Hanford Ring Badge (ca. late 1960s, 1970s)

This ring, made out of rubber, was developed at Hanford sometime around 1968. An oval/lozenge-shaped Teflon disk holding a LiF chip (missing in this example) would have been inserted into the opening on the ring face. Ring badges were used to determine the exposures to the hands of workers who were manipulating sources. The typical dosimeter used to determine the dose of record was worn between the waist and neck and it would not provide an accurate estimate of the dose to the hands which might be in direct contact with the source. It was often the case that the ring would be worn so that the sensitive element, in this case a TLD chip, was facing inwards towards the palm.

Hanford ring
Hanford ring

Donated by Ron Kathren.

Reference

Ron Kathren, personal communication.