Re:Let's Colonize Titan
by some1else on Sunday November 27, 2016 @09:11AM
(#13049200)
I'm wondering how contaminated are raw materials on planets without a solid magnetosphere. Could it be that most of the water out there is too radio-active for consumption?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Let's Colonize Titan
by dreistdreist on Sunday November 27, 2016 @09:45AM
(#13049384)
Things get contaminated by radioactive material, not by radiation exposure [0]. And of course obligatory xkcd [1].
[0] https://www.mirion.com/introduction-to-radiation-safety/radi...
So, your biggest problem in a reactor cooling pool is "lead poisoning", eh? :-)
Anyway, worth pointing out that cosmic rays are little groups of neutrons (and adjoining protons). I don't know about the half life of the resulting products, though, or how often a heavy nucleus collides with another nucleus, vs simply bashing through electron bonds.