Changes: British Nuclear Industry Respirators

Revision as of 08:04, 25 September 2020

Hold up! Under construction
This article or section is currently under construction and is in an unfinished state. If there is an urgent need for information about this topic, comment at the bottom of this page with a question.

British Nuclear Fuels & Modified Respirators

Since Britain began producing nuclear power, sites have been owned, run and decommissioned by government-owned companies. These companies have a long and complicated history of various companies merging, others becoming obsolete, some being sold to the US and some still around today. The most notable of these companies was British Nuclear Fuels, a company which was not there from the start but seemed to own most of the other companies before it was eventually retired. Now, the entirely government-owned National Nuclear Laboratory takes its place, most likely due to the lack of desire to invest so heavily in nuclear power but not wanting to be rid of the R&D aspect.

Whilst the history of the various groups, sales, merges and replacements of government-owned companies is difficult to properly timeline, these companies, or at least those under British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, issued workers with respirators based on existing and former military and civilian designs with adaptions to make the respirators adequate for the work required. From hose-mounted canisters on Light Respirators to 40mm adapters fitted to General Civilian Respirators, there was no shortage of designs when it came to BNFL.

Light Respirator Mk. 6 w/ Hose & D/8/42 Container (1950s)

Seen at the Windscale site before it became known as Sellafield, assumed to be in use there before the incident, the hose-using L Mk. 6 Respirators were by far the most altered of the designs. These respirators were fitted with screw-on hoses which could attach to larger, body-worn containers known as D/8/42 and /43 Containers, essentially larger versions of the Light Container used by the military at that point in time. The Container is slung over the back of the user by means of a white harness.

It has been written that this configuration was also applied to Mk. 7 Light AG Respirator facepieces, though no examples have been found.

.

Light Respirator Mk. 7 w/ D10 Canister (Unknown Date)

This respirator is one of the better known BNFL variants and yet, not that much is known about it. The issue date of these respirators is unclear, but the D10 is clearly a predecessor of the D17 which could suggest that it was pre-1980s, potentially. These respirators are made from Light Mk. 7 facepieces, some of which have had older Mk. III Eyepieces attached, special 60-40mm container mount adapters and, of course, the D10 Particle & Vapour Canister by Leyland & Birmingham Rubber Company.

These respirators were marked with special serial numbers, formatted E.####, for example, E.1511, as shown in the picture. These numbers seemed to be used with most, if not all, of the respirators in this series except for the earlier hosed Light Mk. 6 Respirator.

.

S6 NBC Respirator w/ D10, D17 or Unknown Green D## Canister (1980s)

This model, unlike the others, does not deviate from the traditional design of the S6 NBC Respirator. This is, of course, because the S6 was already threaded 40mm and was perfectly capable by the standards of the 1980s. These respirators are known to have been fitted with the D10 Canister but also a later model from Leyland & Birmingham Rubber Co. called the D17, identified by its metalic gold paint. These masks featured a serial number on the container mount.

.

General Civilian Respirator C7 w/ D17 or PS10 Canister (1990s)

It is unclear why respirators aside from the S6 and L Mk. 7 were used in this series, however, the use of the 1950s Cold War prep C7 GCR facepiece with a 40mm filter thread attached by wire and tape did seem to be used in two forms by BNFL. The first type can be found with tape and the gold D17 Canister whereas some, assumed later issue, were issued with PS10 Canisters with white tape around the body, possibly signifying a modification of the filling. It is unclear if these respirators received a serial number.

.

Light Respirator Mk. 7 w/ PS10 Canister (1990s)

