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Consider the thermal Plutonium power sources that have been sent on outer Solar System missions. One of those crashing is a much more serious problem than a new
by stevedonovan 9y ago
Consider the thermal Plutonium power sources that have been sent on outer Solar System missions. One of those crashing is a much more serious problem than a new U-235 reactor, since Plutonium is very toxic.
- garmaine 9y agoPlutonium isn't toxic, not any more than any other heavy metal.
- ttul 9y agoIt is radiotoxic
- garmaine 9y agoNope, it is not. Not anymore than the straight radiation you would get from it. When you talk of radiatoxicity what is usually meant is the hot particle theory which says that a bit of radioactive material lodged in one place is more likely to cause cancer, because the radiation given off repeatedly hits the same tissue. It turns out that in cohort studies done this is not true. Specifically people who have inhaled plutonium, an inadvisable thing to do, actually have lower rates of lung cancer. Pu-238 has some radioactivity, although not as much as many fission products. Radioactivity is bad. But the fear over plutonium toxicity is actually overblown beyond the baseline radioactive dose it provides.
- black_puppydog 9y agoThat already happened. Not something we'd want to happen regularly, but not as dramatic as one (me) would have thought. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954#Aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954#Aftermath