I saw a comment the other day that “steel forged before the nuclear age is very valuable.” and talked about the lengths they go to salvage old battleships etc. for steel made “before the Manhattan project.” What does this mean? How did nuclear testing permanently affect steel worldwide?

Question

I saw a comment the other day that “steel forged before the nuclear age is very valuable.” and talked about the lengths they go to salvage old battleships etc. for steel made “before the Manhattan project.” What does this mean? How did nuclear testing permanently affect steel worldwide?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

To keep the topic simplified, the usage of nuclear weapons introduced trace amounts of radioactive isotopes (atoms) into the atmosphere.

Because the process of producing iron involves air, it’s impossible (or very expensive/difficult) to avoid a slight radioactive contamination of the finished iron.

As such, steel produced before the era of nuclear weapons is very desirable for applications where little background radiation activity is required.

[Wikipedia could probably also provide a better explanation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel)