3 ms·

I wonder how radioactive this waste would be after just 1,000 years and if that's a level we really need to worry about people being exposed to. That is, how l

• tcmb 8y ago
  It depends on which elements it contains exactly. The isotope Plutonium-239, often used in nuclear weapons, has a half-life of ca. 24.000 years, meaning that after 24.000 years, half of the material is still the same isotope, while the other half will have decayed to other elements. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_decay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_decay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_waste https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_waste
  • Koshkin 8y ago
    > other elements ...some of which, too, are pretty nasty: Plutonium-239 → Uranium-235 → Thorium-231 → Protactinium-231 → Actinium-227 → Thorium-227 → Radium-233 → Radon-219 → Polonium-215 → Lead-211 → Bismuth-211 → Thallium-207 → Lead-207
  • Symmetry 8y ago
    The thing about things with longer half lives is that while they last a longer time they're also less radioactive. The same decay events that cause dangerous radiation are the same decay events that lead to the material's half life. I would guess that it's worse to breath in Plutonium-239 than to breath in asbestos but I'm not sure and the Wikipedia page is short on information that would convince me either way. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium#Toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium#Toxicity