Comment The Plutonium Monster is a myth (Score 2) 245
I'm sorry but I just have to nip this nonsense in the bud because I'm sick and tired of this completely unscientific fear-mongering that takes place. The Plutonium Monster is a myth.
Plutonium has about the same chemical toxicity as cadmium and caffeine. And unless you intend to grind the stuff into powder and snort it, it's not going to do you any recognizable harm. It's next to insoluable in water when in its oxide forms and not volatile... it doesn't go anywhere in the environment.
People make a big fuss and say "oh but it has such a long half-life... 24 100 years!". Well the thing is: a substance's radioactivity is inversely correlated to the half-life. Radioactivity comes from decay. Less decay means longer half-life... and conversely longer half-life therefore means a less radioactive substance.
The big worries are the short-lived ones. Iodine-131 is biggest worry of all, because is hot, it's plentiful and it's very volatile and mobile in the environment. With a half-life of 8.02 days, it falls apart so fast that even a trillionth of a kilogram falls apart at a rate of 4.6 MegaBecquerels. That's the big worry in the short run... and that is what caused the cancers from Chernobyl. 4000 cases of thyroid cancer, because the Soviet authorities didn't screen for and didn't stop contaminated food: they let the kids drink milk that was contaminated with I-131, even though it was completely preventable.
In the longer run it is the medium length half-lives that are a nuisance. I-131 falls apart fast and from Fukushima we're already down to 1 in 40 left of the original inventory from when the reactors shut down. In the long run Cesium-137 and Strontium-90 are the top contenders of being trouble. They have a half-life of around 30 years, which makes them hot enough to be a bother, and long-lived enough to remain a while. They are also - just like I-131 - rather volatile and mobile in the environment.
Plutonium - in comparison - is a not a big worry. Its specific activity is low and it doesn't get around. If it falls out of the reactor is stays put near the accident site. Now I know alot of you have been listening to the scare-mongers and tabloid news... and if you did: the joke's on you. It's just that "Plutonium" is a charged word... "Iodine" and "Caesium" isn't... so waving the Plutonium Monster around is an efficient way of making a buzz.
I'm not saying this to downplay anything. I-131 and Cs-137 are big problems in an accident like this and they need to be dealt with. Just focus on the right stuff, ok? Plutonium is not the major worry here.
/Michael, co-founder of Nuclear Power Yes Please
Plutonium has about the same chemical toxicity as cadmium and caffeine. And unless you intend to grind the stuff into powder and snort it, it's not going to do you any recognizable harm. It's next to insoluable in water when in its oxide forms and not volatile... it doesn't go anywhere in the environment.
People make a big fuss and say "oh but it has such a long half-life... 24 100 years!". Well the thing is: a substance's radioactivity is inversely correlated to the half-life. Radioactivity comes from decay. Less decay means longer half-life... and conversely longer half-life therefore means a less radioactive substance.
The big worries are the short-lived ones. Iodine-131 is biggest worry of all, because is hot, it's plentiful and it's very volatile and mobile in the environment. With a half-life of 8.02 days, it falls apart so fast that even a trillionth of a kilogram falls apart at a rate of 4.6 MegaBecquerels. That's the big worry in the short run... and that is what caused the cancers from Chernobyl. 4000 cases of thyroid cancer, because the Soviet authorities didn't screen for and didn't stop contaminated food: they let the kids drink milk that was contaminated with I-131, even though it was completely preventable.
In the longer run it is the medium length half-lives that are a nuisance. I-131 falls apart fast and from Fukushima we're already down to 1 in 40 left of the original inventory from when the reactors shut down. In the long run Cesium-137 and Strontium-90 are the top contenders of being trouble. They have a half-life of around 30 years, which makes them hot enough to be a bother, and long-lived enough to remain a while. They are also - just like I-131 - rather volatile and mobile in the environment.
Plutonium - in comparison - is a not a big worry. Its specific activity is low and it doesn't get around. If it falls out of the reactor is stays put near the accident site. Now I know alot of you have been listening to the scare-mongers and tabloid news... and if you did: the joke's on you. It's just that "Plutonium" is a charged word... "Iodine" and "Caesium" isn't... so waving the Plutonium Monster around is an efficient way of making a buzz.
I'm not saying this to downplay anything. I-131 and Cs-137 are big problems in an accident like this and they need to be dealt with. Just focus on the right stuff, ok? Plutonium is not the major worry here.
