tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/radioactivity-7827/articlesRadioactivity – The Conversation2023-10-23T15:56:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2158362023-10-23T15:56:50Z2023-10-23T15:56:50ZDecontaminating Fukushima: have the billions spent been worth it?<p>The Chernobyl and (to a lesser extent) Fukushima nuclear accidents contaminated large areas of land with low-level radioactivity. After both accidents, huge efforts were taken to decontaminate the affected areas. </p>
<p>But a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2301811120">recent study</a> at Fukushima raises doubts about whether these decontamination efforts were worthwhile. Less than one-third of the population has returned to the evacuated zones and extensive areas of forest in the region remain contaminated.</p>
<p>Following the accident at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, approximately <a href="https://soil.copernicus.org/articles/5/333/2019/#section2">1,100 square kilometres</a> were evacuated, resulting in the relocation of more than 100,000 people from their homes. A contaminated area <a href="https://soil.copernicus.org/articles/5/333/2019/#section2">about eight times larger</a> remained inhabited, albeit subject to continuous radiation monitoring.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/fukushima-ten-years-on-from-the-disaster-was-japans-response-right-156554">Fukushima: ten years on from the disaster, was Japan's response right?</a>
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<p>The dominant source of radiation exposure for people stemmed from gamma rays emitted by contaminated soils, pavements, roads and buildings. The objective of the decontamination operation was to ensure that the general public received an annual dose from Fukushima’s radioactivity of less than 1,000 microsieverts (µSv) above the natural background level. The average natural radiation dose in Japan <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6498/ab73b1">stands at 2,200 µSv per year</a>.</p>
<p>Radiocaesium, which is the most important long-lived radioactive element emitted by the accident in terms of radiation dose, adheres to soil particles very strongly. Consequently, the decontamination of agricultural land primarily involved removing the top 5cm of soil. In urban areas, decontamination efforts entailed the removal of topsoil from sports fields, as well as sandblasting or pressure washing hard surfaces, and pressure washing drains and gutters. </p>
<p>These efforts <a href="https://www.pref.fukushima.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/466744.pdf">reduced doses by about 60%</a> in residential areas and farmland, allowing people to return to their homes in a large part of the evacuated area. This is a far cry from Chernobyl, where extensive decontamination initiatives were ultimately abandoned, leaving huge evacuated areas that remain empty to this day. But was undertaking decontamination in Fukushima worthwhile? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554937/original/file-20231020-29-2lze65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of the decontamination area in Fukushima." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554937/original/file-20231020-29-2lze65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554937/original/file-20231020-29-2lze65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554937/original/file-20231020-29-2lze65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554937/original/file-20231020-29-2lze65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554937/original/file-20231020-29-2lze65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554937/original/file-20231020-29-2lze65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554937/original/file-20231020-29-2lze65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A map of the decontamination area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://josen.env.go.jp/en/decontamination/">Ministry of the Environment/Government of Japan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<h2>Costs and benefits</h2>
<p>Decontaminating the land in Fukushima has cost <a href="https://soil.copernicus.org/articles/5/333/2019/#section3">tens of billions of dollars</a>. The process has, unfortunately, also caused substantial radiation exposure for the workers involved, and has generated <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00223131.2021.1974596?casa_token=9FVbYrMA-pgAAAAA%3AyvolWXRGBfsBUuNpIZTwCKK1OW33uMRa8HXKZzPZHfXTWYG3q4lhyOK7cA2ybEhoy1JK26vToDQ">huge amounts</a> of radioactive soil waste. But the question of whether to decontaminate land is complex and only partially related to scientific evidence.</p>
<p>On the one hand, decontamination <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6498/acf504/meta">provides reassurance</a> that radiation is being “cleaned up” and that doses are being reduced. But it can also give the impression that low-level radiation is more dangerous than it actually is. </p>
<p>Dose rates were not dangerously high in many areas of Fukushima that were subject to decontamination. In fact, <a href="https://www.unscear.org/unscear/uploads/documents/unscear-reports/UNSCEAR_2020_21_Report_Vol.II-CORR.pdf">doses were relatively low</a> in the first year following the accident (less than 12,000 µSv), and these levels decreased significantly in subsequent years. </p>
<p>These levels fall within the <a href="https://www.unscear.org/docs/publications/2000/UNSCEAR_2000_Annex-B.pdf">natural range people are exposed to</a> from radioactivity in rocks, soils, building materials and cosmic radiation worldwide (typically between 1,000 µSv and 10,000 µSv per year, but sometimes higher). </p>
<p>On balance, I think the reassurance that contamination was being cleaned up was valuable in many areas where people remained living. Decontamination also allowed agricultural land to be returned to productive use more quickly. However, the process of removing topsoil had the side effect of <a href="https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=rn:48070955">damaging soil fertility</a>.</p>
<h2>Accidental rewilding</h2>
<p>In the evacuated zone where dose rates were around ten times higher, it’s less clear that decontamination was beneficial. Only 30% of people have returned to their homes in the decontaminated part of this area and much of the land in the most contaminated so-called “difficult to return zone” remains abandoned. </p>
<p>A better option may have been to declare most of this zone a nature reserve and allow managed rewilding of the area. Rewilding <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.2149">is happening to a large extent anyway</a>, as it has <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(15)00988-4.pdf">at Chernobyl</a>. It would also have avoided decontamination workers being exposed to radiation and allowed more financial support to help people relocate. </p>
<p>But this is a complex decision that needs to consider the views of many stakeholders, not least the evacuated people themselves.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554564/original/file-20231018-23-f1tv9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A fox with the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554564/original/file-20231018-23-f1tv9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554564/original/file-20231018-23-f1tv9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554564/original/file-20231018-23-f1tv9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554564/original/file-20231018-23-f1tv9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554564/original/file-20231018-23-f1tv9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554564/original/file-20231018-23-f1tv9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554564/original/file-20231018-23-f1tv9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A fox within the Chernobyl exclusion zone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fox-goes-chernobyl-npp-on-background-1393369631">DL Community/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Fukushima’s contaminated forests</h2>
<p>The land in and around the region’s towns and villages has generally been decontaminated effectively. However, much of the Fukushima Prefecture (71%) is <a href="https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/57048">covered by forest</a>. Most of this forest remains contaminated.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/35012139">persistence of radiocaesium in ecosystems</a>, particularly in forests, has been known for many decades. Globally, radiocaesium levels in wild foodstuffs such as mushrooms, edible plants, game animals and freshwater fish tend to be higher than those found in agricultural systems.</p>
<p>Wild boar in certain regions of Germany, for instance, still exhibit radicaesium levels <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.3c03565">exceeding consumption limits</a> as a consequence of both Chernobyl and historical nuclear weapons testing. Restrictions on the consumption of forest products have lasted for decades following the Chernobyl incident. And they are <a href="https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/57048">expected to persist</a> in many forested areas of Fukushima too. </p>
<p>Radiocaesium lingers in forests due to the prevalence of organic soils and the absence of fertiliser application. Low nutrient levels facilitate the absorption of radiocaesium by plants. This is mainly attributed to radiocaesium’s chemical similarity to potassium, a crucial plant nutrient.</p>
<p>Forests do pose a wildfire risk. There have been many forest fires in the vicinity of Chernobyl since the accident. But radiation doses from smoke inhalation <a href="https://setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ieam.4424">are extremely low</a>, even for firefighters, and the fires have not significantly redistributed radioactivity.</p>
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<img alt="A wild boar in a forest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554847/original/file-20231019-23-qq48o7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554847/original/file-20231019-23-qq48o7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554847/original/file-20231019-23-qq48o7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554847/original/file-20231019-23-qq48o7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554847/original/file-20231019-23-qq48o7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554847/original/file-20231019-23-qq48o7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554847/original/file-20231019-23-qq48o7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wild boars roaming forests in Germany’s south contain high levels of radiocaesium.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wildboar-natural-habitat-sus-scrofa-bavarian-1242323737">JaklZdenek/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>There are no easy answers regarding clean up after a nuclear accident. Japan has made huge and often successful efforts to reduce radiation doses and reassure people living in or returning to the affected areas. But low-level radiation remains everywhere, particularly in forests. </p>
<p>We need to remember, though, that the radiation doses are almost always very low. The biological effects of radiation from nuclear accidents – primarily DNA damage – are the same as those from the natural radiation we are all exposed to from the food we eat and in our surrounding environment. While the dose rates for workers during an accident can be extremely high, those from radiation in the environment are low in the longer term.</p>
<p>Millions of people worldwide receive higher annual natural radiation doses than the residents of the Fukushima zones without even worrying about it.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jim Smith is the founder and a Director of The Chernobyl Spirit Company, a social enterprise producing spirits from crops grown in areas affected by Chernobyl. Profits got to support Chernobyl affected areas in Ukraine.
More than 5 years ago Jim did small consultancy contracts on behalf of his University for various organisations including the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. He has previously had a grant from the UK Natural Environment Research Council, part funded by Radioactive Waste Management Limited. He currently has no relevant external funding and does not do external consultancy. </span></em></p>Japan has undertaken extensive efforts to decontaminate land in Fukushima – whether they were they right to do so is a complex question.Jim Smith, Professor of Environmental Science, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2147842023-10-05T12:33:59Z2023-10-05T12:33:59ZHow a disgruntled scientist looking to prove his food wasn’t fresh discovered radioactive tracers and won a Nobel Prize 80 years ago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551579/original/file-20231002-27-bnczk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=392%2C8%2C5059%2C3473&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">George De Hevesy working in his lab at Stockholm University in 1944. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/hungarian-radiochemist-george-de-hevesy-at-work-in-his-news-photo/870101654?adppopup=true">Keystone Features/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each October, the Nobel Prizes celebrate a handful of groundbreaking scientific achievements. And while many of the awarded discoveries revolutionize the field of science, some originate in unconventional places. For <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1943/hevesy/biographical/">George de Hevesy</a>, the 1943 Nobel Laureate in chemistry who discovered radioactive tracers, that place was a boarding house cafeteria in Manchester, U.K., in 1911. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551573/original/file-20231002-29-bnczk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white headshot of a young man with a mustache wearing a suit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551573/original/file-20231002-29-bnczk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551573/original/file-20231002-29-bnczk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551573/original/file-20231002-29-bnczk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551573/original/file-20231002-29-bnczk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551573/original/file-20231002-29-bnczk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551573/original/file-20231002-29-bnczk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551573/original/file-20231002-29-bnczk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Hungarian chemist George de Hevesy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/George_de_Hevesy.jpg">Magnus Manske</a></span>
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<p>De Hevesey had the sneaking suspicion that the staff of the boarding house cafeteria where he ate at every day was reusing leftovers from the dinner plates – each day’s soup seemed to contain all of the prior day’s ingredients. So he came up with a plan to test his theory. </p>
<p>At the time, de Hevesy was working with radioactive material. He <a href="https://tech.snmjournals.org/content/jnmt/24/4/291.full.pdf">sprinkled a small amount</a> of radioactive material in his leftover meat. A few days later, he took an electroscope with him to the kitchen and <a href="https://tech.snmjournals.org/content/jnmt/24/4/291.full.pdf">measured the radioactivity</a> in the prepared food. </p>
<p>His landlady, who was to blame for the recycled food, exclaimed “this is magic” when de Hevesy showed her his results, but really, it was just the first successful radioactive tracer experiment. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vlmJRrsAAAAJ&hl=en">We are</a> a team <a href="https://www.chemistry.msu.edu/faculty-research/faculty-members/liddick-sean.aspx">of chemists</a> and physicists <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MkkjF8YAAAAJ&hl=en">who work</a> at the <a href="https://frib.msu.edu">Facility for Rare Isotope Beams</a>, located at Michigan State University. De Hevesy’s early research in the field has revolutionized the way that modern scientists like us use radioactive material, and it has led to a variety of scientific and medical advances.</p>
<h2>The nuisance of lead</h2>
<p>A year before conducting his recycled ingredients experiment, Hungary-born de Hevesy had <a href="https://orau.org/health-physics-museum/articles/four-tales-george-de-hevesy.html">traveled to the U.K.</a> to start work with nuclear scientist <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1908/rutherford/facts/">Ernest Rutherford</a>, who’d won a Nobel Prize just two years prior.</p>
<p>Rutherford was at the time <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/ed040p36">working with a radioactive substance</a> called radium D, a valuable byproduct of radium because of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/half-life-radioactivity">its long half-life</a> (22 years). However, Rutherford couldn’t use his radium D sample, as it had large amounts of lead mixed in. </p>
<p>When de Hevesy arrived, Rutherford asked him <a href="https://tech.snmjournals.org/content/jnmt/24/4/291.full.pdf">to separate the radium D</a> from the nuisance lead. The nuisance lead was made up of a combination of stable isotopes of lead (Pb). Each isotope had the same number of protons (82 for lead), but a different number of neutrons.</p>
<p>De Hevesy worked on separating the radium D from the natural lead using chemical separation techniques for almost two years, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1943/hevesy/lecture/">with no success</a>. The reason for his failure was that, unknown to anyone at the time, radium D was actually a different form of lead – namely the radioactive isotope, or radioisotope Pb-210. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, de Hevesy’s failure led to an even bigger discovery. The creative scientist figured out that if he could not separate radium D from natural lead, he could use it as a tracer of lead.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/hunting-for-rare-isotopes-the-mysterious-radioactive-atomic-nuclei-that-will-be-in-tomorrows-technology-86177">Radioactive isotopes</a>, like Pb-210, are unstable isotopes, which means that over time they will transform into a different element. During this transformation, called radioactive decay, they typically release particles or light, which can be <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/radioactivity">detected as radioactivity</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJgc28csgV0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Through radioactivity, an unstable isotope can turn from one element to another.</span></figcaption>
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<p>This radioactivity acts as a signature indicating the presence of the radioactive isotope. This critical property of radioisotopes allows them to be used as tracers.</p>
<h2>Radium D as a tracer</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.iaea.org/topics/radiotracers">A tracer</a> is a substance that stands out in a crowd of similar material because it has unique qualities that make it easy to track. </p>
<p>For example, if you have a group of kindergartners going on a field trip and one of them is wearing a smartwatch, you can tell if the group went to the playground by tracking the GPS signal on the smartwatch. In de Hevesy’s case, the kindergartners were the lead atoms, the smart watch was radium D, and the GPS signal was the emitted radioactivity. </p>
<p>In the 1910s, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00000541">Vienna Institute of Radium Research</a> had a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2013.0070">larger collection of radium</a> and its byproducts than any other institution. To continue his experiments with radium D, de Hevesy moved to Vienna in 1912. </p>
<p>He collaborated with Fritz Paneth, who had also attempted the impossible task of separating radium D from lead without success. The two scientists “spiked” samples of different chemical compounds with small amounts of a radioactive tracer. This way they could study chemical processes by tracking the movement of the radioactivity <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/hevesy-lecture.pdf">across different chemical reactions</a></p>
<p>De Hevesy continued his work studying chemical processes using different isotopic markers for many years. He even was the first to introduce nonradioactive tracers. One nonradioactive tracer he studied was a heavier isotope of hydrogen, <a href="https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-is-deuterium">called deuterium</a>. Deuterium is 10,000 times less abundant than common hydrogen, but is roughly twice as heavy, which makes it easier to separate the two.</p>
<p>De Hevesy and his co-author used deuterium to track water in their bodies. In their investigations, they took turns ingesting samples and measuring the deuterium in their urine to study <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/134879a0">the elimination of water</a> from the human body. </p>
<p>De Hevesy was awarded the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1943/summary/">1943 Nobel Prize in chemistry</a> “for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes.” </p>
<h2>Radioactive tracers today</h2>
<p>More than a century after de Hevesy’s experiments, many fields now routinely use radioactive tracers, from medicine to materials science and biology. </p>
<p>These tracers can monitor the progression of disease in <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23095023">medical procedures</a>, the uptake of nutrients in <a href="https://doi.org/10.2976/1.2921207">plant biology</a>, the age and flow of <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-249-2020">water in aquifers</a> and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2021.110076">measurement of wear and corrosion of materials</a>, among other applications. Radioisotopes allow researchers to follow the paths of nutrients and drugs in living systems without invasively cutting the tissue.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551730/original/file-20231003-15-397yxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four brain scans, two in contrasted colors with the background shown as white and the brain as gray, two with the background shown as black and the brain shown either as gray or orange." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551730/original/file-20231003-15-397yxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551730/original/file-20231003-15-397yxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551730/original/file-20231003-15-397yxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551730/original/file-20231003-15-397yxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551730/original/file-20231003-15-397yxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551730/original/file-20231003-15-397yxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551730/original/file-20231003-15-397yxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Radioactive tracers, seen in the top left photo as a white spot and indicated by an arrow in the top right, are often used today in brain scans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/positron-emission-tomography-ct-scan-uses-a-royalty-free-image/1463929233?phrase=brain+scan+radioactive+tracer&adppopup=true">mr. suphachai praserdumrongchai/iStock via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In modern research, scientists focus on producing new isotopes and on developing procedures to use radioactive tracers more efficiently. The <a href="https://frib.msu.edu/">Facility for Rare Isotope Beams</a>, or FRIB, where the three of us work, has a program dedicated to the production and harvesting of unique radioisotopes. These radioisotopes are then used in medical and other applications. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/powerful-linear-accelerator-begins-smashing-atoms-2-scientists-on-the-team-explain-how-it-could-reveal-rare-forms-of-matter-185754">FRIB produces radioactive beams</a> for its basic science program. In the production process, a large number of unused isotopes are collected in a tank of water, where they can be later <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D0NJ04411C">isolated and studied</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552099/original/file-20231004-26-tls88s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two scientists, a woman wearing a white shirt and a man wearing a dark blue shirt, squat on the concrete ground in a laboartory with lots of machinery and shelves, and a green lit ceiling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552099/original/file-20231004-26-tls88s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552099/original/file-20231004-26-tls88s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552099/original/file-20231004-26-tls88s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552099/original/file-20231004-26-tls88s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552099/original/file-20231004-26-tls88s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552099/original/file-20231004-26-tls88s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552099/original/file-20231004-26-tls88s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scientists Greg Severin and Katharina Domnanich at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One recent study involved the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D0NJ04411C">isolation of the radioisotope Zn-62</a> from the irradiated water. This was a challenging task considering there were 100 quadrillion times more water molecules than Zn-62 atoms. Zn-62 is an important radioactive tracer utilized to follow the metabolism of zinc in plants and in nuclear medicine.</p>
