News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Pictures show cracks in Ayrshire nuclear reactor. Parent comment

Re:Pictures show cracks in Ayrshire nuclear reactor by antidesitter on Sunday June 09, 2019 @01:37PM (#20140560)
Where did you get that number?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Pictures show cracks in Ayrshire nuclear reactor by wahern on Sunday June 09, 2019 @10:30PM (#20143418)
Seems 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.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Pictures show cracks in Ayrshire nuclear reactor by mimixco on Monday June 10, 2019 @12:29PM (#20148224)
Half 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.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Pictures show cracks in Ayrshire nuclear reactor by petre on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @04:41PM (#20169076)
Half life is inversely proportional to radioactivity. Hundreds of thousands of years = no worries, you only live up to 1e-3 that amount.
[ Parent | on HN ]