Featuring the same 60-40mm adapter installed on the D10 Canister fitted Light AG Respirator Mk. 7 facepiece, in the late 1980s and 1990s, BNFL applied white tape to the valve holder wire, the container mount wire as well as the PS10 Canister. These respirators were likely upgrades to existing D10 fitted Light Mk. 7 Respirators and still featured serial numbers of similar range.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 == British Nuclear Fuels & Modified Respirators ==
-Since Britain began producing nuclear power, sites have been owned, run and decomissioned by government owned companies. These companies have a long and complicated history of various companies merging, others becoming obsolete, some being sold to the US and some still around today. The most notable of these companies was British Nuclear Fuels, a company which was not there from the start but seemed to own most of the other companies before it was eventually retired. Now, the entirely government owned National Nuclear Laboratory takes its place, most likely due to the lack of desire to invest so heavily in nuclear power but not wanting to be rid of the R&D aspect.
+Since Britain began producing nuclear power, sites have been owned, run and decommissioned by government-owned companies. These companies have a long and complicated history of various companies merging, others becoming obsolete, some being sold to the US and some still around today. The most notable of these companies was British Nuclear Fuels, a company which was not there from the start but seemed to own most of the other companies before it was eventually retired. Now, the entirely government-owned National Nuclear Laboratory takes its place, most likely due to the lack of desire to invest so heavily in nuclear power but not wanting to be rid of the R&D aspect.
-Whilst the history of the various groups, sales, merges and replacements of government owned companies is difficult to properly timeline, these companies, or at least those under British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, issued workers with respirators based on existing and former military and civilian designs with adaptions to make the respirators adequate for the work required. From hose-mounted canisters on Light Respirators to 40mm adapters fitted to General Civilian Respirators, there was no shortage of designs when it came to BNFL.
+Whilst the history of the various groups, sales, merges and replacements of government-owned companies is difficult to properly timeline, these companies, or at least those under British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, issued workers with respirators based on existing and former military and civilian designs with adaptions to make the respirators adequate for the work required. From hose-mounted canisters on Light Respirators to 40mm adapters fitted to General Civilian Respirators, there was no shortage of designs when it came to BNFL.
 == Light Respirator Mk. 6 w/ Hose & D/8/42 Container (1950s) ==
 {{Mask|name = D/8/42 - Hosed Mk. 6 Light AG Respirator|name-long = Respirator, Anti-Gas, Light, Mk. 6 - fitted with hose & D/8/42 or /43 Container|caption = From the collection of Danny McGurk|filter = D/8/42 or D/8/43 Container|period = Assumed 1950s or 60s|image = GasMaskUK Mk. 6 LAG Windscale Nuclear Site}}Seen at the Windscale site before it became known as Sellafield, assumed to be in use there before the incident, the hose-using L Mk. 6 Respirators were by far the most altered of the designs. These respirators were fitted with screw-on hoses which could attach to larger, body-worn containers known as D/8/42 and /43 Containers, essentially larger versions of the Light Container used by the military at that point in time. The Container is slung over the back of the user by means of a white harness.
-It has been written that this configuaration was also applied to Mk. 7 Light AG Respirator facepieces, though no examples have been found.
+It has been written that this configuration was also applied to Mk. 7 Light AG Respirator facepieces, though no examples have been found.
 .
@@ Line 60: / Line 60: @@
 == General Civilian Respirator C7 w/ D17 or PS10 Canister (1990s) ==
-{{Mask|name = BNF Modified C7 General Civilian Respirator|name-long = Respirator, General Civilian, C7 - BNF Modified|image = BNFL C7.jpg|filter = D17 Canister, PS10 Canister|period = 1980s - 90s|countries-issued = British Nuclear Fuels Ltd & Other Related Companies|manufacturer = AVON Rubber Co., Dunlop Rubber Co., Leyland & Birmingham Rubber Co.|caption = Respirator gifted to the Science Museums Group by BNFL}}It is unclear why Repsirators aside from the S6 and L Mk. 7 were used in this series, however, the use of the 1950s Cold War prep C7 GCR facepiece with a 40mm filter thread attached by wire and tape did seem to be used in two forms by BNFL. The first type can be found with tape and the gold D17 Canister whereas some, assumed later issue, were issued with PS10 Canisters with white tape around the body, possibly signifying a modification of the filling. It is unclear if these respirators recieved a serial number.
+{{Mask|name = BNF Modified C7 General Civilian Respirator|name-long = Respirator, General Civilian, C7 - BNF Modified|image = BNFL C7.jpg|filter = D17 Canister, PS10 Canister|period = 1980s - 90s|countries-issued = British Nuclear Fuels Ltd & Other Related Companies|manufacturer = AVON Rubber Co., Dunlop Rubber Co., Leyland & Birmingham Rubber Co.|caption = Respirator gifted to the Science Museums Group by BNFL}}It is unclear why respirators aside from the S6 and L Mk. 7 were used in this series, however, the use of the 1950s Cold War prep C7 GCR facepiece with a 40mm filter thread attached by wire and tape did seem to be used in two forms by BNFL. The first type can be found with tape and the gold D17 Canister whereas some, assumed later issue, were issued with PS10 Canisters with white tape around the body, possibly signifying a modification of the filling. It is unclear if these respirators received a serial number.
 .