Radium

Radium was one of the first radioactive elements ever discovered. Marie and Pierre Curie 

unlocked the atom’s secrets in 1898, opening the door for important innovations using radioactivity in 

medicine and industry. Radiation quickly became a consumer and medical sensation and radium was the 

poster child. Experts concluded radiation was a lifesaver after finding it reduced tumor growth and was 

present in the waters at some health spas. Soon there were many radium products on the market that 

purported to improve health and vitality. But tragic stories began to emerge of radium’s health impacts. 

Perhaps the most well-known is the story of the “radium girls” — factory workers who, in the 1920s, 

painted watch faces with glow-in-the-dark radium paint and developed infections and jaw cancer from 

licking their brushes into fine points.

Early regulation

When evidence of harm began to emerge in the early 1900s, the states each made their own 

decisions about how to regulate radium. Courts also took varying approaches on victim compensation. 

The federal government acted to guard against false advertising and regulate mail shipments, conducted 

studies, and organized some voluntary protections. 

As radioactive materials became more widely available following World War II, they remained 

largely under state control. Radium use declined in medical and consumer products in favor of other, 

safer materials.

Regulation today

Work on securing radioactive materials took on new urgency following the terrorist attacks on 

the United States in September 2001. Those attacks prompted the International Atomic Energy Agency 

to develop a code of conduct in 2004 to limit the potential for malicious acts. That code places one form 

of radium, known as radium-226, and other radioactive materials into categories based on their quantity 

and potential hazard. 

The NRC has specific security requirements tied to these categories. As support for the IAEA 

code grew, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, giving the NRC authority over radium-226. 

This law marked the first time the federal government had a comprehensive role in ensuring the safe use 

of radium-226. 

Many states had developed strong programs for regulating radium and other naturally occurring 

radioactive materials and it took time to transition authority to the NRC. The NRC had regulations in 

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place and fully assumed oversight in 2009. States that regulate radioactive materials under agreements 

with the NRC, known as Agreement States, retained their authority over radium. 

Initially, NRC staff worked exclusively with the military to identify sites where radium might be 

present. These discussions made clear that the NRC’s role would include ensuring that military sites 

where radium was used are maintained in a way that protects public health and safety.

In 2016, the NRC and Department of Defense signed a Memorandum of Understanding

describing roles in the cleanup of radium and other unlicensed radioactive materials at military sites. 

The MOU and a Regulatory Issue Summary clarify NRC’s jurisdiction over military radium. In late 

2016, the NRC began monitoring two sites under the MOU: Treasure Island Naval Station in San 

Francisco and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Since then, the DoD has continued to identify 

additional sites, which the NRC has begun monitoring.

In 2013, the agency learned of two commercial sites where radium-226 had been found and other 

federal agencies had gotten involved. The Environmental Protection Agency was overseeing the 

Waterbury Clock Company in Connecticut. The National Park Service was overseeing Great Kills Park 

in New York. 

NRC staff is working with the current owner of the Waterbury Clock Company site. 

Contaminated areas of the site are being evaluated by the EPA for possible listing on the Superfund 

program’s National Priorities List. NRC staff is working with EPA to clarify oversight roles and 

responsibilities.

In 2018, NRC staff signed an MOU with the National Park Service that clarifies the NRC’s 

jurisdiction over radium at Great Kills Park. Since then, the agencies have included additional parks in 

New York under the MOU following discovery of radium at those sites. The NRC is monitoring cleanup 

activities that the Park Service is implementing under Superfund, more formally known as the 

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. 

The Waterbury Clock Company and Great Kills Park sites prompted a search to identify sites in 

NRC’s jurisdiction where radium was used, and to find out how much, if any, cleanup was done. This 

search was not a result of any known health and safety issues. Rather, because of its mandate to protect 

public health and safety, the NRC wanted to be sure there were no additional sites that might pose a risk.

With the help of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the NRC began to develop a fuller picture 

of commercial radium use. The lab produced a catalog of the various products developed and sold to the 

public in the early 20th century. By reviewing publicly available records, Oak Ridge identified sites 

where radium may have been used to make consumer goods. Then the lab looked for any cleanup 

records. Oak Ridge transmitted the results to the NRC in November 2015.

Between 2017 and 2019, the NRC worked with the Oak Ridge Associated Universities to survey 

the commercial sites where radium contamination was considered likely. Five sites were determined to 

require cleanup to meet the NRC’s public health and safety standards. All the sites that need cleanup are 

associated with former clock company factories in Connecticut.

Going forward, the NRC is focused on working with the current owners and state and local 

governments to clean up these contaminated commercial sites. As of September 2020, two have been 
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cleaned up adequately to ensure public health and safety are protected, and cleanup is continuing at the 

others. The NRC is also supporting Agreement States to ensure possibly contaminated sites in their 

jurisdictions do not pose a risk to public health and safety.

More information about this program can be found on the NRC’s radium website.

September 2020