United States Radium Corporation

    The U.S. Radium Corp. is a radiation site located in Orange, New Jersey. This site was used to operate a radium processing plant from 1917-1926. During its operation, waste generated from the plant was disposed of both on and off the property of the facility. This waste contaminated the site and local properties with radium-226. 

    Radium-226 is a highly radioactive isotope with a half-life of 1600 years. Radium-226 emits ionizing radiation and decays into radon gas. When directly exposed to people, the radioactive dust particles can be inhaled or ingested, causing adverse health effects with an increased chance for certain types of cancer. The United States Radium Corporation was used to extract and process radium from carnotite ore. 

    The extracted radium was then sold and used for medical purposes and luminous paint. This luminous paint was especially in high demand for dials, watches, and aircraft instruments painted with luminescence paint. During its operation, about a half-ton of carnotite ore was processed each day. In 1926, the U.S. Radium Corporation ceased its extraction and processing. 

    The United States Radium Corporation employed around 100 workers, and about 70 of them were women. While working on the smaller number dials on thee watches, the owners of the company told the women to use their mouths to point the brush. Though there somewhat was an understanding of radium’s dangers, these women still used their mouths to help themselves paint on the dials. Due to the high volumes of radiation being this close to their mouths, many of these women began to suffer from diseases, such as anemia, bone fractures, and necrosis of the jaw, (radium jaw). Today these women are known as the ‘Radium Dial Girls’

    When New Jersey officials came to the realization of the dangers this level of radiation may cause in the early 1980s, they took immediate actions to protect both human health and the environment. In September 1983, the EPA placed the site on the Superfund programs National Priorities List.  Following this, between 1989 and 1993, the EPA completed a broader remedial investigation and feasibility study, further assessing the level of contamination in the area. In 1991, the EPA took interim removal actions in an attempt to mitigate the radiation’s threat to human health and the environment.