User:Onejina2011

The recent nuclear crisis is a stimulus to understand the pulse of bioactive radionuclides that enters our ecosystem following events such as fractured, melted or otherwise leaking nuclear fuel rods. Its effects will linger in DNA long after the decay of fission products into stable Xenon-131 or radioactive Iodine-129 or Strontium-90 amongst others. This is without considering the even shorter lived radionuclides that accompany and follow nuclear criticality that are often only detected by their gamma emissions and decay products.

When we consider that only a few kilos of Plutonium or highly enriched Uranium are needed for an atomic explosion, the mass of fission products in a normal nuclear reactor storage pool full of spent / irradiated fuel rods would by comparison represent a radiotsunami of radionuclides if released.

Jina 04:21, 24 March 2011 (UTC)