These contaminants a r e found in highly purified analytical reagent material made from these minerals. To obtain views of interested persons concerning this problem, the N R C subcommittee sent a questionnaire to .500 persons. This included 16 major reagent chemical companies, manufacturers and suppliers in t h e nuclear field, the American Chemical Society, American Pharmaceutical Association, Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, and individuals known t o be active in this field. One p a r t of the questionnaire r e lated to the need for establishing standards of purity for reagents which might contain radioactive impurities. Only a limited number of answers were received. Committee members considered this strange, since the problem affects most of those surveyed. Some arc concerned. One major supplier said t h a t it was difficult to fill orders for rare earth materials "low" in radioactive contamination, since there are no standards. A manufacturer of radiation detection equipment sometimes h a s to shop for reagents with minimal amounts of such isotopes as uranium. An analytical chemist reported the presence of 10 u % radium in a batch of sodium hydroxide. P u b lished articles report thorium impurity in eerie salts high enough t o interfere with their use as oxidimetric standards. Some chemists indicated t h a t they have had to go through elaborate purification procedures on "reagent grade" chemicals to reduce radioactivity levels to a point where the réagents could be used in radiochemical analysis. Radiochemically pure reagents will become more important as t h e atomic power industry grows. Analytical chemists will be required t o determine levels of radioactivity in the cooling water a n d reprocessing plant effluents which will be dumped at an increasing rate into rivers and streams. In m a n y cases, it will be necessary t o know not only t h e gross levels of radioactive contamination b u t t h e individual radioactive constituents of these effluents.
ANOTHER REASON... why are
switching
modern
labs
to
LABASCO
CLAMPS
ROTA-CLAMP Now Rota-Clamps make it possible for quick installation of laboratory set-ups requiring angled positioning of rods, clamps and a p p a r a t u s . R o t a - C l a m p heads revolve through a complete Î 8 0 ° arc.
• Holds at any angle!® • No tools needed!
Labasco Rota-Clamps are precision cast, in specially s e l e c t e d , h i g h s t r e n g t h , non-ferrous alloy. Extra heavy nickelcopper plating assures corrosion resistance. Fast acting thumb screws have full-grip points for more secure holding p o w e r . N O T O O L S NEEDED FOR ASSEMBLY I PAT.
WRITE
L-4700 ROTA-CLAMP EACH $ 1 . 4 0 DOZ. LOT: EACH $ 1 . 3 0
PEND.
FOR B U L L E T I N
SCHAAR & COMPANY 7 3 0 0 W. Montrose Ave. Chicago 3 4 , l i t .
TODAY
MACALASTER BICKNELL CO.
CARDINAL PRODUCTS, INC.
1 6 9 1 8 1 Henry St.
β. PREISER COMPANY, INC.
P.O. Box 1611
P.O. Box 6118
New Haven 1 1 , Conn. Durham, N.C. Charleston, W. V a . THE CHEMICAL RUBBER INDUSTRIAL SCIENTIFIC, STANDARD SCIENTIFIC CO. INC. SUPPLY CORP. 2 3 1 0 Superior Ave. 2 9 2 0 Shotts Street 8 0 8 Broadway Cleveland 1 4 , Ohio Ft. Worth, Texas New York 3 , N.Y.
Circle No. 161 on Readers' Service Card
DAVIS INSTRUMENT
GREENBRIER
AND
DIVISION
INSTRUMENTS INC.
Present a complete line of
CHROMATOGRAPHIC INSTRUMENTS for Laboratory and Industrial Process Stream Analysis and Control A complete line of instruments utilizing A I R , as the carrier gas. N O H E L I U M R E Q U I R E D ! Write for Technical
Bulletins.
DAVIS INSTRUMENTS
GREENBRIER INSTRUMENTS INC.
Division of Davis Emergency Equipment Co., inc. 276 Halleck St., Newark 4, N. J.
P.O. Box 382 Ronceverte, West Virginia
Circle No. 46 on Readers' service Card VOL.
31,NO
9,
SEPTEMBER
1959
.
3 5
A
