ӀA Gammator was a

gamma irradiator Gamma (uppercase , lowercase ; ''gámma'') is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter re ...

made by the

Radiation Machinery Corporation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...

during the U.S.

Atoms for Peace "Atoms for Peace" was the title of a speech delivered by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in New York City on December 8, 1953. The United States then launched an "Atoms for Peace" program that supplied equipment ...

project of the 1950s and 1960s. The gammator was distributed by the " Atomic Energy Commission to schools, hospitals, and private firms to promote nuclear understanding." Around 120-140 Gammators were distributed throughout the U.S. and the whereabouts of several of them are unknown, although the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rel ...

has removed and destroyed many of the units.

Specifications

A Gammator weighed about 1,850 pounds and contained about 400 curies of

caesium-137 Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nucl ...

in a pellet roughly the size of a pen.

Concerns

Because of the massive shielding of a Gammator, the machine is very safe when used as intended (e.g. school science experiments); according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, it is similar to machines used to irradiate blood. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL): Los Alamos helps Texas schools remove radioactive gammators
/ref> However, this amount of nuclear material could pose a significant problem if used as the radioactive component in a

dirty bomb A dirty bomb or radiological dispersal device is a radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the dispersal agent/conventional explosion with ...

References

Nuclear technology Atoms for Peace {{nuclear-stub