Yeah its safe. Your aunties nasty ass jello salad with banana's in it is giving you far more radiation exposure than those plates, because you put it inside you.
Bananas genuinely are more radioactive than most other foods due to their high potassium content and the relatively high frequency of radioactive isotopes of potassium.
Most of the respondents to your comment focused on the bananas themselves as being the issue, but they are actually missing the point somewhat. Bananas do have more potassium and are more radioactive than other fruit, but actually, its the "putting them inside you" which is the much larger issue. The inverse square law applies to all forms of radiation and you've effectively reduced that to 0 by ingesting the thing which is radioactive. So instead of absorbing a small fraction of the total radiation emitted by the thing over time, you are exposed to ALL of the radiation emitted by the thing over time. Not to mention any radiation given off the plates is not even going to be able to penetrate your skin or clothes; whereas the banana is already inside you.
Personally, I think I would save these for Halloween or a kid’s birthday party. They’re cool and I kinda want some but I also feel like they’re not conducive to keeping the food down.
From the paper: "The maximum quantity of uranium leached from the uranium-bearing glasses was about 30 micrograms L-1, while that from the ceramic-glazed items was about 300,000 micrograms L-1. "
My wife collects uranium glass. It’s mostly safe. Most uranium glass has very little uranium in it and that is mostly sealed away within the glass. However, like lead crystal glass, very very very tiny amounts can leach out over time and end up in food or drink. The amount that can leach out like this is not going to cause any problems for you. Still, wash before and after use to further minimize contamination and don’t used chipped or scratched glass that could shed larger particles.
I wouldn’t use them as my every day plates but for special occasions it’s a fun conversation starter.
I am guessing, much like with people who manufactured glowing things using radium in the 20th century, the workers who make this stuff are at far greater risk than those who eat off of it.
Probably, the dangerous part is working with the powders before melting. I haven’t looked into it much but uranium was a common glass ingredient until the government grabbed it all to make bombs.
Mostly the emissions are alpha particles which can't even pass through paper but CAN fuck you up if the source ends up inside your body. So washing is to remove any small particles that may have been abraded off, same reason you can't use it if its ever chipped or scratched.
Mostly safe like X-rays are mostly safe. Do it once in a while and you won’t have a problem but if you have to stand next to the machine 30 times a day, you should probably not.
I don't know if this is real, but real uranium glass just glows (although it is not this brightly unless the light is fairly low). I have a tiny bit on a keychain somewhere.
I used to keep it in my pocket as my normal keychain and joke that it would stop me from having kids.
Yeah the radiation is super lower. Aslong as you don't spend literally months holding it to your body it's fine. The danger is if they break getting dust in your body. Then you have a constant source trapped in your body which isn't ideal.
That's only really for glassware with a uranium glaze. The uranium inside the glass is stable and sealed away enough that mild food acids won't affect it. The biggest concerns are for chips or cracks in the glass, the uranium can still leech into food that way.
The real problem - don't look at the UV light shining on this! You are much more likely to get eye damage from the light than you are to experience any illness from the radiation.