Nukem?

Here's a tidbit from World Nuclear News: Russia's AtomStroyExport (ASE) has completed its purchase of the Nukem Technologies subsidiary of Germany's Nukem. The two companies signed a contract in August regarding the sale of the business, which specialises in decommissioning, waste management and engineering services.

There was no mention of any plans to change the name of the company. Apparently no one's figured out yet that it might seem inappropriate in some English-speaking countries for a company whose business is nuclear safety to be called Nuke 'Em!

Clifton Update

While looking for Bradwood Landing, I came across signs of the dead town of Clifton. Yesterday, I happened across more information about the town on an old 1993 episode of "Oregon Field Guide." Apparently it was a small fishing settlement, one of many that used to dot both sides of the Columbia River. Immigrants from a variety of countries used to fish this stretch of river in sailboats called "butterfly boats" because of the shape of their sails. A passenger train from Portland stopped at Clifton twice a day. Nothing is left but an abandoned general store, some railroad tracks, and some pilings, which used to support houses. There was also a dance hall and a tavern. Apparently the residents of Clifton were of Mediterranean background, because they used to order up a rail car or two of grapes every year and make their own wine.

Delicious, refreshing uranium

Today the New York Times reported on the alarming number of Safe Drinking Water Act violations that have occurred in the past five years, including “illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium, as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage.”

If the Bush administration goes down in the kind of infamy it deserves, it won’t be for being too conservative — it will be for being criminally lazy. 

Anyway, the mention of uranium reminds me that it’s high time to tell the story of the glowing green cocktail glasses at the top of this blog. Actually, they were probably meant to be berry dishes, and sold as part of a genteel set of glassware of a style known as Depression glass, or vaseline glass, or uranium glass. The distinctive feature of this type of glass is its green color, which was achieved by glassmakers in the 1880s through 1960s by adding uranium to the glass. In regular light, it’s a pretty, clear, pale green that looks just right in grandma’s kitchen. But under black light, it glows like the Chevy Malibu at the end of “Repo Man.”

According to my extensive Wikipedia research, it’s safe to drink out of, but it’s not recommended that you drink liquids that have been stored in it. It will set off a Geiger counter.  

If you happen to be in Japan, you can check out the Fairywood Glass Museum, http://kanko.town.kagamino.lg.jp/fairywood%20english%20ver/ dedicated to uranium glass “with mysterious shine,” which they manufacture in an adjoining studio. You can also find uranium glass in pretty much every antique mall in America.