Radioactive gases nuclear weapons

For decades, fluorine was a laboratory curiosity and it was studied mainly by mineral chemists. As is often the case, it was coincidence and not planned research that gave rise to fluorine chemistry. The development of the organic chemistry of fluorine is a direct consequence of the Manhattan Project in order to build nuclear weapons, the isotopic enrichment of natural uranium into its radioactive isotope was needed. For this purpose, the chosen process involved gas diffusion, which required the conversion of uranium into gas uranium hexafluoride (UFs) was thus selected. In order to produce UFe gas on a large scale, fluorhydric acid and elemental fluorine were needed in industrial quantities. This was the birth of the fluorine industry. 

Quite often you hear only negative stories about nuclear reactions and radioactivity. Radioactivity can mutate DNA molecules and cause cancer. The use of nuclear reactors to produce energy can create nuclear waste, which can harm the environment. Nuclear power plants have been known to have accidents and expose many people to radioactive particles. Radioactive radon gas can be found in the homes that people live in. Nuclear warheads and nuclear weapons can cause mass destruction. On the other hand, there are many uses for radioisotopes that can be beneficial to our lives. In order for a radioisotope to be effective, it must be used properly and in the proper dosages. Some benefits of radioisotopes are described in the following chart. 

Emitted by heavy atoms, such as uranium, radium, radon, and plutonium (to name a few), alpha particles are helium nuclei, making them the most massive kind of radiation. Alpha radiation can cause a great deal of damage to the living cells it encounters, but has such a short range in tissue (only a few microns) that external alpha radiation cannot penetrate the dead cells of the epidermis to irradiate the living cells beneath. If inhaled, swallowed, or introduced into open wounds, however, alpha radiation can be very damaging. In nature, alpha radiation is found in rocks and soils as part of the minerals, in air as radon gas, and dissolved in water as radium, uranium, or radon. Alpha emitters are also found in nuclear power plants, nuclear weapons, some luminous paints (radium may be used for this), smoke detectors, and some consumer products. Objects and patients exposed to alpha radiation may become contaminated, but they do not become radioactive. 

Anthropogenic radioactive contamination of the marine environment has several sources disposal at sea, discharges to the sea, accidental releases and fallout from nuclear weapon tests and nuclear accidents. In addition, discharge of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) from offshore oil and gas production is a considerable source for contamination. 

Radioactive iodine can be inlialed as a gas or ingested in food or water. It dissolves in water so it moves easily from the atmosphere into humans and other living organisms. People are exposed to 1-129 from the past testing of nuclear weapons, and 1-131 from nuclear power plant emission.. ... 

Due to the delay times achieved on the charcoal beds, the shorter-lived fission product noble gases are completely retained within the plant. Kr is the only one of the radioactive fission gases which passes the delay line and is released completely to the atmosphere, where it contributes to the gobal Kr inventory of the atmosphere. As this contribution is very small compared to the remainders of nuclear weapons testing and to the releases from spent fuel reprocessing plants (as far as they are not equipped with a noble gas retention system) it can be ignored. 

Radon is the product of the natural breakdown or radioactive decay of uranium commonly used in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors. Normally, radon gas is naturally diluted in open air it becomes an issue in confined spaces such as homes. Radon gas can seep through dirt and solid floors, cracks in concrete walls, sumps, joints, and basement drains and can also permeate the water supply when trapped in well water. 

It IS often stated that unclear fusion tvill produce no radioactive hazard, but this is not correct. The most likely fuels for a fusion reactor would be deuterium and radioactive tritium, which arc isotopes of hydrogen. Tritium is a gas, and in the event of a leak it could easily be released into the surrounding environment. The fusion of deuterium and tritium produces neutrons, which would also make the reactor building itself somewhat radioactive. However, the radioactivity produced in a fusion reactor would be much shorter-lived than that from a fission reactor. Although the thermonuclear weapons (that use nuclear fusion), first developed in the 1950s provided the impetus for tremendous worldwide research into nuclear fusion, the science and technology required to control a fusion reaction and develop a commercial fusion reactor are probably still decades away. 

As part of the biogeochemical cycle, the injection of iodine-containing gases into the atmosphere, and their subsequent chemical transformation therein, play a crucial role in environmental and health aspects associated with iodine - most importandy, in determining the quantity of the element available to the mammalian diet. This chapter focuses on these processes and the variety of gas- and aerosol-phase species that constitute the terrestrial iodine cycle, through discussion of the origin and measurement of atmospheric iodine in its various forms ( Sources and Measurements of Atmospheric Iodine ), the principal photo-chemical pathways in the gas phase ( Photolysis and Gas-Phase Iodine Chemistry ), and the role of aerosol uptake and chemistry and new particle production ( Aerosol Chemistry and Particle Formation ). Potential health and environmental issues related to atmospheric iodine are also reviewed ( Health and Environment Impacts ), along with discussion of the consequences of the release of radioactive iodine (1-131) into the air from nuclear reactor accidents and weapons tests that have occurred over the past half-century or so ( Radioactive Iodine Atmospheric Sources and Consequences ). 

---