I’m a huge, huge fan of vintage stuff, from enamel cookware to old quilts. I happened upon an article today that talked about the level of radium in vintage ceramic glazes on old dishes, and well, a whole lot of other things I use daily.
I have my eye on some vintage USSR items on Etsy- just kitchen type things. It got me wondering whether they would be especially radioactive? Not so much because they might have radium in their paints and glazes but because there was the whole Chernobyl thing. Should I avoid buying anything vintage from Russia, especially eating or cooking with it?
How do define “vintage”? Are the items from before or after the 1986 disaster?
With the caveat that I’m not any sort of radiation expert, it seems to me that if the items are from before 1986, then any Chernobyl derived radioactivity would be from surface contamination which would wash right off. If they’re from afterwards then I suppose that it’s conceivable that fallout could have been baked into them.
Note that this is different from the problem of radium deliberately added for aesthetics, or added inadvertently. That’s a concern in older ceramics regardless of Chernobyl.
Chernobyl is in Ukraine. American ignorance notwithstanding, Ukraine and Russia are different countries, though both were part of the USSR.
While fallout from the Chernobyl disaster did affect a small part of Russia, it mainly affected Belarus (another country of the former USSR that isn’t Russia) and Ukraine. So, actual Russian goods from Russia are highly unlikely to have been affected by Chernobyl, and any affect would be minor.
In the reality, unless you’re talking about goods from within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (which is, remember, in Ukraine, not Russia) then there’s zero chance of there being any perceptible residual radiation from the Chernobyl disaster on your vintage Russian goods.
As you state, it did affect a small part of Russia, so it is conceivable that Russian goods could be affected by it. Also, it’s conceivable that raw materials could have been imported from Ukraine. So it’s unfair to attribute this discussion to “American ignorance” of eastern European geography. I’m quite aware that Ukraine and Russia are two different countries. :rolleyes:
Well, I’ve had arguments with Americans on this forum who insist on calling the USSR “Russia” and the peoples of the USSR “Russians”. So if you’re an American who does know the difference, good for you, but don’t assume your countrymen/women all share your knowledge.
Anyway, my actual point was that in 2013, there’s realistically zero probability that anything from anywhere in the former USSR is measurably radioactive from the effects of Chernobyl, with the possible exception of items from the Chernobyl area itself. And I say that as someone who has personally bought items (mostly clothing and militaria) from Russia. I have no worries at all about radioactivity.
The radiation in antiques doesn’t come from nuclear accidents. Here’s an EPA article about radioactive glazes on certain pottery such as Fiestaware, some irradiated glass, etc.
For the most part, don’t eat or drink from these items, enjoy them on a shelf or bookcase. The levels in most of these collectibles is detectable and daily use of dishes,teapots, decanters, etc is not recommended, but living with the objects isn’t considered a serious hazard.
Just as a guess, I believe the Soviet-era Eastrern Bloc items (I refuse to regard anything as “vintage” that is younger than I am) are less likely to be radioactive than American-made items.
I do not believe they had the uranium ores needed to make that orange glaze.
Chernobyl was neither the only, nor the largest nuclear incident in the former USSR. You might want to read up on the Kyshtym/Chelyabinsk region, which was the rexcipient of three nuclear mishaps (although none were quite as impressive as the Chernobyl meltdown, they produced more contamination):
I haven’t heard anything about export goods from anywhere in Russia being a contamination problem. I suspect that you’d do better to be aware of things like Uranyl Glass, which is still available on the antiques market, radium dial clocks and watches (the infamous “Radioactive Boy Scout” found a bottle of radium paint inside one of these, intended for “refreshing” the hands), and the like.
That was my thought as well. I have a beautiful piece made by AndrewL. It’s a vintage vaseline glass marble surrounded by a ring of ultraviolet light emitting diodes. Vaseline glass flouresces on exposure to ultraviolet light. So, as the LED’s blink on and off in their pattern the marble flickers and glows like a dragon’s eye.