<p>Eighty years ago, de Hevesy managed to take a dead-end separation project and turn it into a discovery that created a new scientific field. Radioactive tracers have already changed human lives in so many ways. Nevertheless, scientists are continuing to develop new radioactive tracers and find innovative ways to use them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Artemis Spyrou receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Liddick receives funding from the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration. He is affiliated with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katharina Domnanich does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some Nobel Prize-winning ideas originate in strange places, but still go on to revolutionize the scientific field. George de Hevesy’s research on radioactive tracers is one such example.Artemis Spyrou, Professor of Nuclear Physics, Michigan State UniversityKatharina Domnanich, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Michigan State UniversitySean Liddick, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2104622023-08-10T20:00:53Z2023-08-10T20:00:53ZWhat’s in vapes? Toxins, heavy metals, maybe radioactive polonium<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541174/original/file-20230804-29-77kck2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C1%2C997%2C664&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-girl-smokes-disposable-electronic-cigarette-1943062066">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you asked me what’s in e-cigarettes, disposable vapes or e-liquids, my short answer would be “we don’t fully know”.</p>
<p>The huge and increasing range of products and flavours on the market, changes to ingredients when they are heated or interact with each other, and inadequate labelling make this a complicated question to answer.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-anchem-061318-115329">Analytical chemistry</a>, including <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/1/chemical-analysis-fresh-and-aged-australian-e-cigarette-liquids">my own team’s research</a>, gives some answers. But understanding the health impacts adds another level of complexity. E-cigarettes’ risk to health varies depending on <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.chemrestox.1c00070">many factors</a> including which device or flavours are used, and how people use them.</p>
<p>So vapers just don’t know what they’re inhaling and cannot be certain of the health impacts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-vapes-arent-95-less-harmful-than-cigarettes-heres-how-this-decade-old-myth-took-off-203039">No, vapes aren't 95% less harmful than cigarettes. Here's how this decade-old myth took off</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What do we know?</h2>
<p>Despite these complexities, there are some consistencies between what different laboratories find.</p>
<p>Ingredients include nicotine, flavouring chemicals, and the liquids that carry them – primarily propylene glycol and glycerine.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.industrialchemicals.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-08/Non-nicotine%20liquids%20for%20e-cigarette%20devices%20in%20Australia%20chemistry%20and%20health%20concerns%20%5BPDF%201.21%20MB%5D.pdf">Concerningly</a>, we also find volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and carcinogens (agents that can cause cancer), many of which we know are harmful. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2019/210/3/nicotine-and-other-potentially-harmful-compounds-nicotine-free-e-cigarette">previous</a> <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/1/chemical-analysis-fresh-and-aged-australian-e-cigarette-liquids">research</a> also found 2-chlorophenol in about half of e-liquids users buy to top-up re-fillable e-cigarettes. This is one example of a chemical with no valid reason to be there. Globally, it’s <a href="https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/2-Chlorophenol#section=Hazard-Classes-and-Categories">classified</a> as “harmful if inhaled”. Its presence is likely due to contamination during manufacturing.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/many-e-cigarette-vaping-liquids-contain-toxic-chemicals-new-australian-research-169615">Many e-cigarette vaping liquids contain toxic chemicals: new Australian research</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How about polonium?</h2>
<p>One potential ingredient that has been in the news in recent weeks is radioactive polonium-210, the same substance used to <a href="https://theconversation.com/litvinenko-poisoning-polonium-explained-53514">assassinate</a> former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. The Queensland government is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-26/queensland-scientists-test-vapes-for-polonium-210/102564282">now testing</a> vapes for it.</p>
<p>Polonium-210 <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9207432/">can be found</a> in traditional cigarettes and other tobacco products. That’s because tobacco plants <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.153.3738.880">absorb it</a> and other radioactive materials from the soil, air and high-phosphate fertiliser.</p>
<p>Whether polonium-210 is found in aerosols produced by e-cigarettes remains to be seen. Although it is feasible if the glycerine in e-liquids comes from plants and similar fertilisers are used to grow them.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1684030171287019522"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/litvinenko-poisoning-polonium-explained-53514">Litvinenko poisoning: polonium explained</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>It’s not just the ingredients</h2>
<p>Aside from their ingredients, the materials e-cigarette devices are made from can end up in our bodies.</p>
<p><a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/EHP2175">Toxic metals</a> and <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/EHP5686">related substances</a> such as arsenic, lead, chromium and nickel can be detected in both e-liquids and vapers’ urine, saliva and blood.</p>
<p>These substances can pose serious health risks (such as being carcinogenic). They can leach from several parts of an e-cigarette, including the heating coil, wires and soldered joints.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541152/original/file-20230804-21381-h5ifyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C997%2C655&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Colourful, disposable vapes on a blue background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541152/original/file-20230804-21381-h5ifyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C997%2C655&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541152/original/file-20230804-21381-h5ifyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541152/original/file-20230804-21381-h5ifyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541152/original/file-20230804-21381-h5ifyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541152/original/file-20230804-21381-h5ifyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541152/original/file-20230804-21381-h5ifyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541152/original/file-20230804-21381-h5ifyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chemicals from the device itself can end up in our blood, urine and saliva.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/set-colorful-disposable-electronic-cigarettes-on-2065547126">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-asked-over-700-teens-where-they-bought-their-vapes-heres-what-they-said-190669">We asked over 700 teens where they bought their vapes. Here's what they said</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>That’s not all</h2>
<p>The process of heating e-liquids to create an inhalable aerosol also changes their chemical make-up to produce <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemrestox.9b00410">degradation</a> <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b02205">products</a>. </p>
<p>These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>formaldehyde (a substance used to embalm dead bodies)</p></li>
<li><p>acetaldehyde (a key substance that contributes to a hangover after drinking alcohol)</p></li>
<li><p>acrolein (used as a chemical weapon in the first world war and now used as a herbicide).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These chemicals are <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/10/12/714">often detected</a> in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6129974">e-cigarette samples</a>. However due to different devices and how the samples are collected, the <a href="https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-017-0249-x">levels measured</a> <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b02205">vary widely</a> between studies.</p>
<p>Often, the levels are very low, leading to proponents of vaping arguing e-cigarettes are far safer than tobacco smoking. </p>
<p>But this argument does not acknowledge that many e-cigarette users (particularly adolescents) <a href="https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-18-e-cigarettes/18-3-extent">were or are not cigarette smokers</a>, meaning a better comparison is between e-cigarette use and breathing “fresh” air. </p>
<p>An e-cigarette user is undoubtedly exposed to more toxins and harmful substances than a non-smoker. People who buy tobacco cigarettes are also confronted with a plethora of warnings about the hazards of smoking, while vapers generally are not.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-and-lies-are-used-to-sell-vapes-online-even-we-were-surprised-at-the-marketing-tactics-we-found-200446">Sex and lies are used to sell vapes online. Even we were surprised at the marketing tactics we found</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How about labelling?</h2>
<p>This leads to another reason why it’s impossible to tell what is in vapes – the lack of information, including warnings, <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2021L00595">on the label</a>.</p>
<p>Even if labels are present, they don’t always reflect what’s in the product. Nicotine concentration of e-liquids is often quite different to what is on the label, and “nicotine-free” e-liquids often <a href="https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(20)30134-3/fulltext">contain nicotine</a>.</p>
<p>Products are also labelled with generic flavour names such as “berry” or “tobacco”. But there is no way for a user to know what chemicals have been added to make those “berry” or “tobacco” flavours or the changes in these chemicals that may occur with heating and/or interacting with other ingredients and the device components. “Berry” <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/30/2/185">flavour</a> alone could be made from <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/suppl/2020/02/10/tobaccocontrol-2019-055447.DC1/tobaccocontrol-2019-055447supp001_data_supplement.pdf">more than 35</a> different chemicals. </p>
<p>Flavouring chemicals may be “food grade” or classified as safe-to-eat. However mixing them into e-liquids, heating and inhaling them is a very different type of exposure, compared to eating them.</p>
<p>One example is benzaldehyde (an almond flavouring). When this is inhaled, it <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.chemrestox.9b00171">impairs</a> the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214750023000380">immune function</a> of lung cells. This could potentially reduce a vaper’s ability to deal with other inhaled toxins, or respiratory infections. </p>
<p>Benzaldehyde is one of only <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2021L00595">eight</a> banned e-liquid ingredients in Australia. The list is so short because we don’t have enough information on the health effects if inhaled of other flavouring chemicals, and their interactions with other e-liquid ingredients.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1670806592961355777"}"></div></p>
<h2>Where to next?</h2>
<p>For us to better assess the health risks of vapes, we need to learn more about:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>what happens when flavour chemicals are heated and inhaled</p></li>
<li><p>the interactions between different e-liquid ingredients</p></li>
<li><p>what other contaminants may be present in e-liquids</p></li>
<li><p>new, potentially harmful, substances in e-cigarettes.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Finally, we need to know more about how people use e-cigarettes so we can better understand and quantify the health risks in the real world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210462/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Larcombe has previously received funding for e-cigarette research from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Lung Foundation Australia, Minderoo Foundation, Health Department of Western Australia and Asthma Foundation of Western Australia. The funders played no role in the conduct of the research. He is also a member of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH).</span></em></p>It’s not just the ingredients we should be concerned about. The devices themselves release chemicals that end up in our blood and urine.Alexander Larcombe, Associate Professor and Head of Respiratory Environmental Health, Telethon Kids InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2110752023-08-09T12:31:45Z2023-08-09T12:31:45ZResearchers dig deep underground in hopes of finally observing dark matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541255/original/file-20230804-21123-c0m9ny.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C1280%2C831&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The inside of the LZ outer detector. The LZ is a super sensitive machine that may one day detect a dark matter particle. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Kapust, SURF</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Physicists like me don’t fully understand what makes up about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833910">83% of the matter of the universe</a> — something we call “<a href="https://theconversation.com/dark-matter-the-mystery-substance-physics-still-cant-identify-that-makes-up-the-majority-of-our-universe-85808">dark matter</a>.” But with a <a href="https://sanfordlab.org/experiment/lux-zeplin">tank full of xenon</a> buried nearly a mile under South Dakota, we might one day be able to measure what dark matter really is.</p>
<p>In the typical model, dark matter accounts for most of the gravitational attraction in the universe, providing the glue that allows structures like galaxies, including our own Milky Way, <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Planck/History_of_cosmic_structure_formation">to form</a>. As the solar system orbits around the center of the Milky Way, Earth moves through a <a href="https://theconversation.com/dark-matter-our-method-for-catching-ghostly-haloes-could-help-unveil-what-its-made-of-147953">dark matter halo</a>, which makes up most of the matter in our galaxy. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541254/original/file-20230804-21-fug5qn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A diagram showing the Milky Way galaxy, with a blurrred region or 'halo' around it indicating dark matter." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541254/original/file-20230804-21-fug5qn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541254/original/file-20230804-21-fug5qn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541254/original/file-20230804-21-fug5qn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541254/original/file-20230804-21-fug5qn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541254/original/file-20230804-21-fug5qn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541254/original/file-20230804-21-fug5qn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541254/original/file-20230804-21-fug5qn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artist’s rendition of the halo of dark matter surrounding the central spiral disk of the Milky Way.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/ESA/A Feild STSci</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’m a <a href="http://hep.ucsb.edu/people/hugh/">physicist</a> interested in understanding the nature of dark matter. One popular guess is that dark matter is a new type of particle, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/weakly-interacting-massive-particle">Weakly Interacting Massive Particle</a>, or WIMP. “WIMP” captures the particle’s essence quite nicely – it has mass, meaning it interacts gravitationally, but it otherwise interacts very weakly – or rarely – with normal matter. WIMPs in the Milky Way theoretically fly through us on Earth all the time, but because they interact weakly, they just don’t hit anything.</p>
<h2>Searching for WIMPs</h2>
<p>Over the past 30 years, scientists have developed <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2209.07426">an experimental program</a> to try to detect the rare interactions between WIMPs and regular atoms. On Earth, however, we are constantly surrounded by low, nondangerous levels of radioactivity coming from trace elements – mainly uranium and thorium – in the environment, as well as cosmic rays from space. The goal in hunting for dark matter is to build as sensitive a detector as possible, so it can see the dark matter, and to put it in as quiet a place as possible, so the dark matter signal can be seen over the background radioactivity. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.041002">results published in July 2023</a>, the <a href="https://sanfordlab.org/experiment/lux-zeplin">LUX-ZEPLIN</a>, or LZ, collaboration has done just that, building the largest dark matter detector to date and operating it 4,850 feet (1,478 meters) underground in the <a href="https://sanfordlab.org/">Sanford Underground Research Facility</a> in Lead, South Dakota. </p>
<p>At the center of LZ rests <a href="https://sanfordlab.org/feature/searching-dark-matter">10 metric tons (10,000 kilograms) of liquid xenon</a>. When particles pass through the detector, they may collide with xenon atoms, leading to a flash of light and the release of electrons.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541256/original/file-20230804-29-ohjyrk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A diagram showing a particle interacting and releasing an electron, which registers in the detector" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541256/original/file-20230804-29-ohjyrk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541256/original/file-20230804-29-ohjyrk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541256/original/file-20230804-29-ohjyrk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541256/original/file-20230804-29-ohjyrk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541256/original/file-20230804-29-ohjyrk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541256/original/file-20230804-29-ohjyrk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541256/original/file-20230804-29-ohjyrk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Particles interact with xenon in the LZ, releasing light that is detected by two light-sensing arrays at top and bottom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SLAC/LZ</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In LZ, two massive electrical grids apply an electric field across the volume of liquid, which pushes these released electrons to the liquid’s surface. When they breach the surface, they are pulled into the space above the liquid, which is filled with xenon gas, and accelerated by another electric field to create a second flash of light. Two large arrays of light sensors collect these two flashes of light, and together they allow researchers to reconstruct the position, energy and type of interaction that took place. </p>
<h2>Reducing radioactivity</h2>
<p>All materials on Earth, including those used in WIMP detector construction, <a href="https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/radiation-and-health/naturally-occurring-radioactive-materials-norm.aspx">emit some radiation</a> that could potentially mask dark matter interactions. Scientists therefore build dark matter detectors using the most “radiopure” materials – that is, free of radioactive contaminants – they can find, both inside and outside the detector. </p>
<p>For example, by working with metal foundries, LZ was able to use the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2017.09.002">cleanest titanium on Earth</a> to build the central cylinder – or cryostat – that holds the liquid xenon. Using this special titanium reduces the radioactivity in LZ, creating a clear space to see any dark matter interactions. Furthermore, liquid xenon is so dense that it actually acts as a radiation shield, and it is easy to purify the xenon of radioactive contaminants that might sneak in. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541259/original/file-20230804-21-3lr4h7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An LZ worker wearing a white hazard suit stands by a tall white cylinder." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541259/original/file-20230804-21-3lr4h7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541259/original/file-20230804-21-3lr4h7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541259/original/file-20230804-21-3lr4h7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541259/original/file-20230804-21-3lr4h7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541259/original/file-20230804-21-3lr4h7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541259/original/file-20230804-21-3lr4h7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541259/original/file-20230804-21-3lr4h7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the inner detector of LZ, two light-sensing arrays at top and bottom view a central cylinder that will be filled with liquid xenon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Kapust, SURF</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In LZ, the central xenon detector lives inside two other detectors, called the xenon skin and the outer detector. These supporting layers catch radioactivity on the way in or out of the central xenon chamber. Because dark matter interactions are so rare, a dark matter particle will only ever interact one time in the entire apparatus. Thus, if we observe an event with multiple interactions in the xenon or the outer detector, we can assume it’s not being caused by a WIMP. </p>
<p>All of these objects, including the central detector, the cryostat and the outer detector, live in a large water tank nearly a mile underground. The water tank shields the detectors from the cavern, and the underground environment shields the water tank from cosmic rays, or charged particles that are constantly hitting the Earth’s atmosphere.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dwoFeiqiNe0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The LZ lives underground to block out cosmic radiation. But in order to get it down there, SURF engineers had to figure out a way to transport all the machinery and equipment.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The hunt continues</h2>
<p>In the result <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.041002">just published</a>, using 60 days of data, LZ recorded about five events per day in the detector. That’s about a trillion fewer events than a typical particle detector on the surface would record in a day. By looking at the characteristics of these events, researchers can safely say that no interaction so far has been caused by dark matter. The result is, alas, not a discovery of new physics – but we can set limits on exactly how weakly dark matter must interact, as it remains unseen by LZ.</p>
