3 ms·
Where did you get that number?
by antidesitter 7y ago
Where did you get that number?
- wahern 7y agoSeems like a typo. Half-life of Pu-239 is ~24,000 years, and of Pu-242 ~374,000 years. I'm guessing Pu-239 was intended as 1) an extra "0" digit is the more likely typo, and 2) Pu-239 is (AFAIU) the principal Plutonium byproduct of typical Uranium fission reactors.
- mimixco 7y agoHalf life means that radioactivity is reduced by half, not eliminated. A single particle of plutonium is enough to cause cancer and kill a person. This is why nuclear fuel rod storage (the waste products) must be guarded for hundreds of thousands of years.
- petre 7y agoHalf life is inversely proportional to radioactivity. Hundreds of thousands of years = no worries, you only live up to 1e-3 that amount.