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A comment on US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved. Parent comment

Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by ars on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @03:19PM (#33975132)
Tritium decays by beta-decay (an electron). The electron can not travel very far in air (1/4 inch), and is stopped by even the thinnest piece of metal. It's even stopped by the dead outer layer of your skin.

i.e. it's completely harmless unless you eat it.

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Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by XorNot on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @04:02PM (#33975731)
Not quite: beta decay will penetrate the skin enough to damage living tissue - beta burns are what caused the fatalities of the Chernobyl first responder fire fighters.

They spent a few hours covered in dust on their coats, and did a bunch of subsurface skin damage which manifested as third degree burns. Sepsis, not radiation poisoning, generally killed them.

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