“During my 20+ year archival career I have had to worry about wet documents, moldy paper, insect and vermin residue, and other unpleasant things, but this is the first time I have had to deal with radiation.”
So says Princeton University Archivist Dan Linke. While moving Princeton’s chemistry library to a new building, library staff found a cabinet full of files relating to Princeton’s involvement in the Manhattan Project. Linke stored the files in a safe place while the General Counsel’s office determined if the materials were still classified. He then received a call from Princeton’s radiation safety officer informing him that some of the notebooks were radioactive. The radiation was low level, and the metal in the file cabinet shielded it completely. Princeton decided to keep the uncontaminated paper files, and dispose of the notebooks with other low level radioactive waste. Still, not your ordinary day at the library.