<p>These limits help to tell physicists what dark matter is not – and LZ does that better than any experiment in the world. Meanwhile, there’s hope for what comes next in the search for dark matter. LZ is collecting more data now, and we expect to take more than 15 times more data over the next few years. A WIMP interaction may already be in that data set, just waiting to be revealed in the next round of analysis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211075/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hugh Lippincott receives funding from the US Department of Energy Office of Science. </span></em></p>To detect dark matter, you need to build an ultra-sensitive detector and put it somewhere ultra-quiet. For one physics collaboration, that place is almost a mile under Lead, S.D.Hugh Lippincott, Associate Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa BarbaraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1988702023-02-01T04:21:06Z2023-02-01T04:21:06ZI study how radiation interacts with the environment – and the capsule lost in WA is a whole new ballgame<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507273/original/file-20230131-125-wacbvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4525%2C3021&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>By now, you’ve probably heard about a tiny radioactive capsule that went missing from the back of a truck somewhere in Western Australia. Inside is a small but dangerous amount of Caesium-137, a radioactive chemical element that can harm both people and nature.</p>
<p>My research <a href="https://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/science/research/school-centres/centre-for-marine-ecosystems-research/research-themes/marine-radioactivity-and-tracers2/related-content/lists/reconstruction-of-environmental-change-using-natural-archives">focuses on</a> detecting human-caused radioactive elements in the Australian environment. </p>
<p>These chemicals can <a href="https://www.irsn.fr/EN/publications/technical-publications/Documents/long_term_environmental_behaviour_of_radionuclides.pdf">persist</a> in water, soil, sediments, plants and animals, and even travel up food chains. But the situation of the lost capsule is unique. That makes it hard to predict the environmental damage it might cause.</p>
<p>Should the capsule not be found immediately, we can’t just write it off as lost. A long-term system of surveys and sampling will be needed, across a broad area, to monitor for radiation and protect humans and the environment.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="rocky hills at sunset" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The landscape near Newman in remote WA, where the capsule began its journey. The environmental effects of the accident are unknown.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stay well away</h2>
<p>The radioactive capsule fell from a truck somewhere along a 1,400-kilometre stretch of road between Newman and Perth. Authorities are now searching for it.</p>
<p>The device was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/rio-tinto-apologises-after-radioactive-capsule-lost-australia-2023-01-29/">part of a gauge</a> being used at a Rio Tinto mine in the Kimberley region and was being transported by a contractor.</p>
<p>It contained Caesium-137, a nuclear fission product used in high-tech equipment. The radioactive element is also a byproduct of nuclear weapons and reactors.</p>
<p>The lost device is tiny – just 6mm by 8mm. The Caesium-137 is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/abcperth/videos/dfes-are-providing-a-live-update-about-a-current-hazmat-incident/1366569623917214/">contained</a> in ceramic material, which is then encased in a steel outer shell.</p>
<p>The capsule could eventually corrode when exposed to the elements.</p>
<p>People who come across the capsule could become seriously unwell, including developing burns, radiation sickness and, in the longer term, cancer. But plants, animals and ecosystems are at risk, too.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1618912394968981512"}"></div></p>
<h2>How might nature be harmed?</h2>
<p>It’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0265931X96892769">well-documented</a> that caesium can accumulate in food webs. </p>
<p>The capsule was lost in a remote outback area. There, small animals such as insects and rodents could ingest all or part of the capsule, and suffer ill-effects. Plants can also absorb radiation.</p>
<p>If those animals or plants are then eaten by other animals, the radioactive caesium may travel up the food chain.</p>
<p>Research has found lower animal population sizes and reduced biodiversity in high-radiation areas. Radioactive caesium from Chernobyl, for example, can <a href="https://theconversation.com/at-chernobyl-and-fukushima-radioactivity-has-seriously-harmed-wildlife-57030">still be detected</a> in some food products today.</p>
<p>The damage caused by radiation varies depending on the type of radiation emitted, the amount of radiation present, and the ways a person or organism interacts with it. An animal that ingests the capsule, for instance, would suffer more harm than one that briefly walked past it.</p>
<p>My PhD research involves testing for radioactivity in the marine environment of the Montebello Islands off WA, where Britain conducted nuclear tests in the 1950s. </p>
<p>My colleagues and I discovered human-caused radioactive elements including Caesium-137. The elements exceeded “background” levels – in other words, the levels you could expect in the soil in a suburban backyard or in sand at your local beach. </p>
<p>We are currently seeking to understand if these levels pose a risk to people and nature, and how the radioactive elements move around the environment.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-tiny-radioactive-capsule-is-lost-on-a-highway-in-western-australia-heres-what-you-need-to-know-198761">A tiny radioactive capsule is lost on a highway in Western Australia. Here's what you need to know</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="woman stands in coastal landscape with pipes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author at the Montebello Islands where she and her team tested for radioactivity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kathryn McMahon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The great unknown</h2>
<p>WA authorities are searching for the lost capsule by trying to detect radiation from Caesium-137 in the environment. But this will not be easy. </p>
<p>The radiation was not dispersed over a large area, such as in a mushroom cloud following a weapons test. It was encased and condensed – though it may eventually escape the casing. </p>
<p>Working out what harm the radiation may cause is also difficult. The two most notable releases of Caesium-137 to date have occurred overseas, at <a href="https://www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_28292/chernobyl-chapter-ii-the-release-dispersion-deposition-and-behaviour-of-radionuclides">Chernobyl</a> in Ukraine and <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-9404-2_1">Fukushima</a> in Japan. Both were large-scale releases from nuclear power plants – very different to the current situation in WA.</p>
<p>There have been smaller radioactive releases around the world. But most occurred in environments very different to Australia’s. We don’t have a great deal of information about how Caesium-137, and other radioactive elements, move through hot, arid environments such as ours.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="damaged nuclear power plant" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most Caaesium-137 releases to date have occurred overseas at places such as Fukushima.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP/KYDPL KYODO</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How long will the radiation last?</h2>
<p>This lost capsule is an entirely different ballgame to Caesium-137 releases in the past. Its radiation is currently 19 billion becquerels (a unit used to measure radioactivity). That is many orders of magnitude greater than what I’m dealing with at the Montebello Islands, for example.</p>
<p>If we apply what’s known as the <a href="https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ExponentialDecay.html">exponential decay equation</a>, in 100 years’ time the capsule’s radiation level will have fallen to about 1.9 billion becquerels. But even then it might still pose a risk to people or the environment. </p>
<p>Using the same equation, in 1,000 years, the radiation level will be about 1.9 becquerels. This might be too low for our current instruments to detect, and might not necessarily pose a significant safety hazard. However, the risk would still depend on many variables.</p>
<h2>The long game</h2>
<p>At the moment, the search for the lost capsule is in the acute phase. Let’s hope authorities find it soon. </p>
<p>If that doesn’t happen, the next step will be determining how to best keep looking for it. </p>
<p>The current resource-intensive searching – such as scouring highways on foot or slowly by vehicle – can’t go on forever. But if the capsule remains lost, ongoing sampling, surveys and monitoring is needed to protect people and the environment over the longer term. </p>
<p>Understandably, headlines about radiation accidents evoke public concern. But it’s important to stress that, if the device remains on the side of the road, the probability of a person stumbling across it by accident is very small. </p>
<p>Although unfortunately, the same can’t be said for wildlife.</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-bananas-really-radioactive-an-expert-clears-up-common-misunderstandings-about-radiation-193211">Are bananas really 'radioactive'? An expert clears up common misunderstandings about radiation</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madison Williams-Hoffman receives funding from the federal government RTP Scholarship program, Her PhD has also been partially funded by Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).</span></em></p>Should the capsule not be found immediately, we can’t just write it off as lost. A long term system of monitoring is needed to protect humans and the environment.Madison Williams-Hoffman, PhD Candidate in Environmental Radioactivity, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1987612023-01-30T05:34:36Z2023-01-30T05:34:36ZA tiny radioactive capsule is lost on a highway in Western Australia. Here’s what you need to know<p>On January 12 a truck pulled out of Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and drove 1,400km south to Perth, arriving on January 16. </p>
<p>Nine days later, on January 25, it was discovered the truck had lost a rather special piece of cargo somewhere along the way: a tiny capsule containing a highly radioactive substance, used in a radiation gauge on the mine site.</p>
<p>A bolt and screws in the package were also missing, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/29/new-technology-deployed-in-search-for-tiny-potentially-deadly-missing-radioactive-capsule">authorities suspect</a> the fixings shook loose during the trip and the capsule fell out of the hole left by the bolt.</p>
<p>Western Australia’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services are now searching for the missing ceramic capsule, which at 8mm by 6mm is smaller than a ten-cent piece.</p>
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<h2>What is the capsule and what was it used for?</h2>
<p>The capsule contains caesium-137, a radioactive isotope which spits out electrons (or beta radiation) and high-energy photons (or gamma radiation). The beta radiation is blocked by the shell of the capsule, but the gamma radiation streams right through it.</p>
<p>The source has an activity of 19 gigabecquerels, which means it emits about 19 billion high-energy photons per second.</p>
<p>Caesium-137 is dangerous stuff, but the radiation it produces can also be very useful. It is used in some cancer treatments, for measuring the thickness of metal or the flow of liquids, and – as in this case, reportedly – for calibrating radiation gauges.</p>
<h2>Radioactive sources are common, but they rarely go missing</h2>
<p>Transporting radioactive sources is a commonplace activity. Each month, the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation (ANSTO) ships some <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/nrwmf-infopack/nrwmf-transportation-of-radioactive-materials.pdf">2,000 packages</a> containing nuclear medicine around Australia. There are also several private companies who transport radioactive sources.</p>
<p>There are well-established procedures and strict regulations for making sure this happens safely. At the national level, this is overseen by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), while each state and territory also has <a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/regulation-and-licensing/regulation/state-territory-regulators">its own regulator</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-bananas-really-radioactive-an-expert-clears-up-common-misunderstandings-about-radiation-193211">Are bananas really 'radioactive'? An expert clears up common misunderstandings about radiation</a>
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<p>You need a licence to own and use a radioactive source at a particular location. If you’re moving it, you need to follow <a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/regulation-and-licensing/licensing/information-for-licence-holders/regulatory-guides/regulatory-guide-transport-radioactive">detailed rules</a> for safety, packaging and record-keeping. </p>
<p>Radioactive sources which are lost, stolen, or otherwise leave regulated control are known as “orphan sources”. Each year, the <a href="https://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/overview-of-the-cns-global-incidents-and-trafficking-database/">CNS Global Incidents and Trafficking Database</a> records 150 or so such incidents around the world.</p>
<p>Most of these incidents are due to carelessness or disregard for proper procedures. </p>
<h2>What’s the risk?</h2>
<p>The source doesn’t pose much of a danger to casual passers-by. If you were standing a metre away from it for an hour, you would receive a radiation dose of around 1 millisievert. That’s about one-twentieth of the dose people who work with radiation are allowed to get in a year.</p>
<p>If you were much closer to the capsule, say 10cm or so, you’d be getting around 100 millisievert per hour, which could do you some real damage.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-difference-between-radiation-and-radioactivity-20014">Explainer: the difference between radiation and radioactivity</a>
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<p>However, the most danger would occur if the capsule were broken open. In an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident">infamous incident in Brazil in 1987</a>, a (much larger) caesium-137 capsule was stolen from an abandoned hospital and punctured. The glowing blue dust inside was a source of fascination to everyone who saw it, of whom 250 were contaminated with radiation and four died.</p>
<p>So if you see a small capsule anywhere along the Great Northern Highway, keep your distance. Don’t panic, but do notify the authorities.</p>
<h2>The long half-life of the missing capsule</h2>
<p>The search for the capsule will be a difficult one. Just as the source won’t be dangerous unless you’re close to it, it won’t be easily registered by gamma-ray detectors unless they are in close proximity.</p>
<p>Authorities say they now have vehicle-mounted detectors to aid their efforts, but scanning 1,400 km of road is a formidable task. Searchers have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/29/new-technology-deployed-in-search-for-tiny-potentially-deadly-missing-radioactive-capsule">conceded</a> “there is the potential that we may not find this”.</p>
<p>What then? Caesium-137 has a half-life of just over 30 years, which means the source’s radiation output will halve every 30 years, until it disappears completely. </p>
<p>It will still pose a risk for the next century or so. Will anyone remember? If you came across a tiny cylinder on the road today, you’d know to keep your distance – but what about if you found it in five years, or in 20 years?</p>
<p>Who remembers Australia’s last orphan source incident? It occurred in 2019, when a radioactive moisture detection gauge was <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/a-gauge-swiped-from-a-vehicle-in-qld-has-sparked-a-serious-health-warning/news-story/64061e1cc00c2e68836ac0fcaadf1f88">taken from a ute in Ipswich</a>. As far as I know, it has never been found.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edward Obbard is a senior lecturer and the program coordinator in nuclear engineering at UNSW Sydney. He has received funding from the Sir William Tyree Foundation for the Tyree Scholars in Nuclear Engineering Program, which sponsors Australian graduate students to undertake masters study and PhD research in nuclear engineering.</span></em></p>The lost radioactive source may never be found.Edward Obbard, Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Engineering, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1857542022-11-14T22:12:12Z2022-11-14T22:12:12ZPowerful linear accelerator begins smashing atoms – 2 scientists on the team explain how it could reveal rare forms of matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484140/original/file-20220912-16-rp5qhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1199&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new particle accelerator at Michigan State University is set to discover thousands of never-before-seen isotopes. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Facility for Rare Isotope Beams</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just a few hundred feet from where we are sitting is a large metal chamber devoid of air and draped with the wires needed to control the instruments inside. A beam of particles passes through the interior of the chamber silently at around half the speed of light until it smashes into a solid piece of material, resulting in a burst of rare isotopes.</p>
<p>This is all taking place in the <a href="https://frib.msu.edu/">Facility for Rare Isotope Beams</a>, or FRIB, which is operated by Michigan State University for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Starting in May 2022, national and international teams of scientists converged at Michigan State University and began running scientific experiments at FRIB with the goal of creating, isolating and studying new isotopes. The experiments promised to provide new insights into the fundamental nature of the universe.</p>
<p>We are two professors in <a href="https://www.chemistry.msu.edu/faculty-research/faculty-members/liddick-sean.aspx">nuclear chemistry</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vlmJRrsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">nuclear physics</a> who study rare isotopes. Isotopes are, in a sense, different flavors of an element with the same number of protons in their nucleus but different numbers of neutrons. </p>
<p>The accelerator at FRIB started working at low power, but when it finishes ramping up to full strength, it will be the most powerful heavy-ion accelerator on Earth. By accelerating heavy ions – electrically charged atoms of elements – FRIB will allow scientists like us to create and study thousands of never-before-seen isotopes. A community of roughly <a href="https://fribusers.org/">1,600 nuclear scientists from all over the world</a> has been waiting for a decade to begin doing science enabled by the new particle accelerator.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2022/11/14/frib-experiment-pushes-elements-to-the-limit/">first experiments at FRIB</a> were completed over the summer of 2022. Even though the facility is currently running at only a fraction of its full power, multiple scientific collaborations working at FRIB have already produced and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.212501">detected about 100 rare isotopes</a>. These early results are helping researchers learn about some of the rarest physics in the universe.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Rare isotopes are radioactive and decay over time as they emit radiation – visible here as the streaks coming from the small piece of uranium in the center.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>What is a rare isotope?</h2>
<p>It takes incredibly high amounts of energy to produce most isotopes. In nature, heavy rare isotopes are produced during the cataclysmic deaths of massive stars called <a href="https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.1825268">supernovas</a> or during the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1676-3">merging of two neutron stars</a>.</p>
<p>To the naked eye, two isotopes of any element look and behave the same way – all isotopes of the element mercury would look just like the liquid metal used in old thermometers. However, because the nuclei of isotopes of the same element have different numbers of neutrons, they differ in how long they live, what type of radioactivity they emit and in many other ways.</p>
<p>For example, some isotopes are stable and do not decay or emit radiation, so they are common in the universe. Other isotopes of the very same element can be radioactive so they inevitably decay away as they turn into other elements. Since radioactive isotopes disappear over time, they are relatively rarer. </p>
<p>Not all decay happens at the same rate though. Some radioactive elements – like potassium-40 – emit particles through decay at such a low rate that a small amount of the isotope can <a href="https://www.nndc.bnl.gov/nudat3/">last for billions of years</a>. Other, more highly radioactive isotopes like magnesium-38 exist for only a fraction of a second before decaying away into other elements. Short-lived isotopes, by definition, do not survive long and are rare in the universe. So if you want to study them, you have to make them yourself.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480464/original/file-20220822-77906-xtxwle.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A diagram of a large facility." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480464/original/file-20220822-77906-xtxwle.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480464/original/file-20220822-77906-xtxwle.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480464/original/file-20220822-77906-xtxwle.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480464/original/file-20220822-77906-xtxwle.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480464/original/file-20220822-77906-xtxwle.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480464/original/file-20220822-77906-xtxwle.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480464/original/file-20220822-77906-xtxwle.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams was designed to allow researchers to create rare isotopes and measure them before they decay.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://frib.zenfolio.com/p798584095">Facility for Rare Isotope Beams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Creating isotopes in a lab</h2>
<p>While only about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11188">250 isotopes naturally occur on Earth</a>, theoretical models predict that about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11188">7,000 isotopes should exist in nature</a>. Scientists have used particle accelerators to produce around <a href="http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/ensdf/">3,000 of these rare isotopes</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480463/original/file-20220822-76734-8linop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A hallway with dozens of large chambers on either side extending into the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480463/original/file-20220822-76734-8linop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480463/original/file-20220822-76734-8linop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480463/original/file-20220822-76734-8linop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480463/original/file-20220822-76734-8linop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480463/original/file-20220822-76734-8linop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480463/original/file-20220822-76734-8linop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480463/original/file-20220822-76734-8linop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The green-colored chambers use electromagnetic waves to accelerate charged ions to nearly half the speed of light.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://frib.zenfolio.com/p798584095">Facility for Rare Isotope Beams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>The FRIB accelerator is 1,600 feet long and made of three segments folded in roughly the shape of a paperclip. Within these segments are numerous, extremely cold vacuum chambers that alternatively pull and push the ions using powerful electromagnetic pulses. FRIB can accelerate any naturally occurring isotope – whether it is as light as oxygen or as heavy as uranium – to approximately <a href="https://frib.msu.edu/science/nuclearphysics/index.html">half the speed of light</a>.</p>
<p>To create radioactive isotopes, you only need to smash this beam of ions into a solid target like a piece of beryllium metal or a rotating disk of carbon.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480466/original/file-20220822-38135-yurmqa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A complicated machine in a large tube." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480466/original/file-20220822-38135-yurmqa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480466/original/file-20220822-38135-yurmqa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480466/original/file-20220822-38135-yurmqa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480466/original/file-20220822-38135-yurmqa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480466/original/file-20220822-38135-yurmqa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480466/original/file-20220822-38135-yurmqa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480466/original/file-20220822-38135-yurmqa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">There are many different instruments designed to measure specific attributes of the particles created during experiments at FRIB – like this instrument called FDSi, which is built to measure charged particles, neutrons and photons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Facility for Rare Isotope Beams</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>The impact of the ion beam on the fragmentation target <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1998.0260">breaks the nucleus of the stable isotope apart</a> and produces many hundreds of rare isotopes simultaneously. To isolate the interesting or new isotopes from the rest, a separator sits between the target and the sensors. Particles with the right momentum and electrical charge will be passed through the separator while the rest are absorbed. Only a <a href="https://frib.msu.edu/users/instruments/operation.html">subset of the desired isotopes will reach the many instruments</a> built to observe the nature of the particles. </p>
<p>The probability of creating any specific isotope during a single collision can be very small. The odds of creating some of the rarer exotic isotopes can be on the order of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-8949/91/5/053003">1 in a quadrillion</a> – roughly the same odds as winning back-to-back Mega Millions jackpots. But the powerful beams of ions used by FRIB contain so many ions and produce so many collisions in a single experiment that the team can reasonably expect to <a href="https://groups.nscl.msu.edu/frib/rates/fribrates.html">find even the rarest of isotopes</a>. According to calculations, FRIB’s accelerator should be able to <a href="https://msu.edu/discoverfrib">produce approximately 80% of all theorized isotopes</a>.</p>
<h2>The first two FRIB scientific experiments</h2>
<p>A multi-institution team led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), Mississippi State University and Florida State University, together with researchers at MSU, began running the first experiment at FRIB on May 9, 2022. The group directed a beam of calcium-48 – a calcium nucleus with 28 neutrons instead of the usual 20 – into a beryllium target at 1 kW of power. Even at one quarter of a percent of the facility’s 400-kW maximum power, approximately 40 different isotopes passed through the separator to the <a href="https://fds.ornl.gov/initiator/">instruments</a>.</p>
<p>The FDSi device recorded the time each ion arrived, what isotope it was and when it decayed away. Using this information, the collaboration deduced the half-lives of the isotopes; the team has already <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.212501">reported on five previously unknown half-lives</a>.</p>
<p>The second FRIB experiment began on June 15, 2022, led by a collaboration of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, ORNL, UTK and MSU. The facility accelerated a beam of selenium-82 and used it to produce rare isotopes of the elements scandium, calcium and potassium. These isotopes are commonly found in neutron stars, and the goal of the experiment was to better understand what type of radioactivity these isotopes emit as they decay. Understanding this process could shed light on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12757">how neutron stars lose energy</a>.</p>
<p>The first two FRIB experiments were just the tip of the iceberg of this new facility’s capabilities. Over the coming years, FRIB is set to explore four big questions in nuclear physics: First, what are the properties of atomic nuclei with a large difference between the numbers of protons and neutrons? Second, how are elements formed in the cosmos? Third, do physicists understand the fundamental symmetries of the universe, like why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe? Finally, how can the information from rare isotopes be applied in medicine, industry and national security? </p>
<p><em>This story was updated to correctly represent the number of neutrons in the nucleus of calcium-48.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185754/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Liddick receives funding from the Department of Energy . </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Artemis Spyrou receives funding from the National Science Foundation in the U.S.</span></em></p>A new particle accelerator has just begun operation. It is the most powerful accelerator of its kind on Earth and will allow physicists to study some of the rarest matter in the universe.Sean Liddick, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Michigan State UniversityArtemis Spyrou, Professor of Nuclear Physics, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1932112022-11-03T19:00:35Z2022-11-03T19:00:35ZAre bananas really ‘radioactive’? An expert clears up common misunderstandings about radiation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493156/original/file-20221102-12-cqkgdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=144%2C216%2C5697%2C3627&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Allexxandar/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The simple mention of the word “radiation” often evokes fear in people. For others, it’s fun to think a little exposure to radiation could turn you into the next superhero, just like <a href="https://www.marvel.com/characters/hulk-bruce-banner">the Hulk</a>.</p>
<p>But is it true basically everything around us is radioactive, even the food we eat? You may have heard bananas are mildly radioactive, but what does that actually mean? And despite us not being superheroes, are human bodies also radioactive?</p>
<h2>What is radiation?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-is-radiation">Radiation</a> is energy that travels from one point to another, either as waves or particles. We are exposed to radiation from various natural and artificial sources every day.</p>
<p>Cosmic radiation from the Sun and outer space, radiation from rocks and soil, as well as radioactivity in the air we breathe and in our food and water, are all sources of natural radiation.</p>
<p>Bananas are a common example of a natural radiation source. They contain high levels of potassium, and a small amount of this is radioactive. But there’s no need to give up your banana smoothie – the amount of radiation is extremely small, and far less than the natural “<a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/regulation-and-licensing/safety-security-and-transport/radioactive-waste-disposal-and-storage/what">background radiation</a>” we are exposed to every day.</p>
<p>Artificial sources of radiation include medical treatments and X-rays, mobile phones and power lines. There is a common misconception that artificial sources of radiation are more dangerous than naturally occurring radiation. However, this just isn’t true.</p>
<p>There are no physical properties that make artificial radiation different or more damaging than natural radiation. The harmful effects are related to dose, and not where the exposure comes from.</p>
<h2>What is the difference between radiation and radioactivity?</h2>
<p>The words “<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-difference-between-radiation-and-radioactivity-20014">radiation” and “radioactivity</a>” are often used interchangeably. Although the two are related, they are not quite the same thing.</p>
<p>Radioactivity refers to an unstable atom undergoing radioactive decay. Energy is released in the form of radiation as the atom tries to reach stability, or become non-radioactive.</p>
<p>The radioactivity of a material describes the rate at which it decays, and the process(es) by which it decays. So radioactivity can be thought of as the process by which elements and materials try to become stable, and radiation as the energy released as a result of this process.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-difference-between-radiation-and-radioactivity-20014">Explainer: the difference between radiation and radioactivity</a>
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<h2>Ionising and non-ionising radiation</h2>
<p>Depending on the level of energy, radiation can be classified into two types.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-is-radiation/ionising-radiation">Ionising radiation</a> has enough energy to remove an electron from an atom, which can change the chemical composition of a material. Examples of ionising radiation include X-rays and radon (a radioactive gas found in rocks and soil).</p>
<p><a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-radiation/what-non-ionising-radiation">Non-ionising radiation</a> has less energy but can still excite molecules and atoms, which causes them to vibrate faster. Common sources of non-ionising radiation include mobile phones, power lines, and ultraviolet rays (UV) from the Sun.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493164/original/file-20221102-22-tzzezi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chart showing waves from radio towers to radioactive sources" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493164/original/file-20221102-22-tzzezi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493164/original/file-20221102-22-tzzezi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493164/original/file-20221102-22-tzzezi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493164/original/file-20221102-22-tzzezi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493164/original/file-20221102-22-tzzezi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493164/original/file-20221102-22-tzzezi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493164/original/file-20221102-22-tzzezi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The electromagnetic spectrum includes all types of electromagnetic radiation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">brgfx/Shutterstock</span></span>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-electromagnetic-spectrum-8046">Explainer: what is the electromagnetic spectrum?</a>
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<h2>Is all radiation dangerous? Not really</h2>
<p>Radiation is not always dangerous – it depends on the type, the strength, and how long you are exposed to it.</p>
<p>As a general rule, the higher the energy level of the radiation, the more likely it is to cause harm. For example, we know that overexposure to <em>ionising</em> radiation – say, from naturally occurring radon gas – <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ionizing-radiation-health-effects-and-protective-measures">can damage human tissues and DNA</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/have-you-tested-your-home-for-cancer-causing-radon-gas-87906">Have you tested your home for cancer-causing radon gas?</a>
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<p>We also know that <em>non-ionising</em> radiation, such as the UV rays from the Sun, can be harmful <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6498/ac3bc3">if the person is exposed to sufficiently high intensity levels</a>, causing adverse health effects such as burns, cancer, or blindness.</p>
<p>Importantly, because these dangers are well known and understood, they can be protected against. <a href="https://www.icrp.org">International</a> and <a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au">national</a> expert bodies provide guidelines to ensure the safety and radiation protection of people and the environment.</p>
<p>For ionising radiation, this means keeping doses above the natural background radiation as low as reasonably achievable – for example, only using medical imaging on the part of the body required, keeping the dose low, and retaining copies of images to avoid repeat exams.</p>
<p>For non-ionising radiation, it means keeping exposure below <a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/regulation-and-licensing/regulatory-publications/radiation-protection-series/codes-and-standards/rpss-1">safety limits</a>. For example, telecommunications equipment uses radiofrequency non-ionising radiation and <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/media-communications-arts/spectrum/5g-and-eme/your-questions-answered/how-radiofrequency-eme-rf-eme-telecommunications-regulated-australia">must operate within these safety limits</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, in the case of UV radiation from the Sun, we know to <a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/radiation-sources/sun-radiation">protect against exposure</a> using sunscreen and clothing when levels reach 3 and above on the UV index.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-uv-index-an-expert-explains-what-it-means-and-how-its-calculated-173146">What is the UV index? An expert explains what it means and how it's calculated</a>
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<h2>Radiation in medicine</h2>
<p>While there are clear risks involved when it comes to radiation exposure, it’s also important to recognise the benefits. One common example of this is the use of radiation in modern medicine.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/sites/default/files/legacy/pubs/rpop/patienthandout.pdf">Medical imaging</a> uses ionising radiation techniques, such as X-rays and CT scans, as well as non-ionising radiation techniques, such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-medical-imaging-magnetic-resonance-imaging-mri-15030">The science of medical imaging: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)</a>
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</em>
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<p>These types of medical imaging techniques allow doctors to see what’s happening inside the body and often lead to earlier and less invasive diagnoses. Medical imaging can also help to rule out serious illness. </p>
<p>Radiation can also help treat certain conditions – it can <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/radiation-therapy">kill cancerous tissue</a>, shrink a tumour or even <a href="https://www.targetingcancer.com.au/treatment-by-cancer-type/palliative-treatment/">be used to reduce pain</a>.</p>
<p>So are our bodies also radioactive? The answer is yes, like everything around us, we are also a little bit radioactive. But this is not something we need to be worried about.</p>
<p>Our bodies were built to handle small amounts of radiation – that’s why there is no danger from the amounts we are exposed to in our normal daily lives. Just don’t expect this radiation to turn you into a superhero any time soon, because that definitely is science fiction.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-no-evidence-5g-is-going-to-harm-our-health-so-lets-stop-worrying-about-it-120501">There's no evidence 5G is going to harm our health, so let's stop worrying about it</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Loughran receives funding from The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC). She is the Director of Radiation Research and Advice at the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). She is is also currently a member of the Scientific Expert Group at the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).</span></em></p>Radiation really is everywhere – and it’s not at all as spooky or dangerous as we often think.Sarah Loughran, Director Radiation Research and Advice (ARPANSA), and Adjunct Associate Professor (UOW), University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1785642022-03-04T16:33:18Z2022-03-04T16:33:18ZUkraine war: the dangers following Russia’s attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant<p>Following recent news of Russian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/ukraine-nuclear-power-plant-fire-zaporizhzhia-russian-shelling">shelling of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant</a> in southern Ukraine, which is the largest in Europe, there is great concern over the potential for a Chernobyl-esque release of radioactive material. Several security personnel at the plant were injured by the attack. </p>
<p>With six large nuclear power reactors, there is a significant quantity of nuclear material at the site. While these are not the same type of reactor as those at the Chernobyl plant, and are of a much safer design, this does not make them any less vulnerable to weapons of war.</p>
<p>The building which suffered the attack and ensuing fire was located approximately 500 metres from the block of six reactors. It contained no nuclear material, as it was used solely for training and administration purposes. No increase in radiation levels <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant-everything-you-need-to-know">has been detected</a>.</p>
<p>While Ukrainian staff remain in control of the reactors, Russian forces have effectively taken control of the wider power plant. From CCTV footage, this does not seem to have been an accidental strike, but a deliberate attack. The Russian forces are sending a message – they can attack the plant at any time, but for the moment are choosing not to do so. The fire may have been quickly extinguished, but the threat of what could come next looms larger than ever.</p>
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<p>The situation is almost unprecedented. Nuclear materials have previously fallen under threat of attack during times of armed conflict, as they did during <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-43481803">Israel’s bombing of a secret Syrian reactor</a>. However, as the Syrian reactor was still under construction at the time and nuclear fuel had yet to be loaded, we are effectively in uncharted waters. </p>
<p>This is a threat that I myself, only a few days ago, <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/should-we-be-worried-about-nuclear-power-stations-in-ukraine">thought highly unlikely</a>. To attack a nuclear power plant, especially one so close to one’s own territory, is a highly risky strategy. The negative consequences are likely to far outweigh any potential benefits. However, experts such as myself have consistently been proved wrong when assessing what Vladimir Putin will and will not do.</p>
<p>At the time of the attack, only one of the six reactors was operating: Unit 4 at 60% power. All other units were either already shut down for maintenance or in a low-power standby state. The plant is thus continuing to operate as normal to some extent, albeit in the most abnormal of circumstances.</p>
<h2>Keeping the site safe</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, Ukraine’s nuclear power plants remain at risk. Even shutting down a nuclear reactor does not immediately render it safe. Once nuclear fuel has been placed into a reactor, it will continue to generate its own heat long after shutdown. Older reactors, such as those in Ukraine, require active measures to maintain the fuel in a safe state. Water must be circulated in storage pools and the reactor even after shutdown, which means a source of electricity is required, as well as staff to monitor and manage the plant. </p>
<p>While the power required for this can be provided by Unit 4, trained operators will still require ready access to the site to assure this, and access to cooling water taken from the Dnieper River. Without this cooling, a range of accident scenarios can occur, from a nuclear fuel meltdown to a reactor core explosion. </p>
<p>If Unit 4 were to be shut down, the required electricity would have to be brought in from off site. However, in the current situation, off-site power may not be reliable, or even available. Furthermore, once a nuclear plant is shut down, it cannot be restarted for several days. As such, shutting down the plant would make it dependent on a potentially unreliable source of power to maintain safety functions. This being the case, keeping Unit 4 operational in a low power state may be the best course of action.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Image of the four reactors at Zaporizhzhia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450091/original/file-20220304-19-1uwdxja.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450091/original/file-20220304-19-1uwdxja.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450091/original/file-20220304-19-1uwdxja.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450091/original/file-20220304-19-1uwdxja.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450091/original/file-20220304-19-1uwdxja.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450091/original/file-20220304-19-1uwdxja.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450091/original/file-20220304-19-1uwdxja.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The reactors at Zaporizhzhia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any attack on a nuclear facility is a major breach of international norms. However, the attack could have been much worse. In the extreme, a breach of a fuelled and operating reactor could be disastrous, releasing vast quantities of hazardous nuclear material into the air. This plume of material could be blown over a large area by wind, contaminating vast areas of land and water supplies. Such a scenario is not limited to a nuclear reactor either. If a used fuel storage pool were to be damaged and the fuel could not be cooled, a similar scenario could result, albeit at a smaller scale. </p>
<p>The above is, however, an unlikely worst case scenario. If Russia’s decision to target an administrative building was indeed deliberate, we can hope that this means they will not target the reactors. It seems likely, at least currently, that the planners of Russia’s “special military operation” will seek to capture the plant as a piece of critical national infrastructure. However, should the conflict continue to drag on past Moscow’s original expectation of three to four days, more extreme measures may be taken.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-11-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine">press conference on the morning after the attack</a>, the <a href="https://www.iaea.org/">International Atomic Energy Agency’s Director General</a>, Rafael Mariano Grossi, stated that the agency would not idly monitor the situation from Vienna. Grossi expressed an intention to travel for talks with both Ukraine and Russia. We must hope that he can reach an agreement that will minimise further danger to the power plant and allow Ukraine’s nuclear reactors to operate safely until the crisis can be resolved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178564/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ross Peel is affiliated with the Centre for Science and Security Studies, a multi-disciplinary research and teaching group within the Department of War Studies at King's College London.</span></em></p>Trouble may arise if the operating reactor is shut down, with risks ranging from a used fuel meltdown to a reactor core explosion.Ross Peel, Research and Knowledge Transfer Manager, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1779922022-03-03T13:28:34Z2022-03-03T13:28:34ZMilitary action in radioactive Chernobyl could be dangerous for people and the environment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449630/original/file-20220302-17-a3llha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=388%2C50%2C3937%2C2845&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Much of the region around Chernobyl has been untouched by people since the nuclear disaster in 1986.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/radiation-sign-is-seen-at-the-chernobyl-exclusion-zone-in-news-photo/1190485493">Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine has been surrounded for more than three decades by a 1,000-square-mile (2,600-square-kilometer) exclusion zone that keeps people out. On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl’s <a href="https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/chernobyl/faqs">reactor number four melted down as a result of human error</a>, releasing vast quantities of radioactive particles and gases into the surrounding landscape – <a href="https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/28/058/28058918.pdf">400 times more radioactivity</a> to the environment than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Put in place to contain the radioactive contaminants, the exclusion zone also protects the region from human disturbance.</p>
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<p>Apart from a handful of industrial areas, most of the exclusion zone is completely isolated from human activity and appears almost normal. In some areas, where radiation levels have dropped over time, plants and animals have returned in significant numbers.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449306/original/file-20220301-25-2h9q0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="fox against grassy background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449306/original/file-20220301-25-2h9q0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449306/original/file-20220301-25-2h9q0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449306/original/file-20220301-25-2h9q0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449306/original/file-20220301-25-2h9q0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449306/original/file-20220301-25-2h9q0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449306/original/file-20220301-25-2h9q0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449306/original/file-20220301-25-2h9q0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A fox near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">T. A. Mousseau, 2019</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>Some scientists have suggested the zone has become an Eden for wildlife, while <a href="https://knowablemagazine.org/article/food-environment/2022/scientists-cant-agree-about-chernobyls-impact-wildlife">others are skeptical</a> of that possibility. Looks can be deceiving, at least in areas of high radioactivity, where <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2012.01.008">bird</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.10.025">mammal</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0778">insect</a> population sizes and diversity are significantly lower than in the “clean” parts of the exclusion zone. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fzimDsYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">I’ve spent more than 20 years</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/science/nature-adapts-to-chernobyl.html">working in Ukraine, as well as in Belarus and Fukushima, Japan</a>, largely <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110218-024827">focused on the effects of radiation</a>. I have been asked many times over the past days why Russian forces entered northern Ukraine via this atomic wasteland, and what the environmental consequences of military activity in the zone might be.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">As of the beginning of March 2022, Russian forces controlled the Chernobyl facility.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Why invade via Chernobyl?</h2>
<p>In hindsight, the strategic benefits of basing military operations in the Chernobyl exclusion zone seem obvious. It is a large, unpopulated area connected by a paved highway straight to the Ukrainian capital, with few obstacles or human developments along the way. The Chernobyl zone abuts Belarus and is thus immune from attack from Ukrainian forces from the north. The reactor site’s industrial area is, in effect, a large parking lot suitable for staging an invading army’s thousands of vehicles.</p>
<p>The power plant site also houses the main <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clean-futures-fund-forced-to-suspend-humanitarian-operations-at-chernobyl-nuclear-power-plant-due-to-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-and-capture-of-the-facility-301490882.html">electrical grid switching network</a> for the entire region. It’s possible to turn the lights off in Kyiv from here, even though the power plant itself has not generated any electricity since 2000, when the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=81920&page=1">last of Chernobyl’s four reactors was shut down</a>. Such control over the power supply likely has strategic importance, although Kyiv’s electrical needs could probably also be supplied via other nodes on the Ukrainian national power grid. </p>
<p>The reactor site likely offers considerable protection from aerial attack, given the improbability that Ukrainian or other forces would risk combat on a site containing more than 5.3 million pounds (2.4 million kilograms) of <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/first-spent-nuclear-fuel-from-chernobyl-is-safely-stored-after-34-years">radioactive spent nuclear fuel</a>. This is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02416427">highly radioactive material</a> produced by a nuclear reactor during normal operations. A direct hit on the power plant’s spent fuel pools or dry cask storage facilities could release substantially more radioactive material into the environment than the original meltdown and explosions in 1986 and thus cause an environmental disaster of global proportions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449621/original/file-20220302-21-1gk0qm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="grassy foreground with industrial buildings in the distance" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449621/original/file-20220302-21-1gk0qm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449621/original/file-20220302-21-1gk0qm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449621/original/file-20220302-21-1gk0qm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449621/original/file-20220302-21-1gk0qm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449621/original/file-20220302-21-1gk0qm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449621/original/file-20220302-21-1gk0qm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449621/original/file-20220302-21-1gk0qm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of the power plant site from a distance, with the containment shield structure in place over the destroyed reactor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">T.A. Mousseau</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Environmental risks on the ground in Chernobyl</h2>
<p>The Chernobyl exclusion zone is among the most radioactively contaminated regions on the planet. Thousands of acres surrounding the reactor site have ambient radiation dose rates exceeding typical <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.05.030">background levels by thousands of times</a>. In parts of the so-called Red Forest near the power plant it’s possible to receive a <a href="https://youtu.be/EP2Ycv8j7fA">dangerous radiation dose</a> in just a few days of exposure. </p>
<p>Radiation monitoring stations across the Chernobyl zone recorded the first obvious environmental impact of the invasion. Sensors put in place by the Ukrainian Chernobyl EcoCenter in case of accidents or forest fires showed dramatic jumps in radiation levels along major roads and next to the reactor facilities starting <a href="https://www.saveecobot.com/en/radiation-maps#12/51.3880/30.1048/gamma/comp+cams+fire">after 9 p.m</a> on Feb. 24, 2022. That’s when Russian invaders reached the area from neighboring Belarus. </p>
<p>Because the rise in radiation levels was most obvious in the immediate vicinity of the reactor buildings, there was concern that the containment structures had been damaged, although Russian authorities have <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-invasion-russian-forces-chernobyl-/31721240.html">denied this possibility</a>. The sensor network abruptly <a href="https://www.saveecobot.com/en/radiation-maps#12/51.3970/30.1027/gamma/comp+cams+fire">stopped reporting</a> early on Feb. 25 and did not restart until March 1, 2022, so the full magnitude of disturbance to the region from the troop movements is unclear.</p>
<p>If, in fact, it was dust stirred up by vehicles and not damage to any containment facilities that caused the rise in radiation readings, and assuming the increase lasted for just a few hours, it’s <a href="https://www.livescience.com/what-if-russia-bombed-chernobyl">not likely to be of long-term concern</a>, as the dust will settle again once troops move through. </p>
<p>But the Russian soldiers, as well as the Ukrainian power plant workers who have <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/europe/ukraine-chernobyl-russia-intl/index.html">been held hostage</a>, undoubtedly inhaled some of the blowing dust. Researchers know the dirt in the Chernobyl exclusion zone <a href="https://www.livescience.com/what-if-russia-bombed-chernobyl">can contain radionuclides</a> including cesium-137, strontium-90, <a href="https://www-pub.iaea.org/mtcd/publications/pdf/pub1239_web.pdf">several isotopes of plutonium</a> and uranium, and americium-241. Even at very low levels, they’re all <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12723">toxic, carcinogenic or both if inhaled</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449632/original/file-20220302-15-80t199.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="aerial view of fire burning on wooded landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449632/original/file-20220302-15-80t199.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449632/original/file-20220302-15-80t199.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449632/original/file-20220302-15-80t199.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449632/original/file-20220302-15-80t199.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449632/original/file-20220302-15-80t199.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449632/original/file-20220302-15-80t199.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449632/original/file-20220302-15-80t199.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Forest fires, like this one in 2020 in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, can release radioactive particles that had been trapped in the burning materials.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-picture-taken-on-april-10-shows-a-field-fire-burning-news-photo/1209598073">Volodymyr Shuvayev/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Possible impacts further afield</h2>
<p>Perhaps the greater environmental threat to the region stems from the potential release to the atmosphere of radionuclides stored in soil and plants should a forest fire ignite.</p>
<p>Such fires have recently increased in frequency, size and intensity, likely because of climate change, and these fires have released radioactive materials back into the air and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26062">and dispersed them far and wide</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/14-1227.1">Radioactive fallout from forest fires</a> may well represent the greatest threat from the Chernobyl site to human populations downwind of the region as well as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110218-024827">wildlife within the exclusion zone</a>.</p>
<p>Currently the zone is home to massive amounts of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/08/chernobyl-fires/615067/">dead trees</a> and debris that could act as fuel for a fire. Even in the absence of combat, military activity – like thousands of troops transiting, eating, smoking and building campfires to stay warm – increases the risk of forest fires.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449322/original/file-20220301-19-16g6loz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="bird held in hands with tumor visible through feathers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449322/original/file-20220301-19-16g6loz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449322/original/file-20220301-19-16g6loz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449322/original/file-20220301-19-16g6loz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449322/original/file-20220301-19-16g6loz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449322/original/file-20220301-19-16g6loz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449322/original/file-20220301-19-16g6loz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449322/original/file-20220301-19-16g6loz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bird from Chernobyl with a tumor on its head.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">T. A. Mousseau, 2009</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/Manual-for-Survival/">hard to predict the effects of radioactive fallout</a> on people, but the <a href="https://theconversation.com/at-chernobyl-and-fukushima-radioactivity-has-seriously-harmed-wildlife-57030">consequences to flora and fauna</a> have been well documented. Chronic exposure to even relatively low levels of radionuclides has been linked to a wide variety of health consequences in wildlife, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep08363">genetic mutations</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mrgentox.2013.04.019">tumors</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0066939">eye cataracts</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100296">sterility</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016862">neurological impairment</a>, along with reductions in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esu040">population sizes</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.05.032">biodiversity</a> in areas of high contamination.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/11340">There is no “safe” level</a> when it comes to ionizing radiation. The hazards to life are in direct proportion to the level of exposure. Should the ongoing conflict escalate and damage the radiation confinement facilities at Chernobyl, or at any of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/02/28/ukraine-nuclear-plant-chernobyl-russia/">15 nuclear reactors</a> at four other sites across Ukraine, the magnitude of harm to the environment would be catastrophic.</p>
<p>[<em>Get fascinating science, health and technology news.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=science&source=inline-science-fascinating">Sign up for The Conversation’s weekly science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy A. Mousseau receives funding from the Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust.</span></em></p>With Russian troops rolling through the Chernobyl exclusion zone in Ukraine, a biologist who studies wildlife in the area describes the risks of disturbing this radioactive landscape.Timothy A. Mousseau, Professor of Biological Sciences, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1727662021-12-01T02:00:39Z2021-12-01T02:00:39Z3 reasons the announcement to dump radioactive waste in South Australia is extremely premature<p>Radioactive waste from nuclear medicine facilities around Australia will be trucked to and buried near the South Australian town of Kimba, the federal government <a href="https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/pitt/media-releases/national-radioactive-waste-management-facility-be-delivered-near-kimba-south-australia">announced this week</a>. </p>
<p>The site, Napandee, comprises 211 hectares of government-acquired land, with radioactive waste set to be stored for over 100 years in deep trenches. </p>
<p>The announcement comes after six years of consultation with the local community – but, as federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt noted, the problem of managing radioactive waste has been on the national agenda for 40 years. </p>
<p>There is a good reason it has taken so long: storing radioactive waste is a complex issue. </p>
<p>Radioactive waste is extremely hazardous to people and the environment. It emits radiation, which can pollute water, kill wildlife and cause a number of deadly human health issues such as cancer. Even waste with low potency levels needs to be stored away for centuries, so the community should be assured the repository is well designed and properly managed. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/japan-plans-to-dump-a-million-tonnes-of-radioactive-water-into-the-pacific-but-australia-has-nuclear-waste-problems-too-148337">Japan plans to dump a million tonnes of radioactive water into the Pacific. But Australia has nuclear waste problems, too</a>
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<hr>
<p>Currently, radioactive waste – which results from the radiation needed to perform diagnostic imaging and cancer treatment – is scattered in dedicated storage facilities in hospitals across the country, but the majority is secured safely at Lucas Heights in Sydney. </p>
<p>While Pitt is celebrating what he regards as a resolution, there are three reasons this announcement is premature.</p>
<h2>1. Legislative and regulatory hurdles</h2>
<p>Twenty years ago, The Olsen government of SA <a href="https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/__legislation/lz/c/a/nuclear%20waste%20storage%20facility%20(prohibition)%20act%202000/current/2000.68.auth.pdf">passed legislation</a> to prevent radioactive waste being brought into the state. When the Howard government proposed storing radioactive waste in the state soon after, the subsequent Rann government strengthened that legislation. </p>
<p>This means the <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/nrwmf-infopack/nrwmf-land-requirement-proposal-napandee.pdf">new proposal</a> will require the current SA government to repeal or amend the current law. This will be difficult, as Premier Steven Marshall runs a minority government and, with an MP <a href="https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/pitt/media-releases/national-radioactive-waste-management-facility-be-delivered-near-kimba-south-australia">defecting in October</a>, he’s likely to struggle to get the support he needs.</p>
<p>There is also a regulatory hurdle. A proposal such as this needs the approval of the regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection And Nuclear Safety Authority (<a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/">ARPANSA</a>), which will assess the proposal to determine whether it ensures the safety of people and the natural environment.</p>
<p>ARPANSA took the previous proposal by the Howard government very seriously. The process included public hearings at which the Director of ARPANSA was assisted by two scientists – I was one and the other was a Canadian expert in radioactive waste management. </p>
<p>It became clear in the assessment process that the federal government had made no attempt to calculate the risk of transporting radioactive waste from the various sites where it’s now stored to the more secure centralised facility. It simply asserted that the risk was minimal. </p>
<p>ARPANSA was not impressed by this data-free approach. Faced with opposition by the state government and questions raised by the regulator, the federal government <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/0708/RadioactiveWaste">withdrew the proposal</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-does-the-world-store-nuclear-waste-and-not-just-shoot-it-into-the-sun-or-deep-space-108675">Curious Kids: why does the world store nuclear waste and not just shoot it into the Sun or deep space?</a>
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<hr>
<h2>2. The waste is more dangerous</h2>
<p>The second serious hurdle is that “intermediate level” waste from a nuclear reactor temporarily stored at Lucas Heights <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/nrwmf-infopack/nrwmf-land-requirement-proposal-napandee.pdf">will be sent there</a>.</p>
<p>The new Napandee facility will mostly store the comparatively benign “low-level waste”. This includes residues from nuclear medicine, scientific research and industrial applications. Once buried in deep trenches, this poses relatively little risk to humans or wildlife. </p>
<p>Intermediate level waste is much nastier and demands much greater levels of security. It contains long-lived radioactive isotopes that need to be isolated and contained for periods of thousands of years – effectively permanent disposal. This is generally seen as requiring engineered underground containment facilities, rather than the near-surface repositories used for low-level waste. </p>
<p>No such facility to safely, and permanently, house this waste has been built in Australia, and the regulator will undoubtedly require assurances it could be safely constructed and managed. </p>
<p>It will also be much more difficult to justify transporting this waste along the roads of three states, given it’s now securely held at Lucas Heights. Transporting nuclear waste <a href="https://media.nti.org/documents/global_incidents_trafficking_2018.pdf">comes with risks</a> of accidents or possible theft by terrorists of the dangerous material. </p>
<p>There seems to be no point moving intermediate waste from its temporary storage in Lucas Heights, to temporary storage in Napandee.</p>
<h2>3. No consent from Traditional Owners</h2>
<p>The third hurdle for the proposal is the opposition of the Barngarla Traditional Owners, who have made clear they <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2019/11/21/unanimous-no-vote-traditional-owners-sas-proposed-nuclear-waste-dump">do not support</a> the proposal for radioactive waste to be stored on their land. </p>
<p>After the consultation process in SA, a ballot showed 60% of the local residents supported the proposal. But the the Barngarla people say they have <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2019/11/21/unanimous-no-vote-traditional-owners-sas-proposed-nuclear-waste-dump">not been included</a> in consultations.</p>
<p>In previous decades, our governments have ridden roughshod over the wishes of Traditional Owners and imposed developments they did not want. Today, the Australian public is generally more respectful of the wishes of Traditional Owners. </p>
<p>There will certainly be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/29/traditional-owners-expected-to-challenge-nuclear-waste-facility-in-south-australia">legal challenges</a> to the government’s scheme. But even if the Barngarla people don’t have the law on their side, they have the moral authority. It will be politically difficult for any government to justify going ahead with a scheme that is totally opposed by the relevant Indigenous group.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uranium-mines-harm-indigenous-people-so-why-have-we-approved-a-new-one-116262">Uranium mines harm Indigenous people – so why have we approved a new one?</a>
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<hr>
<p>The storage of radioactive waste is the extreme example of an issue that demands long-term thinking. Finding a site must involve serious discussion with Traditional Owners as well as current landholders. There is <a href="https://theconversation.com/japan-plans-to-dump-a-million-tonnes-of-radioactive-water-into-the-pacific-but-australia-has-nuclear-waste-problems-too-148337">no need to rush</a>, as the intermediate-level waste is securely held in temporary storage at Lucas Heights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172766/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prof. Ian Lowe was for twelve years a member of the Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council, which advises the regulator ARPANSA.</span></em></p>Radioactive waste from nuclear medicine facilities will be trucked to and buried near the South Australian town of Kimba. But this decision still faces a range of hurdles.Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor, School of Science, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1546872021-02-10T20:45:08Z2021-02-10T20:45:08ZNew postage stamp honors Chien-Shiung Wu, trailblazing nuclear physicist<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383602/original/file-20210210-17-1ra43r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=62%2C178%2C2915%2C2120&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chien-Shiung Wu's experiments were instrumental in supporting some of the biggest 20th-century theories in physics.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/physics-professor-dr-chien-shiung-wu-in-a-laboratory-at-news-photo/515185238">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383299/original/file-20210209-23-13scq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Forever stamp with portrait of Chien-Shiung Wu." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383299/original/file-20210209-23-13scq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383299/original/file-20210209-23-13scq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383299/original/file-20210209-23-13scq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383299/original/file-20210209-23-13scq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383299/original/file-20210209-23-13scq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1187&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383299/original/file-20210209-23-13scq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1187&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383299/original/file-20210209-23-13scq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1187&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The new U.S. postage stamp featuring Wu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2021/0201ma-nuclear-physicist-chien-shiung-wu-to-be-honored-on-forever-stamp.htm">U.S. Postal Service</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>On Feb. 11, 2021, the sixth <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day">International Day of Women and Girls in Science</a>, the U.S. Postal Service issued <a href="https://store.usps.com/store/product/buy-stamps/chien-shiung-wu-S_480204">a new Forever stamp to honor</a> Chien-Shiung Wu, one of the most influential nuclear physicists of the 20th century.</p>
<p>A Chinese American woman, Wu performed experiments that tested the fundamental laws of physics. In a male-dominated field, she won many honors and awards, including the <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/medalofscience50/wu.jsp">National Medal of Science</a> (1975), the inaugural <a href="https://wolffund.org.il/2018/12/09/chien-shiung-wu/">Wolf Prize in Physics</a> (1978) and honorary degrees from universities around the world. </p>
<p>In China, where I grew up, Wu is an icon who is sometimes called the “Chinese Marie Curie.” I first read about Wu’s extraordinary story in my physics textbook, when I was a teenager in high school. Chien-Shiung Wu became a scientific role model for me, inspiring me to <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-x2wJigAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">pursue an academic career in physics</a> and follow her path to the U.S.</p>
<h2>From China to the US, to pursue physics</h2>
<p>In 1912, <a href="https://www.biography.com/scientist/chien-shiung-wu">Wu was born in Liuhe</a> in Jiangsu province, a town about 40 miles north of Shanghai. Although it was uncommon in China for girls to attend school at that time, her father founded a school for girls where she received her elementary education.</p>
<p>In 1930, Wu attended National Central University in Nanjing to study mathematics. But the revolutionary triumphs of late 19th-century modern physics – such as the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dp13at.html">discoveries of atomic structure</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-the-120th-anniversary-of-the-x-ray-a-look-at-how-it-changed-our-view-of-the-world-50154">of X-rays</a> – attracted Wu’s attention. She changed her major to physics and graduated at the top of her class in 1934.</p>
<p>Encouraged by her college advisor and financially supported by her uncle, Wu booked the month-long steamship trip to the United States in 1936 to pursue her doctoral education. She arrived in San Francisco, where she met her future husband, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/world/luke-yuan-90-senior-physicist-at-brookhaven.html">Luke Chia-Liu Yuan</a>, another physicist, when he showed her around the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Scientists at the lab had only <a href="https://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/early-years.html">recently invented the cyclotron</a>, the most advanced instrument for accelerating charged particles in a spiral trajectory.</p>
<p>Enticed by the atomic nuclei research being done in the lab, Wu abandoned her original plan to attend the University of Michigan and successfully enrolled in the physics doctoral program at Berkeley.</p>
<p>In her graduate research, Wu worked closely with nuclear scientist <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1939/lawrence/biographical/">Ernest Lawrence</a>, who had won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939, and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1959/segre/biographical/">Emillo Segrè</a>, who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1959. She studied the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.59.481">electromagnetic radiation produced when charged particles decelerate</a>, as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.67.142">radioactive isotopes of xenon generated by splitting uranium atoms</a> via nuclear fission. In June 1940, Wu completed her Ph.D. with honors.</p>
<p>After a short period of postdoctoral research still at the Radiation Laboratory, Wu moved to the East Coast, where she taught at Smith College and then Princeton University.</p>
<h2>Experimental work in radioactive decay</h2>
<p>In 1944, Wu became a research scientist at Columbia University, where she joined <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/The%20Manhattan%20Project.pdf">the Manhattan Project</a>, the top-secret U.S. effort to turn basic research in physics into a new kind of weapon, the atomic bomb. As a team member, Wu helped develop the process for separating uranium atoms into the charged uranium-235 and uranium-238 isotopes using gaseous diffusion. This work eventually led to enriched uranium, a critical component for nuclear reactions.</p>
<p>After World War II, Wu remained at Columbia and focused her research on the radioactive process of <a href="https://www2.lbl.gov/abc/wallchart/chapters/03/2.html">beta decay</a>. She investigated beta particles: fast-moving electrons or positrons emitted from an atomic nucleus in the radioactive decay process.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383606/original/file-20210210-13-1geajf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Beta particles leave one atom and transform it into another" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383606/original/file-20210210-13-1geajf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383606/original/file-20210210-13-1geajf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383606/original/file-20210210-13-1geajf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383606/original/file-20210210-13-1geajf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383606/original/file-20210210-13-1geajf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383606/original/file-20210210-13-1geajf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383606/original/file-20210210-13-1geajf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beta decay describes the process when a fast-moving electron or positron leaves an atom’s nucleus, leaving behind a different kind of atom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/beta-plus-and-beta-minus-decay-royalty-free-illustration/1195604225?adppopup=true">ttsz/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the mid-1950s, Wu performed a famous experiment to test the <a href="https://physics.aps.org/story/v22/st19">law of parity conservation</a>. This was a widely accepted but unproven principle implying that a physical process and its mirror reflection are identical. As proposed by theoretical physicists <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1957/yang/biographical/">Chen Ning Yang</a> and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1957/lee/biographical/">Tsung-Dao Lee</a>, Wu designed an experiment to see if reality matched the theory.</p>
<p>Observing the beta decay of cobalt-60 atoms, Wu measured the radiation intensity as a function of the radiation direction. To increase the accuracy of her experimental measurements, Wu figured out techniques to get her cobalt-60 atoms all spinning in the same direction. She observed that more particles flew off in the direction opposite to the direction the nuclei were spinning. The law of parity conservation predicted that the atoms would emit beta particles in symmetrical ways. But Wu’s observations meant the “law” did not hold and she had discovered parity nonconservation.</p>
<p>This breakthrough achievement helped Wu’s theoretical colleagues win the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1957/summary/">1957 Nobel Prize in Physics</a>, but unfortunately, the Nobel Committee <a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/overlooked-for-the-nobel-chien-shiung-wu/">overlooked Wu’s experimental contribution</a>. </p>
<p>In addition to her famous parity law research, Wu carried out <a href="https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217751X15300501">a series of important experiments</a> in nuclear physics and quantum physics. In 1949, she experimentally verified <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1938/fermi/biographical/">Enrico Fermi</a>’s theory of beta decay, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.75.1107.2">correcting the discrepancies</a> between the theory and previous inaccurate experimental results and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.10.253">developing a universal version of his theory</a>. She also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.77.136">proved the quantum phenomenon</a> relevant to a pair of <a href="https://www.nist.gov/itl/entangled-photon-pair-sources">entangled photons</a>.</p>
<p>In 1958, Wu was the first Chinese-American <a href="http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/48916.html">elected to the National Academy of Sciences</a>. In 1967, she served as the first female <a href="https://aps.org/about/governance/presidents.cfm">president of the American Physical Society</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383605/original/file-20210210-13-1tao3qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Wu stands with other honorary degree recipients in academic gowns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383605/original/file-20210210-13-1tao3qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383605/original/file-20210210-13-1tao3qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383605/original/file-20210210-13-1tao3qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383605/original/file-20210210-13-1tao3qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383605/original/file-20210210-13-1tao3qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383605/original/file-20210210-13-1tao3qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383605/original/file-20210210-13-1tao3qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wu received many accolades, including an honorary doctorate at Harvard in 1974.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/six-of-the-seven-honorary-degree-recipients-at-harvard-news-photo/515112302">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After her retirement in 1981, Wu dedicated herself to public educational programs in both the United States and China, giving numerous lectures and working to inspire younger generations to pursue science, technology, engineering and math education. She died in 1997. </p>
<p>Wu’s legacy continues with the issuing of her postage stamp. She joined a short list of physicists featured on U.S. stamps, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman and Maria Goeppert-Mayer.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Xuejian Wu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Chinese American physicist Wu worked on the Manhattan Project and performed groundbreaking experiments throughout her long career.Xuejian Wu, Assistant Professor of Physics, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1544472021-02-03T16:09:57Z2021-02-03T16:09:57ZEinsteinium: 100 years after Einstein’s Nobel Prize, researchers reveal chemical secrets of element that bears his name<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382226/original/file-20210203-21-6vkxsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C26%2C938%2C683&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Albert Einstein photographed on a trip to America in the wake of his Nobel prize-winning discoveries.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://picryl.com/media/albert-einstein-washington-dc">Harris & Ewing/PICRYL</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A century ago, an upstart German physicist by the name of Albert Einstein turned the scientific world on its head with his discovery of the photoelectric effect, which proved light to be both a particle and a wave. <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1921/einstein/facts/">Awarded the</a> 1921 Nobel prize in physics for his work, Einstein would later contribute to theories related to nuclear fusion and fission – arguably paving the way for the invention and detonation of nuclear weapons, as well as nuclear energy.</p>
<p>And so, when elements previously unknown to science were discovered in the chemical debris of a nuclear explosion 69 years ago, it was fitting that scientists named what they found after the great physicist – adding “<a href="https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/99/einsteinium">einsteinium</a>” to the periodic table. </p>
<p>Now, 100 years after Einstein’s Nobel prize win, chemists have finally been able to peer into the chemical behaviour of this elusive, highly radioactive element. What they’ve learned could help scientists further expand our understanding of the periodic table – including elements that are yet to be added to it.</p>
<h2>Explosive findings</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A blue glowing vial of a chemical" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382276/original/file-20210203-15-1jxhhxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382276/original/file-20210203-15-1jxhhxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382276/original/file-20210203-15-1jxhhxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382276/original/file-20210203-15-1jxhhxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382276/original/file-20210203-15-1jxhhxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1090&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382276/original/file-20210203-15-1jxhhxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1090&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382276/original/file-20210203-15-1jxhhxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1090&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">300 micrograms of einsteinium.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Einsteinium (Es) is the 99th element in the periodic table. It was first discovered in 1952 when a thermonuclear device dubbed “Ivy Mike” was detonated on the island of Elugelab in the Pacific Ocean (now part of the Marshall Islands). Ivy Mike’s detonation was the first demonstration of a hydrogen bomb. Such a blast creates four times more energy than nuclear fission bombs (like those dropped on Japan in 1945) and four million times more energy than the burning of a similar amount of coal.</p>
<p>It was in the fallout from Ivy Mike’s explosion, amid the chemical debris, that atomic number 99 was found for the first time. Only about 200 atoms of this element were detected, which shows just how scarce it is. It took nine years of painstaking work for scientists to be able to synthesise element 99 in a lab, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F1-4020-3598-5_12">which they achieved in 1961</a>.</p>
<p>The team of researchers who made the discovery thought about naming the element “pandamonium”, since the project team behind Ivy Mike had operated under the acronym “PANDA”. But in the end, they decided to honour Albert Einstein. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large mushroom cloud captured on old film cameras" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382203/original/file-20210203-17-1481lh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C8%2C2849%2C2229&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382203/original/file-20210203-17-1481lh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382203/original/file-20210203-17-1481lh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382203/original/file-20210203-17-1481lh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382203/original/file-20210203-17-1481lh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382203/original/file-20210203-17-1481lh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382203/original/file-20210203-17-1481lh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The blast from the Ivy Mike atmospheric nuclear test, photographed on November 1 1952.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19280560">The Official CTBTO Photostream/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Too hot to handle</h2>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, very little has been known about einsteinium. An element birthed in a thermonuclear blast, it’s incredibly hard to experiment with due to its extreme radioactivity. Not only is it literally too hot to handle – one gram of einsteinium produces 1,000 watts of energy – it also emits harmful gamma rays, so working with the element requires researchers to wear protective gear at all times.</p>
<p>What’s more, einsteinium’s most commonly occurring form (called Es-253, based on the number of neutrons in the atom’s nucleus) has a <a href="https://www.radioactivity.eu.com/site/pages/Radioactive_Half_life.htm">half-life</a> of only 20 days. That means that, after 20 days, einsteinium decays by half. After a couple of months, the tiny quantities of the element that scientists are able to work with practically disappear.</p>
<p>So it’s no wonder that it’s taken nearly 70 years for scientists to get to grips with this element. But now, a team from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have managed to pin down enough einsteinium to run some basic tests on the element – breaking new ground in experimental chemistry and fundamental science.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-chemistry-inventions-that-enabled-the-modern-world-42452">Five chemistry inventions that enabled the modern world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03179-3">their paper</a>, the researchers explain how they managed to use just 200 nanograms of Es-254 (a rare form of einsteinium with a half-life of 275.5 days) to run their experiments. A nanogram is just one billionth of a gram, so these experiments took place on an incredibly small scale.</p>
<h2>Einsteinium chemistry</h2>
<p>Performing chemistry with einsteinium for the first time, the research team managed to synthesise a chemical compound that included the element in order to examine how it might interact with other elements in a compound. This was done under the <a href="https://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/">Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource</a>, which beams high-energy light at chemical compounds to enable their structure to be exposed. You can think of this method as similar to how silhouettes are formed – but on an atomic scale.</p>
<p>One big finding was the bond distances between einsteinium atoms and other atoms around it – like carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. Knowing einsteinium’s bond distances for the first time means we can predict what other combinations of compounds featuring einsteinium will look like – adding entirely new combinations to our current knowledge of chemistry. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382255/original/file-20210203-15-c6cu1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The periodic table, in colour" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382255/original/file-20210203-15-c6cu1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382255/original/file-20210203-15-c6cu1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382255/original/file-20210203-15-c6cu1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382255/original/file-20210203-15-c6cu1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382255/original/file-20210203-15-c6cu1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382255/original/file-20210203-15-c6cu1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382255/original/file-20210203-15-c6cu1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The periodic table. Einsteinium features on the bottom row under ‘Es’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/periodic-table-elements-colorful-vector-illustration-786893179">Humdan/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Crucially, the researchers also managed to determine the valence state of einsteinium. An atom’s valence controls how many other atoms it can bond to. This quantity is of fundamental importance in chemistry, determining the shape and size of the building blocks from which the universe is made. Einsteinium also happens to lie at an ambiguous position on the periodic table, between elements with different valences, so establishing its valence was also important for understanding its position in the table. </p>
<p>Einsteinium is currently the heaviest chemical element that can be examined in this way – so it’s exciting for chemists that new ground has been broken by this recent paper. The challenge facing future chemists is to try to synthesise heavier elements in similarly measurable quantities, revealing more about the chemicals that make up our world.</p>
<p><em>This article was amended on February 17, 2021 to clarify the definition of valence and to make clear that einsteinium’s valence helps us understand, not organise, its position in the periodic table.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert A Jackson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The element was discovered in the fallout of a thermonuclear blast.Robert A Jackson, Reader, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1517882020-12-15T19:16:52Z2020-12-15T19:16:52ZWhere does the Earth’s heat come from?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373907/original/file-20201209-15-1i85cih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C79%2C2040%2C1311&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Piton de la Fournaise in eruption, 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Greg de Serra/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earth generates heat. The deeper you go, the higher the temperature. At 25km down, temperatures rise as high as 750°C; at the core, it is said to be 4,000°C. Humans have been making use of hot springs as far back as antiquity, and today we use geothermal technology to heat our apartments. Volcanic eruptions, geysers and earthquakes are all signs of the Earth’s internal powerhouse.</p>
<p>The average heat flow from the earth’s surface is 87mW/m<sup>2</sup> – that is, 1/10,000th of the energy received from the sun, meaning the earth emits a total of <a href="https://unt.univ-cotedazur.fr/uved/bouillante/cours/i.-la-geothermie-manifestations-quantification-origine-et-utilisations-de-la-chaleur-interne-du-globe/2.-comprendre-et-modeliser-les-transferts-de-chaleur-pour-determiner-l2019origine-de-la-chaleur-interne-du-globe/2.3-origine-de-la-chaleur-interne-du-globe.html">47 terawatts</a>, the equivalent of several thousand nuclear power plants. The source of the earth’s heat has long remained a mystery, but we now know that most of it is the result of radioactivity.</p>
<h2>The birth of atoms</h2>
<p>To understand where all this heat is coming from, we have to go back to the birth of the atomic elements.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/big-bang-470">Big Bang</a> produced matter in the form of protons, neutrons, electrons, and neutrinos. It took around 370,000 years for the first atoms to form – protons attracted electrons, producing hydrogen. Other, heavier nuclei, like deuterium and helium, formed at the same time, in a process called <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucl%C3%A9osynth%C3%A8se_primordiale">Big Bang nucleosynthesis</a>.</p>
<p>The creation of heavy elements was far more arduous. First, stars were born and heavy nuclei formed via accretion in their fiery crucible. This process, called <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucl%C3%A9osynth%C3%A8se_stellaire">stellar nucleosynthesis</a>, took billions of years. Then, when the stars died, these elements spread out across space to be captured in the form of planets.</p>
<p>The earth’s composition is therefore highly complex. Luckily for us, and our existence, it includes all the natural elements, from the simplest atom, hydrogen, to heavy atoms such as uranium, and everything in between, carbon, iron – the entire periodic table. Inside the bowels of the earth is an entire panoply of elements, arranged within various onion-like layers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374908/original/file-20201214-15-1ylfnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374908/original/file-20201214-15-1ylfnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374908/original/file-20201214-15-1ylfnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374908/original/file-20201214-15-1ylfnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374908/original/file-20201214-15-1ylfnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374908/original/file-20201214-15-1ylfnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374908/original/file-20201214-15-1ylfnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our planet contains all the elements of the periodic table.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sandbh/Wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We know little about the inside of our planet. The deepest mines reach down 10km at the most, while the earth has a radius of 6,500km. Scientific knowledge of deeper levels has been obtained through seismic measurements. Using this data, geologist divided the earth’s structure into various strata, with the core at the center, solid on the inside and liquid on the outside, followed by the lower and upper mantles and, finally, the crust. The earth is made up of heavy, unstable elements and is therefore radioactive, meaning there is another way to find out about its depths and understand the source of its heat.</p>
<h2>What is radioactivity?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371006/original/file-20201124-21-6w5mly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371006/original/file-20201124-21-6w5mly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371006/original/file-20201124-21-6w5mly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371006/original/file-20201124-21-6w5mly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371006/original/file-20201124-21-6w5mly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371006/original/file-20201124-21-6w5mly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371006/original/file-20201124-21-6w5mly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371006/original/file-20201124-21-6w5mly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drugs and cosmetics containing a small dose of radium, early 20th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Tho-Radia-IMG_1228.JPG/1023px-Tho-Radia-IMG_1228.JPG">Rama/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Radioactivity is a common and inescapable natural phenomenon. Everything on earth is radioactive – that is to say, everything spontaneously produces elementary particles (humans emit a few thousand per second). In Marie Curie’s day, no one was afraid of radioactivity. </p>
<p>On the contrary, it was said to have beneficial effects: beauty creams were certified radioactive and contemporary literature extolled the radioactive properties of mineral water. Maurice Leblanc wrote of a thermal spring saving his protagonist Arsène Lupin during one of his adventures:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The water contained such energy and power as to make it a veritable fountain of youth, properties arising from its incredible radioactivity.” (Maurice Leblanc, <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Demoiselle_aux_yeux_verts">“La demoiselle aux yeux verts”</a>, 1927)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are various kinds of radioactivity, each involving the spontaneous release of particles and emitting energy that can be detected in the form of heat deposits. Here, we will be talking about “beta” decay, where an election and a neutrino are emitted. The electron is absorbed as soon as it is produced, but the neutrino has the surprising ability to penetrate a wide range of materials. The whole of the Earth is transparent to neutrinos, so detecting neutrinos generated by radioactive decay within the Earth should give us an idea of what is happening at its deepest levels.</p>
<p>These kinds of particles are called <a href="https://neutrino-history.in2p3.fr/the-earth-seen-through-neutrinos/">geoneutrinos</a>, and they provide an original way to investigate the depths of the Earth. Although detecting them is no easy matter, since neutrinos interact little with matter, some detectors are substantial enough to perform this kind of research.</p>
<p>Geoneutrinos mainly arise from heavy elements with very long half-lives, whose properties are now thoroughly understood through lab studies: chiefly uranium, thorium and potassium. The decay of one uranium-238 nucleus, for example, releases an average of 6 neutrinos, and 52 megaelectronvolts of energy carried by the released particles that then lodge in matter and deposit heat. Each neutrino carries around two megaelectronvolts of energy. According to standardized measures, one megaelectronvolt is equivalent to 1.6 10<sup>-13</sup> joules, so it would take around 10<sup>25</sup> decays per second to reach the earth’s total heat. The question is, can these neutrinos be detected?</p>
<h2>Detecting geoneutrinos</h2>
<p>In practice, we have to take aggregate measurements at the detection site of flows coming from all directions. It is difficult to ascertain the exact source of the flows, since we cannot measure their direction. We have to use models to create computer simulations. Knowing the energy spectrum of each decay mode and modeling the density and position of the various geological strata affecting the final result, we get an overall spectrum of expected neutrinos which we then deduct from the number of events predicted for a given detector. This number is always very low – only a handful of events per kiloton of detector per year.</p>
<p>Two recent experiments have added to the research: <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0550321316300529">KamLAND</a>, a detector weighing 1,000 metric tons underneath a Japanese mountain, and <a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/borexino-spots-solar-neutrinos-from-elusive-fusion-cycle/">Borexino</a>, which is located in a tunnel under the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy and weighs 280 metric tons. Both use “liquid scintillators”. To detect neutrinos from the earth or <a href="https://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/actualites/physique-neutrinos-cosmiques-naissent-eruptions-quasars-50447/">the cosmos</a>, you need a detection method that is effective at low energies; this means exciting atoms in a scintillating liquid. Neutrinos interact with protons, and the resulting particles emitted produce observable light.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371009/original/file-20201124-23-cplwt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371009/original/file-20201124-23-cplwt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371009/original/file-20201124-23-cplwt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371009/original/file-20201124-23-cplwt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371009/original/file-20201124-23-cplwt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371009/original/file-20201124-23-cplwt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371009/original/file-20201124-23-cplwt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Sno+ experiment uses the SnoLab detector in Canada, to detect geoneutrinos, among other things.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/138424555@N03/23753317224/in/photolist-CbZXE9-CGoBWC-D9vPxZ-Cc82tr-D2dSae-Cc82va-CGoBSj-D2dSct-CYWVvC">SNOLAB</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>KamLAND has announced more than 100 events and Borexino around 20 that could be attributed to geoneutrinos, with an uncertainty factor of 20-30%. We cannot pinpoint their source, but this overall measurement – while fairly rough – is in line with the predictions of the simulations, within the limits of the low statistics obtained.</p>
<p>Therefore, the <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-0-387-70771-6_4">traditional hypothesis</a> of a kind of nuclear reactor at the center of the earth, consisting of a ball of fissioning uranium like those in nuclear power plants, has now been excluded. Fission is not a spontaneous radioactivity but is stimulated by slow neutrons in a chain reaction.</p>
<p>There are now new, more effective detectors being developed: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNO%2B">Canada's SNO+</a>, and <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1456878/guangdong-races-ahead-global-effort-measure-elusive-neutrinos">China's Juno</a>, which will improve our knowledge of geoneutrinos.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Far from diminishing it, adding the invisible to the visible only enriches the latter, gives it meaning, completes it.” (Paul Claudel, <a href="http://www.gallimard.fr/Catalogue/GALLIMARD/Blanche/Positions-et-propositions">“Positions et propositions”</a>, 1928)</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Alice Heathwood for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en">Fast ForWord</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151788/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>François Vannucci ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The study of neutrinos produced within the Earth’s interior provides a better understanding of the radioactivity of our planet.François Vannucci, Professeur émérite, chercheur en physique des particules, spécialiste des neutrinos, Université Paris CitéLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1483372020-10-22T18:58:35Z2020-10-22T18:58:35ZJapan plans to dump a million tonnes of radioactive water into the Pacific. But Australia has nuclear waste problems, too<p>The Japanese government recently announced <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/10/fe0fae3622a5-urgent-japan-to-release-treated-water-from-fukushima-plant-into-sea.html">plans</a> to release into the sea more than 1 million tonnes of radioactive water from the severely damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.</p>
<p>The move has sparked global outrage, including from UN Special Rapporteur Baskut Tuncak who recently <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/07/1145e5b3970f-opinion-fukushima-nuclear-waste-decision-also-a-human-rights-issue.html?phrase=Tuncak&words=Tuncak">wrote</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I urge the Japanese government to think twice about its legacy: as a true champion of human rights and the environment, or not.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Alongside our <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2017/press-release/">Nobel Peace Prize-winning work</a> promoting nuclear disarmament, we have worked for decades to minimise the health harms of nuclear technology, including site visits to Fukushima since 2011. We’ve concluded Japan’s plan is unsafe, and not based on evidence.</p>
<p>Japan isn’t the only country with a nuclear waste problem. The Australian government <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/federal-labor-divided-over-plans-to-block-sa-s-nuclear-waste-dump-facility-20201005-p5628p.html">wants to send</a> nuclear waste to a site in regional South Australia — a risky plan that has been widely criticised. </p>
<h2>Contaminated water in leaking tanks</h2>
<p>In 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami resulted in the meltdown of four large nuclear reactors, and extensive damage to the reactor containment structures and the buildings which house them. </p>
<p>Water must be poured on top of the damaged reactors to keep them cool, but in the process, it becomes highly contaminated. Every day, 170 tonnes of highly contaminated water are added to storage on site. </p>
<p>As of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/16/japan-to-release-1m-tonnes-of-contaminated-fukushima-water-into-the-sea">last month</a>, this totalled 1.23 million tonnes. Currently, this water is stored in more than 1,000 tanks, many hastily and poorly constructed, with a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/world/asia/worst-spill-in-6-months-at-fukushima.html">history of leaks</a>.</p>
<h2>How does radiation harm marine life?</h2>
<p>If radioactive material leaks into the sea, ocean currents can disperse it widely. The radioactivity from Fukushima has already caused widespread <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6106/480">contamination</a> of fish caught off the coast, and was even detected in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/109/24/9483.full.pdf?sid=9dd4d12">tuna</a> caught off California.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-things-you-didnt-know-about-nuclear-waste-134004">Four things you didn’t know about nuclear waste</a>
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<hr>
<p>Ionising radiation <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n3873/pdf/ch09.pdf">harms all organisms</a>, causing genetic damage, developmental abnormalities, tumours and reduced fertility and fitness. For tens of kilometres along the coast from the damaged nuclear plant, the diversity and number of organisms have been <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep20416">depleted</a>.</p>
<p>Of particular concern are long-lived radioisotopes (unstable chemical elements) and those which concentrate up the food chain, such as cesium-137 and strontium-90. This can lead to fish being thousands of times <a href="https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/03/01/Radioactive-fish-caught-near-nuclear-plant/91811362176136/">more radioactive</a> than the water they swim in.</p>
<h2>Failing attempts to de-contaminate the water</h2>
<p>In recent years, a water purification system — known as advanced liquid processing — has been used to treat the contaminated water accumulating in Fukushima to try to reduce the 62 most important contaminating radioisotopes. </p>
<p>But it hasn’t been very effective. To date, <a href="https://www.meti.go.jp/english/earthquake/nuclear/decommissioning/pdf/20200210_alps.pdf">72% of the treated water</a> exceeds the regulatory standards. Some treated water has been shown to be almost 20,000 times higher than what’s allowed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-cherry-trees-of-fukushima-113979">The cherry trees of Fukushima</a>
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<p>One important radioisotope not removed in this process is tritium — a radioactive form of hydrogen with a half-life of 12.3 years. This means it takes 12.3 years for half of the radioisotope to decay.</p>
<p>Tritium is a <a href="https://monographs.iarc.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/mono100D.pdf">carcinogenic</a> byproduct of nuclear reactors and reprocessing plants, and is routinely released both into the water and air. </p>
<p>The Japanese government and the reactor operator plan to meet regulatory limits for tritium by diluting contaminated water. But this does not reduce the overall amount of radioactivity released into the environment. </p>
<h2>How should the water be stored?</h2>
<p>The Japanese Citizens Commission for Nuclear Energy is an independent organisation of engineers and researchers. It says once water is treated to reduce all significant isotopes other than tritium, it should <a href="http://eng.ccnejapan.com/?p=76">be stored</a> in 10,000-tonne tanks on land.</p>
<p>If the water was stored for 120 years, tritium levels would decay to less than 1,000th of the starting amount, and levels of other radioisotopes would also reduce. This is a relatively short and manageable period of time, in terms of nuclear waste. </p>
<p>Then, the water could be safely released into the ocean. </p>
<h2>Nuclear waste storage in Australia</h2>
<p>Australians currently face our own nuclear waste problems, stemming from our nuclear reactors and rapidly expanding nuclear medicine export business, which produces radioisotopes for medical diagnosis, some treatments, scientific and industrial purposes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-should-explore-nuclear-waste-before-we-try-domestic-nuclear-power-121361">Australia should explore nuclear waste before we try domestic nuclear power</a>
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<p>This is what happens at our national <a href="https://www.ansto.gov.au/news/nuclear-medicine-facility">nuclear facility</a> at Lucas Heights in Sydney. The vast majority of Australia’s nuclear waste is stored on-site in a dedicated facility, managed by those with the best expertise, and monitored 24/7 by the Australian Federal Police. </p>
<p>But the Australian government <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/indigenous/nuclear-dump-politics-stilltoxic/news-story/a424aec46e50231d3977621b370cc550">plans to</a> change this. It wants to transport and temporarily store nuclear waste at a facility at Kimba, in regional South Australia, for an indeterminate period. We believe the Kimba plan involves unnecessary multiple handling, and shifts the nuclear waste problem onto future generations. </p>
<p>The proposed storage facilities in Kimba are <a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/radiation-sources/more-radiation-sources/radioactive-waste-safety">less safe than disposal</a>, and this plan is well below <a href="https://www.iaea.org/resources/safety-standards">world’s best practice</a>. </p>
<p>The infrastructure, staff and expertise to manage and monitor radioactive materials in Lucas Heights were developed over decades, with all the resources and emergency services of Australia’s largest city. These capacities cannot be quickly or easily replicated in the remote rural location of Kimba. What’s more, <a href="https://media.nti.org/documents/global_incidents_trafficking_2018.pdf">transporting</a> the waste raises the risk of theft and accident.</p>
<p>And in recent months, the CEO of regulator ARPANSA told a senate inquiry there is capacity to store nuclear waste at Lucas Heights <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/auscon/pages/17921/attachments/original/1600049351/Kimba_brief.pdf?1600049351">for several more decades</a>. This means there’s <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;orderBy=customrank;page=2;query=hanson-young%20(Dataset:commsen,commrep,commjnt,estimate,commbill%20SearchCategory_Phrase:%22committees%22);rec=2;resCount=Default">ample time</a> to properly plan final disposal of the waste. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6500">legislation</a> before the Senate will deny interested parties the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/05/labors-position-on-nuclear-waste-bill-means-uncertainty-remains-over-south-australian-site">right to judicial review</a>. The plan also disregards <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2019/11/21/unanimous-no-vote-traditional-owners-sas-proposed-nuclear-waste-dump">unanimous opposition</a> by Barngarla Traditional Owners. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uranium-mines-harm-indigenous-people-so-why-have-we-approved-a-new-one-116262">Uranium mines harm Indigenous people – so why have we approved a new one?</a>
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<hr>
<p>The Conversation contacted Resources Minister Keith Pitt who insisted the Kimba site will consolidate waste from more than 100 places into a “safe, purpose-built, state-of-the-art facility”. He said a separate, permanent disposal facility will be established for intermediate level waste in a few decades’ time.</p>
<p>Pitt said the government continues to seek involvement of Traditional Owners. He also said the Kimba community <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-01/kimba-farm-eyre-peninsula-chosen-for-nuclear-dump/11920514">voted in favour</a> of the plan. However, the voting process was <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/024458/toc_pdf/NationalRadioactiveWasteMagagementAmendment(SiteSpecificationCommunityFundandOtherMeasures)Bill2020%5BProvisions%5D.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">criticised</a> on a number of grounds, including that it excluded landowners living relatively close to the site, and entirely excluded Barngarla people.</p>
<h2>Kicking the can down the road</h2>
<p>Both Australia and Japan should look to nations such as Finland, which deals with nuclear waste more responsibly and has studied potential sites for decades. It plans to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-08/finns-to-bury-nuclear-waste-in-worlds-costliest-tomb/7488588">spend 3.5 billion euros (A$5.8 billion)</a> on a deep geological disposal site.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/risks-ethics-and-consent-australia-shouldnt-become-the-worlds-nuclear-wasteland-61380">Risks, ethics and consent: Australia shouldn't become the world's nuclear wasteland</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>Intermediate level nuclear waste like that planned to be moved to Kimba contains extremely hazardous materials that must be strictly isolated from people and the environment for at least 10,000 years. </p>
<p>We should take the time needed for an open, inclusive and evidence-based planning process, rather than a quick fix that avoidably contaminates our shared environment and creates more problems than it solves. </p>
<p>It only kicks the can down the road for future generations, and does not constitute responsible radioactive waste management. </p>
<hr>
<p>The following are additional comments provided by Resources Minister Keith Pitt in response to issues raised in this article (comments added after publication):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(The Kimba plan) will consolidate waste into a single, safe, purpose-built, state-of-the-art facility. It is international best practice and good common sense to do this.</p>
<p>Key indicators which showed the broad community support in Kimba included 62 per cent support in the local community ballot, and 100 per cent support from direct neighbours to the proposed site.</p>
<p>In assessing community support, the government also considered submissions received from across the country and the results of Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation’s own vote.</p>
<p>The vast majority of Australia’s radioactive waste stream is associated with nuclear medicine production that, on average, two in three Australians will benefit from during their lifetime.</p>
<p>The facility will create a new, safe industry for the Kimba community, including 45 jobs in security, operations, administration and environmental monitoring.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tilman Ruff is co-president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, founding chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, both Nobel Peace laureates, and a member of the Medical Association for Prevention of War and Public Health Association of Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Beavis is co-chair of ICAN Australia and Vice President of the Medical Association for Prevention of War. </span></em></p>Japan’s plan is a terrible idea, but so is our government’s plan to send nuclear waste to South Australia temporarily.Tilman Ruff, Associate Professor, Education and Learning Unit, Nossal Institute for Global Health, School of Population and Global Health, The University of MelbourneMargaret Beavis, Tutor, Principles of Clinical Practice. Melbourne Medical School, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1191102019-06-21T12:04:41Z2019-06-21T12:04:41ZTen times the Chernobyl television series lets artistic licence get in the way of facts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280730/original/file-20190621-61737-19lf6e3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C0%2C2047%2C1185&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The memorial to the Chernobyl disaster in front of the reactor, now encased in its new containment shield.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/franganillo/38342070546/">Jorge Franganillo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Audiences have been gripped by Chernobyl, the HBO/Sky series that charts the events and aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster of April 1986. </p>
<p>I have coordinated a number of international research projects on the impacts of the Chernobyl accident, and made dozens of visits to the Exclusion Zone around Chernobyl. There has been considerable praise for the attention to detail in the sets, props and clothes that helped <a href="https://www.curbed.com/2019/6/7/18656641/chernobyl-hbo-miniseries-set-design-disaster-soviet">immerse viewers in a sense of being in late-period Soviet society</a> – including from <a href="https://twitter.com/SlavaMalamud/status/1132029943297265664">those that remember it first hand</a>. But there are also errors, or aspects of how the story plays out that have been invented to add drama to the story.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s9APLXM9Ei8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h3>1. The helicopter crash</h3>
