Nuclear Engineer Reacts to NileRed 'Making Uranium Glass'

Nuclear Engineer Reacts to NileRed "Making Uranium Glass"

[gabbytabbycat]

Nigel was on the Trash Taste podcast, and he talked about this project. He asked the Canadian government about the legal implications of amateur/private citizen chemistry using uranium. What he was told was that the laws in Canada around radioactive materials only apply to using them for their radioactive properties. Therefore because the fluorescent property of uranium glass comes from its chemical properties and not from its radioactivity, legally he could just throw all his radioactive waste in the regular trash, but they “strongly prefer [he] didn’t”. 😂

[Xnoob]

This nilered guy is no joke
He can turn cotton into cotton candy, plastic gloves into grape soda, plastic gloves + vanilla into hot sauce

[ferretforrent]

i love Nilered, but dont worry about safety! He built his own personal lab for these videos, complete with fumehoods and plenty of storage and PPE. He also has his own glassware (the beakers are all labeled "NileRed")

[flomojou]

Yep, Nile Red/Nigel has a degree in chemistry and is a real pro. Some of his experiments have spanned months, and he has a remarkable tenacity to stick with and repeat things until he gets it right.

[-cj-]

Always admire Nile's attention to safety. Out of any science youtuber I've seen that does chemistry, they are the safest, despite working with arguably far more dangerous things

[misswhovivian]

I love NileRed, he'll casually do some uranium chemistry and then turn around and say "I've never made glass before" as if that were the difficult/dangerous part 😂

[petrolhead]

I work in nuclear reprocessing and waste management. We have a plant that we use for vitrification of radioactive effluent and liquor, it's not too dissimilar to the process that Nile uses here.
Obviously it's on a greater scale and the contents are highly radioactive, meaning we have certain safeguards in place. But the end result is still the same, radioactive glass.
We use vitrification because it is easier to track and control solid waste than liquid waste. All the liquid that is boiled off as part of the process is filtered of any remaining radioactive particles, then converted to steam which is also used to power some of the other plants on the site.
Vitrification is one of the cleanest and safest ways to deal with radioactive effluent.

[TheMNWolf]

I'm a fan of @NileRed and I do believe he was working with a lab-grade fume hood at this point in his YouTube career, and at his own off-site lab no less. Some geniuses have all the luck 🙂Also worth noting that he has a video about the cleanup from this experiment on his NileBlue channel which is also a good watch.

[mme]

Oh yeah, thats 99% why "radioactive = green". Its because from radium painted glow in the dark watches and clock faces, uranium glazed ceramics, uranium glass, uranium in jewelry, etc.

It certainly didn't come out of nowhere lol

[nontrashfire]

Based on the fire extinguisher, he got to put out metal fires, I believe he takes safety seriously.

[conorstewart]

Something worrying that was found out a few years ago was to do with “negative ion bracelets” or something like that, basically similar to healing crystals. What was found was that some of these bracelets and necklaces, mixed in with the silicone were thorium particles and were radioactive enough to cause some damage if you used them as intended. Also since they were just mixed in with the silicone, the thorium could probably come out/break off during everyday use, allowing the thorium to get inside people.

There were a few YouTube videos on it but I can’t remember who by.

[garethjones]

For your personal enrichment, yellowcake is a bright yellow, and most of the chemical processing of spent fuel is also quite yellow, being oxides, etc.

ALSO as a glassblower, you CAN buy uranium glass rods, theyre just very expensive and rare. old stock mostly.

[JunkyardBashSteve]

Nigel, or Nile, is my favorite education-based youtuber, and I appreciate this look at his stuff. I'm enjoying you watching and educating along with these kinds of channels.

[aidyn]

First time seeing your channel, but I'm a long-term fan of Nile. All his videos are extremely well detailed, and he even has videos about the cleaning process of the different chemicals that he used. He has videos about his entire lab setup, which is honestly impressive for someone doing Youtube videos. He loves what he's doing, and it shows in the videos. Spending days, or even weeks, on a single video idea for him is nothing. Some of the experiments he did took MONTHS.

[BigJohn]

Uranium salts were also used as a pigment for bricks. Early in my career, I worked at a research facility which was built in the early 20th century. A radon assay was done in one of the buildings and radon was detected in the corner rooms. It turned out that the source of the radon was the yellow brick in the walls.

[johns]

My wife used to be a high school chemistry teacher and we would go to flea markets with a Geiger counter to find household radionuclides, like "vaseline" glass, so called because it's color resembles vasiline. You can actually tell if it was manufactured in the 30's or later by how hot it is. In the 30's, it was made with raw uranium. After the 40's, it was made with depleated uranium.

We also looked for "Fiesta ware" plates and bowls. The orange-red ceramic glaze was also made with uranium.

[themadzucchini]

The reason the non-florescent uranium compound becomes florescent in the glass is because the uranium gets oxidized when you mix it with the glass. Uranium can have tons of different oxidation states, but only specific ones are florescent. I forget which ones, +12 maybe? Regardless, it's this oxidation state that gives rise to the fluorescence. You could say when the uranium is added to the glass it's not the same uranium compound, but that's kind of a funny way to say that. The uranium is now part of the glass structure, so it's not really it's own compound in the glass.

[nenben]

Nigel usually handles most syntheses he does in his fumehood

Generally, flat black or white background means its in his fumehood
Not always

Uranium chemistry from what ive seen in demonstrations tend to be pretty colorful, and often kinda green or yellow or blue.
Metal chemistry tends to be colorful

Also, uranyl nitrate is extremely soluble, and subsequently toxic, and some sources say it can absorbed through skin. Some say absorption isnt significant, but skin contamination is still significant.

The danger is still ingestion, but now its really really solible and will dissolve into the sweat on your hands rather than just sitting there

[davewilson]

I love Nile red! I apologize if I haven’t noticed it yet, but have you ever watched Cody, the guy he referenced with the thunder can? He’s awesome and a very worthwhile rabbit hole for reactions

[Astronetics]

Youtube randomly reccomended your channel and I'm glad it did. This was great content especially considering your education, background, and expertise in the matter!