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After World War II, atmospheric nuclear tests released radioactive particles that contaminated the air worldwide. Steel produced after 1945 absorbed trace amounts of this radiation during the smelting process due to exposure to airborne fallout.
This posed a problem for ultra-sensitive instruments like Geiger counters, space telescopes, and some medical imaging devices, which required radiation-free materials to function accurately. The solution? “Low-background steel” salvaged from pre-1945 sunken battleships, which had been shielded from contamination underwater.
Ships like Germany’s WWI-era battleship SMS Scharnhorst and the USS Arizona became unexpected sources of prized metal for scientific equipment—turning history’s wreckage into modern research tools.
Today, modern steelmaking techniques and decreased background radiation have reduced this dependence, but low-background steel is still valued for certain precision applications.
,LowBackgroundSteel ,SunkenShips ,NuclearTesting ,ScientificInstruments ,SteelHistory
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