass chemsitry ware and see what happens...

[Iansstud]

Hello all,
I got suspended from ebay for trying to sell some of those vials I had and the email from ebay stated that the NRC had asked for its removal due to its hazard and said reported via FIT. It also stated "clear intent".

Could I be in trouble with more that Ebay here? (USA).

This might be a good thing to consider for all us in the USA.

Serious thoughts?

Matt

That sucks!!! Goodluck

[candl2263]

Wait, busted for just selling the tiny vials found for button mods and gun sights? I knew there were some tough regulations re: manufacture, but didn't know selling pre-made items was an issue. Does ebay de-list every tritium-equipped watch? I'm wearing one right now!

[Joben]

Most people dont even know what tritium is, let alone that its restricted to non frivolous use. And what is a non frivalous use anyways?

Well...if a tritium vial is a device intended basically as a marker light, and it's put on watches and gun sights...then a frivolous use might be...I donno ummm...no wait...buying hundreds of them to fill a glass vase?

Imagine if this logic was applied to light bulbs. They're legal to own for, you know...putting in every light in your home...but if you try to sell some you get in trouble, because people might be doing something silly with them...

This seems so insane to me that I'm having trouble even formulating a coherent counterargument...because I can't figure out what the opposing position is.

[twolucky]

Lawmakers lack common sense so silly laws get passed. Guess I'm supposed to feel safer with tritum only on my watch hands and not my neighbors keychain.

[tygru]

I have seen some tritium items for sale recently, but they weren't listed as having tritium. What I'm talking about are the older T.A.D. gear trit thumb studs, a few sellers offering them on pimped or custom dauntless knives. But I figured it was a no go since a tritium search pulls up nothing on that site.

[DM51]

Lawmakers lack common sense so silly laws get passed.

That's about the size of it. Unfortunately, all too often they also lack knowledge and have no desire to acquire it, which is just as bad. If you combine those things with the politician's natural desire to feel important by passing laws that make us all jump around to their tune, that's where you get problems.

[omar]

That's about the size of it. Unfortunately, all too often they also lack knowledge and have no desire to acquire it, which is just as bad. If you combine those things with the politician's natural desire to feel important by passing laws that make us all jump around to their tune, that's where you get problems.

Interesting... I spent a few hours today looking for tritium, that's how I came on this cool forum. So, maybe no tritium, but a whole mix of flashlights & engineering I never knew existed. i need to find the glossary for this place ;-)

[StarHalo]

Tritium gas dramatically increses the yield of a nuclear detonation device, that's why the Feds would prefer there not be a lot of it lying around..

So, maybe no tritium, but a whole mix of flashlights & engineering I never knew existed. i need to find the glossary for this place ;-)

There's still quite a bit of tritium to be found on the Marketplace; I won't direct-link to it out of respect for Matt, but seek and ye shall find..

[russthetoolman]

Market it as glow in the dark zirconium, silicon or crystal , they wouldn't know the difference. They most likely use software to scan for keywords

[StarHalo]

"Mattrg's Genuine Swamp Gas"

[APOLLO153]

has anyone here ever had any trouble getting their tritium vials shipped into the US? i just ordered one from another thread and i would be kinda upset if USPS confiscated it. i would be even more upset if, after they confiscated it, they put me on some kind of watch list. lol

[Frangible]

Tritium is basically undetectable, I couldn't pick up any bremsstrahlung off a whole mess of vials with a very sensitive scint counter. There are specialized devices to detect it but you'd have to break open the tube and prevent it from escaping (as hydrogen goes up pretty fast)... more for measuring tritiated water after it's been accumulating in the environment a while.

It takes 6 grams of tritium to boost a nuclear weapon's primary fission stage (in the pit). That is a lot of tritium. It costs about $30K/gram. Maintaining that amount of tritium with its short half-life is relatively expensive.

The laws were created when the US needed tritium during the cold war and did not want civilian use threatening national strategic use. In a production reactor at the time you could transmute a little tritium from lithium-6, or quite a bit more plutonium-239 from uranium-238, so its mere production had significant opportunity costs.

