People may ingest cobalt 60 with food and water that has been contaminated, or may inhale it in contaminated dust. It is also produced as a by-product of nuclear reactor operations. The radionuclide, cobalt 60, is produced for commercial use in linear accelerators. Non-radioactive cobalt occurs naturally in various minerals and has been used for thousands of years to impart blue color to ceramic and glass. The most common radioactive isotope of cobalt is cobalt 60.

Cobalt 60 (Co-60) Cobalt is a metal that may be stable (non-radioactive, as found in nature), or unstable (radioactive, man-made).Slightly higher concentrations of the metal are found in muscle, while slightly lower concentrations are found in bone and fat. If cesium 137 enters the body, it is distributed fairly uniformly throughout the body's soft tissues, resulting in exposure of those tissues to radiation. People may ingest cesium 137 with food and water, or may inhale it as dust. Examples of the uses of this process are nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Radioactive cesium 137 is produced when uranium and plutonium undergo fission. Cesium 137 (Cs-137) Cesium is a soft, malleable, silvery white metal.It can stay in the body for decades and increase the risk of cancer. Americium 241 poses a significant risk if swallowed or inhaled. However, since they decay slowly, they emit radiation slowly, so the dose is very low and will decline. While most of the shorter-lived radionuclides have now decayed away, longer-lived radionuclides such as americium 241 will remain in the environment for many years. Most americium 241 in the environment originates from the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons during the 1950's and 1960's. Americium has several different isotopes, all of which are radioactive. Americium 241 Americium is a man-made metal produced when plutonium atoms absorb neutrons in nuclear reactors and in nuclear weapons detonations.They indicated that the isotopes the scientists were examining were appropriate. Since the Amchitka radiation information remains classified, the suite of isotopes listed below, identified in the Amchitka Science Plan, was reviewed by people with appropriate clearance and access to provide advice if our selection list was missing key isotopes. What were the scientists on Amchitka in 2004 looking for?Īccording to the CRESP Amchitka Study Plan, a suite of radionuclides was selected for analysis, based on information obtained from the groundwater models and human health risk assessments and existing knowledge of radionuclides of interest for human health, ecological health and source identification. It is simple, readily identifiable and discernible at a large distance. The three-bladed radiation warning symbol was developed at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley in 1946 and was adopted by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1953.

Fission uranium 235 sr 90