tritium vials...why so expensive?

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Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,440
2,864
W.Sussex
Bare glass, or encased in borosilicate?

They all tend to be expensive, but really do last for many years. I have a blue one, well into its halflife, that still works fine on a bag that Beachlover sold me many years ago.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Minute amounts are needed, but Tritium costs around 25 000 UKP per kilo. As it is a radioactive substance the manufacture of those items is fairly expensive.

Tritium paint to paint on watch dials and hands is really expensive too.
 

Bishop

Full Member
Jan 25, 2014
1,716
691
Pencader
Why is it so expensive...

Aside from the fact you need a nuclear reactor to make it Tritium also has a darkside being a vital component of many nuclear weapons. If you could get enough of it in one place, say a lump the size of a tennis ball. Then compress it enough to cause "detonation" you would get a bang equivalent to approximately 90 metric tonnes of high explosive and one hell of a neutron burst.So it's manufacture and distribution are tightly controlled.
 

Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,390
640
50
Wales
The vials used to be made pretty much by hand too.

Been looking for a source of 18mm diameter tritium spheres, seems they were readily available on CPF a while back. But pretty expensive.
 

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