Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Prior to the discovery of nuclear fission in the late 1930s, Uranium was largely a byproduct of Silver and Radium extraction, used mainly as a cheap colouring agent for glass and ceramic glazes. And perhaps the most famous commercial product to use uranium glaze was Fiestaware, a colourful and highly popular line of dinnerware introduced in 1936 by the Homer Laughlin China Company of Newell, West Virginia and still produced to this day.

Uranium Glass Video: youtu.be/dYc2Z6g54fM
Tritium Lights Video: youtu.be/NhXNJgZD6NA

TIFO CANDU Video: youtube.com/watch?v=i1RNr-PZkxA&pp=ygUXdG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgY2FuZHU%3D
TIFO Radithor Video: youtube.com/watch?v=B-ZTm0jX1Z8&pp=ygUddG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgbGl2aW5nIGRlYWQ%3D
TIFO Radioactive Glow Video: youtube.com/watch?v=DsEwF75-4lU&pp=ygUidG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgcmFkaW9hY3RpdmUgZ2xvdw%3D%3D
TIFO Depleted Uranium Shell Video: youtube.com/watch?v=9W_nMRbIlZI&pp=ygUidG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgZGVwbGV0ZWQgdXJhbml1bQ%3D%3D
TIFO Radiation Exposure Video: youtube.com/watch?v=mFA6IXu37Pc&pp=ygUldG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgcmFkaWF0aW9uIGJvZHkgdGFrZQ%3D%3D

0:00 Introduction
0:55 Early Uses of Uranium
1:28 Pitchblende
2:25 Discovery of Uranium
3:13 Uranium Yellowcake
5:43 The Radium Boom
7:35 Fiestaware Origins
8:44 Fiestaware Red-Orange
9:03 Other Uranium Glazes
10:42 Plant Tuscan China
11:26 Discovery of Fission
12:25 Depleted Uranium
13:08 Later Fiestaware History
15:00 Radioactive Hazard
16:37 Outro

SOURCES

orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/consumer/ceramics/fiestaware.html
orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/consumer/ceramics/radioactive-tiles.html
orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/consumer/ceramics/uranium-containing-dentures.html
fiestafactorydirect.com/pages/our-history
web.archive.org/web/20160303172652/http://www.pdhealth.mil/downloads/Civil_Use_of_DU.pdf
web.archive.org/web/20030216063023/http://www.hlchina.com/FIESTARETAILNEWYORKTIMES.htm
nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/yellowcake.html
iaea.org/sites/default/files/publications/magazines/bulletin/bull59-2/5922223.pdf
replacements.com/china-tuscan-royal-tuscan/b/001-801304?srsltid=AfmBOop4JxDShR1OzcPTD9EW0ATxVM2xR1sL3AZjE4CUEpsqI3IVePeu
gidodevyq.wordpress.com/2020/04/03/dating-tuscan-china
thepotteries.org/mark/p/plantrhsl.html
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02385956
digitalfire.com/hazard/uranium+in+ceramic+glazes
niche-canada.org/2022/05/24/radioactive-pottery-and-the-beginning-of-the-canadian-atomic-age
nrc.gov/docs/ml0829/ml082910862.pdf