Pitchblende

Pitchblende

Pitchblende, also known as uraninite, the word comes from pitch or pech, meaning black or bad luck because of its black color, and blende. As health physicists we know about pitchblende and the Curie’s work. Even before the Curie’s discoveries, pitchblende was known to contain uranium. However, not many HPs may know the influence this material has with other aspects of our profession and with everyday life. A person does not have to go far to make a connection to this subject matter. As a side note, this author admits the difficulty in correctly chronicling the sequence of events involving the subjects of pitchblende and uranium.

Gabon – 2 billion years ago

Chronologically the first use of uranium was discovered on or about 1972, in France. The reader, yes you, are thinking… now how did I miss hearing about this. Explanation to follow, backstory first: Gabon was a French colony when prospectors from the French Atomic Energy Commissariat (the industrial sector, which later became COGEMA and later Areva) discovered uranium in remote regions in 1956. France immediately opened mines near Mounana.

Then in May 1972 at the Pierrelatte uranium enrichment facility in France, during isotopic data analysis, analyst Bougzigues noticed an inconsistency when he compared UF₆ samples from the Oklo Mine, in Gabon, that showed a discrepancy in the amount of ²³⁵U isotope. The discrepancy required explanation. The French Commissariat à l'énergie Atomique (CEA) began an investigation. We know this today as the Gabon natural fission reactors. Francis Perrin, physicist and French high-commissioner for atomic energy, is credited with discovery of the Oklo natural reactors. On 25 September 1972, the CEA announced that self-sustaining nuclear chain reactions had occurred on Earth about 2 billion years ago.

Roman Villa near Naples – 1^st century A.D.

In 1910 archaeologists excavated the Imperial Roman Villa near Naples. In a first-century A.D. mosaic mural, pale yellow-green glass was found to contain one percent uranium. Roman artisans purportedly used a uranium-bearing mineral intentionally to obtain the color.

Jáchymov – Middle Ages to Today

From the time of the Middle Ages an area has been known for mining and the rich deposits of metal ores. The area between present day Germany and the Czech Republic where the Ore Mountains or Erzgebirge sit are the regions of Saxony and Bohemia. Within this region lies the valley of Saint Joachim, Joachimsthal or Jáchymov (Já chymov in Czech). Uranium from this region was first used as a glass and ceramic coloring agent.

Pitchblende was first mined in the 1400’s and 1500’s time period. During the 15^th century miners were known to suffer maladies and to die early in life from a mysterious lung disease. In 1533 Paracelsus described this lung disease as mala metallorum.  Paracelsus' major work On the Miners' Sickness and Other Diseases of Miners documented the occupational hazards of metalworking including treatment and prevention strategies. About 20 years later, Georgius Agricola (also known as Georg Bauer) described this lung disease in his De Re Metallica. Agricola, a physician and mineralogist in Jáchymov, described the common fate of miners working in the region with a mysterious illness known as 'Bergkrankenheit' or mine disease that would be identified as lung cancer and be attributed to Radon exposure.  At the time this area was known as Bohemia so if you ever thought of an HP colleague as Bohemian now you know why!

Agricola wrote De Re Metallica, his Latin text on metallurgy and mining.  Later on, a relatively unknown mining engineer along with his wife, an accomplished geologist, translated this into English in 1912. We know this mining engineer as the 31^st President of the United States (1928-1933), Herbert Clark Hoover. In October 1929 Hoover presented Marie Curie with a check to purchase 1 g of Radium.  Herbert Hoover had previously served as Secretary of Commerce from 1921-1928.  {Disclosure: author works for NIST, a part of the Department of Commerce.}

The Jáchymov mines were first used to extract lead (ca.1100), silver and cobalt (ca. 1470) and one byproduct was pitchblende. One early use of pitchblende was as a coloring agent in the ceramic and glass making industry and a closely held trade secret. The silver was minted to produce very fine coins known as Thaler and today we can thank the Jáchymov mines for our currency, the Dollar as a derivative of the Thaler.

Around 1890 the Jáchymov pitchblende mill tailings would be sent to France for the Curie’s work that led to the extraction and discovery of Polonium and Radium. The Curies wrote to Eduard Suess, president of the Academy of Sciences of Vienna and a geologist, asking for residues of Jáchymov pitchblende. Transportation was paid for anonymously by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. Baron Carl Auer von Welsbach also known as Carl Auer, Freiherr von Welsbach was asked by Suess to assist with the Curie’s request. Welsbach an Austrian chemist and inventor developed what is known today as the Coleman gas lantern mantle. Welsbach was a principle in Deutsche Gasglühlicht AG, forerunner to Auergesellschaft. In 1958 Auergesellschaft merged with Mine Safety Appliances Corporation. Any HPs out there ever rely on respiratory protection? Think and thank MSA!

In 1896, Henri Becquerel worked with Jáchymov pitchblende he inherited from his father Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel also known as Edmond Becquerel, a French physicist and son of Antoine César Becquerel, a French scientist and pioneer in the study of luminescence, who also may have worked with this same Jáchymov pitchblende. Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics with Marie Skłodowska Curie and Pierre Curie in 1903. [The maiden name “Skłodowska” incorporates the Polish letter “stroke l” [ ł ] and is pronounced as English “w.” Thus, her maiden name is pronounced “skwa-DOHV-ska.”]

In 1911 the first spas opened using waters from the Jáchymov mines and springs.  These would become known as the famous and world class spas at Jáchymov and speleotherapy treatments that utilize the therapeutic effects of caves and Radon are still employed today.

Fiestaware

Frederick Hurten Rhead was responsible in 1927 for the Fiestaware design at the Homer Laughlin China Company in Newell, West Virginia.

 

Yes, the influence of pitchblende has reached far and wide and more than a few items mentioned here have had an impact or influence in our careers and daily lives.