Are Irradiated Diamonds Safe?
As the cost of fancy color diamonds are beyond the reach of many, irradiated diamonds fill the gap if you have no qualms about radiation. As color diamonds are also rare, this treatment makes a veritable rainbow of diamond colors available. Irradiation exposes a poorly colored diamond to a radioactive treatment, which yields a green or blue-green hue. To produce other colors, the diamonds are further heat treated. Only the outer layers of a diamond are affected by this treatment.
The radioactivity is rendered nearly inert after this treatment, but there is much debate about this process, especially on older diamonds that were irradiated with radium, which can retain levels of radiation similar to that of a watch that was radium painted. Newer irradiation techniques bombard the crystal with atomic particles and leave almost no radioactivity. Some treatments require a "cool down" period required by the Nuclear Regulatory Code (NRC). Despite this, the process is generally considered benign.
As irradiated diamonds are considered permanent in that the color will not fade unless exposed to intense heat again, the GIA grades and laser inscribes them as such. This pertains mainly to the process developed by GE known as the Pegasus color treatment. However, if they are exposed to heat again, the color can change in varying degrees, but it will never return to a colorless state. When you take an irradiated diamond in to be repaired and inform the repair dealer.
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"Overdosed" irradiated diamonds are produced and occasionally imported into the U.S. Customs or gem labs usually catch them, but to ensure not purchasing these, only deal with reputable dealers. Your average retailer does not deal with this type of treated diamond so you will need to get referrals.
You don't want to be scammed by dealers who polish off the GIA laser inscribing and try to sell you a "fancy" or "natural" color diamond at a huge discount. This can also happen with a piece of jewelry where the stone is already set. The laser inscribing will be there, but you won't be able to see it.
While the GIA grades irradiated diamonds, these are not natural colored diamonds and shouldn't be valued as such. Disclosure is always mandatory and if you have any doubts, have your loose stone or jewelry examined by a professional appraiser with a spectro-photometer.
Fractured Filled Diamonds
Laser Drilled Diamonds
Synthetic Diamonds
