THE ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE BELGIAN RADIUM INDUSTRY

Radium was an important export product of Belgium between 1922 and the second World War. The uranium extraction of the ore mined in the Belgian Congo and the production of pure radium were monopolised by two Belgian companies, the Union Miniere du Haut Katanga (U.M.H.K.) and the Societe Generale Metallurgique de Hoboken (S.G.M.H.). This work is based on secondary historical sources such as the annual reports of both companies, economic reports of the Belgian and foreign Governments, both Belgian and foreign specialised and popular press reports, and the technique of oral history. Particular emphasis was placed on the special relationship between U.M.H.K. and S.G.M.H. and their efforts to create a market to match the expanding radium production after 1922.