Re: Plutonium on Next Atlas V - Bad Idea?


"Andrew Gray" <andrew.gray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:slrndg29ce.fii.andrew.gray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> On 2005-08-15, Jim Oberg <jameseoberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >> All in all, even though Chernobyl has gotten a lot more publicity, even
> >> unclassified documents show that the total amount of radioactivity
> >> released by our nuclear weapons program was -MORE- on a nationwide
> >> basis. Hanford alone released the same amount, just over 50 years, but
> >> when you are talking about stuff whose halflife measures in decades at
> >> a minimum, a few decades doesn't matter.
> >
> > Actually, the longer the halflife the better, right? It means its
> > radioactivity is weaker, right?
>
> Not really. Halflife merely refers to the time over which the
> radiation is dumped out; the "baseline" intensity of the radiation is
> another matter.
>
> If Isotope1 and Isotope2 both give off equal amounts of radioactivity
> but I.1 has a shorter halflife, then after a while I.2 will be stronger,
> yes. But if I.1 is ten, twenty times as radioactive to start with, then
> it'll take a good while longer for it to be weaker than I.2...
>

And the type of radiation (beta, gamma,etc) is important.

So... if you have 4 cookies;

One with an alpha emitter, one with a beta, one with a gamma and one with a
neutron emitter (you've got an evil baker, what can I say)and you ahve to
dispose of them in the following way:

1) You can throw one away
2) Hold one at arm's length
3) Eat one
4) Put one on your pocket

What one goes where?


> --
> -Andrew Gray
> andrew.gray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


.

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