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It's part of the decay chain of U238 which is present in trace amounts in much of the earth's crust. I would imagine it's nearly impossible to chemically separ
by dgemm 12y ago
It's part of the decay chain of U238 which is present in trace amounts in much of the earth's crust. I would imagine it's nearly impossible to chemically separate it from the lead. Would require a process similar to that used for enrichment of U235 but economically not worth the cost.
- mikeash 12y agoSo basically: lead mixes with trace amounts of uranium. Refining removes the impurities, including uranium. However, the uranium leaves behind trace-r amounts of lead-210, which refining cannot (easily) remove. So your choice is to carry out expensive isotope separation, wait a couple hundred years, or find someone who refined the lead long ago so you don't have to wait. Is that about right? For some reason I thought that being shielded under deep water was part of the deal, which confused me. Don't know where I got that idea.