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Strategies & Market Trends : Joe Copia's daytrades/investments and thoughts -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: musicguy who wrote (3963)	6/1/1998 12:17:00 PM
From: Andrew H	Respond to of 25711

>>So does using this night sight make your testicles glow in the dark? << Depends on which part of your body you sight with. (:>) It takes two years to get a license for the use of tritium so I imagine the safety concerns are strictly regulated and enforced. According to the company, "Customers include more than 100 government agencies throughout the country. This client base includes [police] departments in some of the largest metropolilan areas such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Houston. In addition they have a technology licensed from the US Gov which enables people to walk sidesways or vertically on iron/steel surfaces above or below water. Some of these "grippers" were recently sold to the Australian military. Also they have a technology which enables underwater patching of breached tanker hulls. Its a sexy story. Check out exchange2000.com for additional details. Also check out price and volume today.

To: musicguy who wrote (3963)	6/1/1998 8:48:00 PM
From: Tom Swift	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25711

MG, Tritium is not that bad as radioactive materials go. Some off the cuff facts are: Tritium (T2) is a gas (isotope of hydrogen), half life ~12.5 years, pure beta (electron) emitter with energy ~ 17 keV. You can shield this level of beta energy with a piece of paper but inhaling the gas would not be good (I have read a toxicology study but won't bother getting into it). Tritium has a number of uses, the most prominent of which is in enhancing the yield of thermonuclear weapons -- because of this it is highly regulated. Another common use for tritium is making very dim light sources that last for 20-years and require no electricity. This type of light is basically a glass tube coated with a phosphor and then filled with tritium. There is an NRC exception for this use, but selling the lamps involves a lot of paperwork and you (the buyer) are required to verify that you installed the lamp correctly and did not try to take it apart. You can buy a tritium exit sign from electrical supply houses for about $200. Watches and gunsights are two other common uses for tritium lights. Back in the 80's there was a big scare in Arizona about tritium from a watch plant contaminating the food in a nearby school. The plant was closed down, and all of the T2 companies that I am familiar with are now very low-key as a consequence. There are not very many of them and the entry barriers are high due to the need to qualify for the NRC exemption. T2 Gunsights are not new, but do work well(because they are dim)and a two-color version (no big deal to do) will probably sell well.