However, since then, domestic production of tritium and other useful commercial and medical isotopes has been abandoned due to the anti-nuclear movement (who ironically keep using medical isotopes...) and it's basically all imported. Think most of the tritium is made in Britain these days, and France / Canada make most of the other isotopes.

The NRC isn't exactly an anti-nuclear organization, but they do enforce the law and really frown on selling vials from exit signs. Shutting down eBay listings is pretty easy and takes a lot less resources than say, raiding you. Resale of gun sights with tritium, tritium compasses, and watches with NRC approved amounts of tritium are not legally prohibited nor do they require a license. Selling unlicensed vials, removed smoke detector elements, etc, they will probably shut down.

[shao.fu.tzer]

I used to sell my indestructible "Eternaglow" trit markers here until someone pointed out that they got busted by the NRC for doing something similar... Luckily I managed to sell my remaining stock within a couple of days and got my investment back at least... I'm not about to mess with any government agency. Too bad really, because I really liked making and selling them... The guy who sold me the signs that I made them from was booted from Ebay about a 2 weeks after selling them to me. I kept expecting black suits and guys in hazmat gear to knock at my door! They really need to change the law...

[Komitadjie]

Good lord, I'm glad they don't leave dangerous stuff like that laying around! Why, if you bought thirty million little vials (and just happened to have a couple PHDs in nuclear engineering, and five or so kilograms of plutonium in your closet) you could build a thermonuke! Cripes, you could melt down aluminum cans for the case of the device, we better ban those too!

... You really have to wonder some times, don't you?

[Sunburntpenguin]

Does anyone know (or have a link) to the exact laws concerning the sale of tritium. I've heard from nuclear engineering friends who have glowrings that it's legal to have but illegal to sell since they're a "frivolous use of radiation." Word of mouth can be wrong, though, so I just wanted to see if anyone here knew more in detail.

[slackdart]

Interesting, I wonder how many flashaholics have thumb cancer from tritium exposure off clicky flashlights.

[twang]

talk about regulation australia doesn't allow laser >1mw............

[csshih]

Interesting, I wonder how many flashaholics have thumb cancer from tritium exposure off clicky flashlights.

none. I've tested a few vials in a nuclear science lab at my uni and they don't show up on the detectors..

Craig

[DM51]

I wonder how many flashaholics have thumb cancer from tritium exposure off clicky flashlights.

The radiation does not even penetrate the glass of the vial. Only the light does. It is therefore impossible to get any type of cancer from it - there's no exposure to radiation.

If you happened to break a vial, the gas would escape but it would disperse very quickly. You would need to breathe in the tritum gas from 43,578,206 vials every day for 19 years, 5 mos. and 24 days to get nostril cancer.

[duffahtolla]

Does anyone know (or have a link) to the exact laws concerning the sale of tritium. I've heard from nuclear engineering friends who have glowrings that it's legal to have but illegal to sell since they're a "frivolous use of radiation." Word of mouth can be wrong, though, so I just wanted to see if anyone here knew more in detail.

This is just from memory, but I remember some discussion about how they passed a US law banning radiation from children's toys. On the face of it, it's very reasonable. Unfortunately, keychains are considered 'toys' for imports. So they're not ilegal to own, just ilegal to import or sell. I'm not sure how true this is, but it's what I remember.

[Chapman]

So let me ask. When the vials you talking about loose thier light does that mean the Tritium has broken down? Is it still considered Tritium then?

[51coronet]

"Legal to have but illegal to sell". That's kinda humorous. Makes it look like we all make our own trit trinkets or they are given to us for free......

[LEDAdd1ct]

Tritium is a radioactive element. As radioactive elements break down, they turn into something else.

With a half life of 12.3 years, in those 12.3 years:

1) 50% of the original tritium will still be present

2) 50% will have decayed to helium

[dlancello]

My guns HAVE tritium sights! I would like to have access to viles for that very reason. I install sights on firearms of all makes and ages and it would be nice to offer "night sights" for guns that dont have replacement tritium sights available.