<p>The dramatic scene early on in which a helicopter crashes while attempting to fly over the reactor – apparently due to the intense radiation – never happened. But helicopter video footage taken the time shows static and distortions generated by the intense radiation field above the reactor core, and there were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/04/obituaries/anatoly-grishchenko-pilot-at-chernobyl-53.html">reports</a> of pilots getting radiation sickness from their sorties.</p>
<h3>2. The ‘Bridge of Death’</h3>
<p>The unforgivably late response of the authorities meant that citizens of Pripyat were out in the open after the accident – and some did go to the so-called “bridge of death” nearer the plant to watch the fire. But I’ve seen <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2019/05/the-human-drama-of-chernobyl/">no evidence that all the people on the bridge died</a>, and no evidence that radiation doses there were so dangerously high.</p>
<h3>3. Radiation sickness in Pripyat</h3>
<p>In fact, on average, residents of Pripyat received an average dose of around 30 millisieverts (mSv) – about the same as three whole-body CT scans - due to the late warning about the danger. There is a scene in the local hospital that appears to show children suffering from radiation sickness: experts <a href="https://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/2008/11-80076_Report_2008_Annex_D.pdf">confirmed 134 cases of radiation sickness</a> among the firemen and plant operators, but <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10512-012-9607-5">none among the population of Pripyat</a>.</p>
<h3>4. ‘You’re sitting next to a nuclear reactor’</h3>
<p>In highly emotional scenes we see the pregnant wife of a firefighter visiting her husband suffering from acute radiation syndrome in Moscow Hospital Number Six. This happened, and is one of <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/belarusian-nobel-laureate-says-hbo-series-has-completely-changed-perception-of-chernobyl/29997496.html">numerous first-hand accounts</a> the series draws from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/apr/25/energy.ukraine">Voices from Chernobyl</a> by the Belarussian journalist and Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich. But the drama implies that the baby absorbed such high doses of radiation from the husband that it subsequently died. A US doctor who helped treat the plant workers and firefighters says that the patients <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/06/11/top-ucla-doctor-denounces-depiction-of-radiation-in-hbos-chernobyl-as-wrong-and-dangerous/#1b6a7e681e07">didn’t present a significant radiation risk to staff and visitors</a>. Studies after Chernobyl have found <a href="https://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/chernobyl/backgrounder/en/">no convincing evidence</a> that pregnancy outcomes were affected by radiation exposures. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280691/original/file-20190621-61756-1rclkyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280691/original/file-20190621-61756-1rclkyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280691/original/file-20190621-61756-1rclkyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280691/original/file-20190621-61756-1rclkyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280691/original/file-20190621-61756-1rclkyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280691/original/file-20190621-61756-1rclkyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280691/original/file-20190621-61756-1rclkyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Monument to the Liquidators in Chernobyl, erected to commemorate the clean-up crew and, here, the firefighters who responded to the disaster. The inscription reads ‘To those who saved the world’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Famagusta Gazette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3>5. Reactors aren’t nuclear bombs</h3>
<p>The fears of a nuclear explosion in the two to four-megatonne range due to reactor core meltdown, which, it was claimed, would destroy the nearby city of Kiev and make large areas of Europe uninhabitable, turned out to be wrong. Nuclear power stations <a href="https://science.fusion4freedom.com/why-a-nuclear-reactor-cannot-explode-like-an-atom-bomb/">don’t explode like nuclear bombs</a> – and certainly not thermonuclear ones in the megatonne range. In any case, such an explosion wouldn’t have destroyed Minsk, nor would it have made Europe uninhabitable. </p>
<h3>6. The divers</h3>
<p>The <a href="https://www.chernobylwel.com/blog-detail/113/who-saved-europe-the-three-unsung-heroes-of-chernobyl">three heroic men</a> who worked to drain the tanks of water below the primary containment chamber to prevent nuclear fuel coming into contact with water which was believed would cause an explosion did so in vain. Subsequent <a href="https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10153756#page=6">analysis</a> found that the tanks were already mostly empty, and the interaction of the melting fuel with the water might even have helped cool it.</p>
<h3>7. The helicopter pilots</h3>
<p>The incredibly brave attempts by helicopter pilots to drop boron, sand and lead onto the melting fuel rods likely helped to put out the fire burning in the graphite moderator, but it <a href="https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10153756#page=6">largely missed the nuclear fuel and the melted core</a> which, after burning through the primary containment, cooled down by itself.</p>
<h3>8. The miners</h3>
<p>The brave miners who made huge efforts to dig a tunnel under the reactor building to install a heat exchanger to remove heat from under the core also did so in vain: the heat exchanger was never used as <a href="https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10153756#page=6">the core cooled before it was installed</a>. The risk of radioactivity entering the water table under the reactor (sited near a lake and river system) was found to be <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dmitri_Bugai/publication/266021626_Risk-Cost_Analysis_of_Strontium-90_Migration_to_Water_Wells_at_the_Chernobyl_Nuclear_Power_Plant/links/542300290cf238c6ea6e2f88/Risk-Cost-Analysis-of-Strontium-90-Migration-to-Water-Wells-at-the-Chernobyl-Nuclear-Power-Plant.pdf">elevated, but still low</a>. </p>
<h3>9. The liquidators</h3>
<p>At the end of the series, claims about the aftermath shown onscreen imply that no studies were made of the <a href="https://news.sky.com/video/the-real-chernobyl-11745079">hundreds of thousands of liquidators who cleaned up after the accident</a>. In fact there were <a href="https://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/2008/11-80076_Report_2008_Annex_D.pdf">many studies of this group</a>, and they have proved inconclusive on whether there was an increase in cancer. It is likely they did experience an increased cancer risk, but this was very small compared to the many other health risks they faced and continue to face, including cardiovascular disease, smoking and – a general problem across former Soviet countries – <a href="https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article/34/6/824/192703">excess alcohol consumption</a>. </p>
<h3>10. Failings</h3>
<p>Scientists come out as heroes from the show. While there were countless heroes, including scientists, in the aftermath of Chernobyl, ultimately the Soviet scientific community as well as its political system was responsible for the <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/appendices/rbmk-reactors.aspx">design flaws of the RBMK reactor</a>, the lack of safety culture, and unforgivable lack of preparedness for such an accident.</p>
<h2>A cautionary tale</h2>
<p>It is important not to underestimate the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. Studies have found an increase in thyroid cancer, mainly due to the failure of the Soviet authorities to prevent consumption of products contaminated with short-lived radioactive iodine-131 in the weeks after the accident. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.unscear.org/docs/publications/2017/Chernobyl_WP_2017.pdf">analyses of affected populations up to 2015</a> found 5,000 out of a total of 20,000 thyroid cancer cases to be due to radiation. Fortunately, though serious, thyroid cancer is treatable in 99% of cases. Some reports suggest that the consequences of relocating hundreds of thousands of people, the economic consequences of abandonment of land and the understandable fear of radiation have had <a href="https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr38/en/">greater negative effects than the direct health consequences of radiation</a>.</p>
<p>Chernobyl the series is amazing to watch, and the reconstruction of events before and during the accident was remarkable. But we should remember that it is a drama, not a documentary. In the years since 1986, many myths have been perpetuated about the accident, and these myths have <a href="https://www.unicef.org/newsline/chernobylreport.pdf">unquestionably hindered the recovery of the affected populations</a>. </p>
<p>More than 30 years on, this recovery continues. If it is to have any chance of success it must be based not on the emotion and the drama, but on the best available scientific evidence. <a href="https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/oxford-martin-restatement-5-a-restatement-of-the-natural-science-evidence-base-concerning-the-health-effects-of-low-level-ionizing-radiation/">Evidence</a> which shows that, except at the extreme doses which plant operators, firemen and helicopter pilots received during the Chernobyl disaster, the risks of radiation are <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-7-49">tiny compared to other health risks we all face in our lives</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jim Smith has received funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council "Radioactivity and the Environment Programme" which is part supported by Radioactive Waste Management Ltd. and the Environment Agency of England and Wales. He has also done small consultancy projects for Horizon Nuclear Power and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.</span></em></p>Documentary or drama? The HBO/Sky series is gripping watching, but sometimes facts make way for artistic licence.Jim Smith, Professor of Environmental Science, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1187092019-06-13T08:57:34Z2019-06-13T08:57:34ZChernobyl: we lived through its consequences – holidays in the fallout zone shouldn’t be a picnic<p>We were five years old when the Chernobyl disaster happened. At the time, Milka was living in the small mountain town of Razlog in the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, about 1500 km away from the disaster area. Dorina was born and grew up in a small town in the Socialist Republic of Romania, approximately 850 km south of Chernobyl. </p>
<p>Bulgaria and Romania were heavily contaminated by radioactive material from the explosion that blew the lid off reactor No. 4 at the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant – more commonly known as Chernobyl – in the town of Pripyat, at the time in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. While we were soon dubbed “the Chernobyl children”, the communist authorities kept Bulgarians and Romanians in the dark about the magnitude and implications of the explosion. It wasn’t until the Iron Curtain lifted that many of us would learn the truth.</p>
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<h2>Bulgaria, May Day 1986 – Milka</h2>
<p>As a Bulgarian, I don’t often think about Chernobyl, even though I study communist heritage tourism. Remembering the events of spring 1986 and my government’s mishandling of the crisis still makes me angry, but I try to maintain some emotional separation from my research. When the HBO miniseries Chernobyl aired, I expected the buzz it generated would <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2019/06/09/as-seen-on-tv-fans-of-hbo-series-flock-to-chernobyl-geiger-counters-in-hand/#3a2139fb3897">renew public interest in visiting Chernobyl</a>, and interest in the communist past in general. What I did not expect was to relive my recollection of the days after the disaster.</p>
<p>Both the Soviet and Bulgarian governments kept quiet, even while Western news agencies reported the disaster on April 26 1986. The first official announcement within the Soviet Union came on the evening of the 28th. In Bulgaria, the <a href="http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2018/04/26/how-bulgarias-communist-regime-hid-the-1986-chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-from-the-public-protecting-only-itself/">first brief announcement came three days after the explosion</a> on April 29.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279187/original/file-20190612-32373-w68kfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279187/original/file-20190612-32373-w68kfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279187/original/file-20190612-32373-w68kfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279187/original/file-20190612-32373-w68kfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279187/original/file-20190612-32373-w68kfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279187/original/file-20190612-32373-w68kfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279187/original/file-20190612-32373-w68kfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Milka’s father, Blagoy Ivanov, pledges allegiance to the flag of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. A portrait of Todor Zhivkov – the communist leader of Bulgaria from 1954 to 1989 – looms in the background.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Family archive</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I don’t remember much about the announcement itself or the general reaction in Bulgaria. What I remember is my grandmother getting a phone call from her brother, who had connections to the upper echelons of the Bulgarian Communist Party. He warned her not to give five-year-old me any milk to drink. He gave no reason, and my family didn’t know what to make of it.</p>
<p>I remember that the Labour Day parades went ahead as usual and that all the children in my home town had to attend. <a href="https://mycentury.tv/en/bulgaria/106-chernobyl-sofia-1-may.html">We were all marching in radioactive rain</a>.</p>
<p>Once the Communist Party admitted there had been an incident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, they reassured the Bulgarian people that things were under control and that radiation in the atmosphere and food was below dangerous levels. At the same time, the leaders of the Bulgarian Communist party were <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/12/12/Bulgaria-deals-with-Chernobyl-legal-fallout/9215692514000/">eating and drinking imported food and water</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279441/original/file-20190613-32317-few35u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279441/original/file-20190613-32317-few35u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279441/original/file-20190613-32317-few35u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279441/original/file-20190613-32317-few35u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279441/original/file-20190613-32317-few35u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279441/original/file-20190613-32317-few35u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279441/original/file-20190613-32317-few35u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marchers turn out for the Labour Day Parade of May 1 1986 in Sofia, Bulgaria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mycentury.tv/images/stories/bulgaria/May_Day_1986.jpg">Velislav Radev/MyCentury.tv</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>On the Romania-Ukraine border – Dorina</h2>
<p>I grew up in Romania – another child of the Chernobyl generation. Still, Chernobyl rarely invaded my thoughts – though the memories are there now, churning in the back of my mind. There’s a certain inner revulsion to most political events from those times for me. I haven’t watched the new miniseries and I’m unlikely to revive some of the personal and collective trauma by doing so.</p>
<p>In 1986, my father was a captain in the Romanian army, patrolling the border with the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. He remembers the army were on high alert in the months after the blast and they were asked to collect information from truck drivers crossing the border, to understand the unfolding situation around the disaster area. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279223/original/file-20190612-32347-14few4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279223/original/file-20190612-32347-14few4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279223/original/file-20190612-32347-14few4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279223/original/file-20190612-32347-14few4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279223/original/file-20190612-32347-14few4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279223/original/file-20190612-32347-14few4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279223/original/file-20190612-32347-14few4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279223/original/file-20190612-32347-14few4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dorina’s father, Ioan Buda. At the time of the nuclear disaster in 1986, Ioan was a captain in the Romanian army.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Family archive</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, the army increased the intensity of their chemical training for soldiers and officers and were given courses on how to better understand and prepare for biochemical attacks. My mother was told to avoid lying in the sun, or risk burning her skin. Only later did she realise that radioactive fallout was the real concern.</p>
<p>As I write this – decompressing my memories and digging up those of my family back in Romania – there’s still a heaviness in my chest. Milka and I channel our anxieties over Chernobyl and life in communist eastern Europe into our research. To overcome the restraints of those days, I have travelled, worked and studied in eight countries on four continents. My published work deals with <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Affective-Tourism-Dark-routes-in-conflict-1st-Edition/Buda/p/book/9781138822467">psychoanalytic theories of the death instinct</a>, trauma and nuclear tourism – the industry that monetises a fascination to visit places where nuclear accidents have laid waste to people and their communities. The Fukushima disaster of March 2011 in Japan created the most recent entry in this list of tourist hotspots.</p>
<p>Interestingly, 2011 was also the year that Chernobyl was <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx">officially declared a tourist attraction</a>. The HBO miniseries has generated interest in nuclear tourism, but this fascination with our communist history is nothing new among western tourists.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279208/original/file-20190612-32335-13zt4q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279208/original/file-20190612-32335-13zt4q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279208/original/file-20190612-32335-13zt4q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279208/original/file-20190612-32335-13zt4q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279208/original/file-20190612-32335-13zt4q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279208/original/file-20190612-32335-13zt4q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279208/original/file-20190612-32335-13zt4q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A derelict school within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Pripyat, Ukraine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/abandoned-premises-old-school-227262961?src=jI_IWQZb3UHFDTkWCdqnlw-1-9">Separation51/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There’s an understandable desire among people in eastern Europe to distance ourselves from our difficult – even traumatic – past, but Chernobyl’s heritage, like most communist heritage, is as much about the past as it is about the future.</p>
<p>The HBO miniseries no doubt illuminates the cover-ups and information blackouts that characterised the early response to the nuclear disaster. The events of April 1986 warn us about the cost of lies and of what happens when regimes distort the truth to preserve their grasp on power. In today’s climate of fake news, deceit and dishonesty, Chernobyl remains a lesson from which there is still sadly much to be learnt.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118709/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorina-Maria Buda has received funding from the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Milka Ivanova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The HBO series ‘Chernobyl’ has reignited interest among tourists to visit Pripyat, but growing up in the disaster’s shadow has made us wary.Milka Ivanova, Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Hospitality, Leeds Beckett UniversityDorina-Maria Buda, Professor of Tourism Management, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1089452018-12-19T10:00:21Z2018-12-19T10:00:21ZRadium revealed: 120 years since Curies found the most radioactive substance on the planet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251278/original/file-20181218-27752-1h19iwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Curies and curiouser. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pierre_and_Marie_Curie.jpg#/media/File:Pierre_and_Marie_Curie.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scientific discovery can be achingly slow, but it was moving swiftly in the 1890s. X-rays <a href="https://www.nde-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Radiography/Introduction/history.htm">had been</a> discovered in Germany just a few days before Christmas in 1895. Several months later, while researching these new X-rays, the French physicist Henri Becquerel accidentally discovered another new mysterious type of ray when he <a href="https://www2.lbl.gov/abc/wallchart/chapters/03/4.html">detected</a> radiation emitting from uranium. </p>
<p>Many scientists, doctors and inventors – including Thomas Edison – were fascinated by X-rays and their ability to make the invisible observable. But Marie Curie, a young Polish-born doctoral student at the University of Paris, suspected there was much more to be discovered from Becquerel’s “uranic rays”. </p>
<p>She reached this conclusion on the back of a curious observation. In testing countless rocks and minerals for radiation emissions, using measuring equipment invented by her husband Pierre and his brother Jacques, she noticed that uranium ores gave off greater emissions than pure samples of uranium. Soon Pierre, a professor of physics at the university, set aside his own research to help her explain why. </p>
<p>In July of 1898, they <a href="https://www.iupac.org/publications/ci/2011/3301/5_adloff.html">showed that</a> the ore contained a new element that was giving off similar radiation. They named it <a href="https://www.livescience.com/39452-polonium.html">polonium</a> after Marie’s home country, coining the term “radioactivity” in the process. Yet it became apparent to the Curies that there was another substance in the ores that was considerably more radioactive than either uranium or polonium. The challenge now was to find out what. </p>
<h2>Enter radium</h2>
<p>The discovery of radium was hard work. Corrosive acids, strong alkalis and hard labour were required as the Curies performed many separations to tease away the tiny quantities of radium from the 30 or so other elements present. They were working with an ore called pitchblende which they had sourced from a mine in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ore-Mountains">Ore Mountains</a> that separate Germany from the Czech Republic, in what was still part of the Austrian empire. </p>
<p>The university had only given them a shed next to the departments of chemistry and physics for their work. This was the cold and damp environment in which they had to grind, crush, dissolve, precipitate, filter, wash and painstakingly measure what they found. By December 21 of that year, they had made the discovery. On Boxing Day, it was published in a paper read to the French Academy of Sciences: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The new radioactive substance certainly includes a very large portion of barium; in spite of that, the radioactivity is considerable. The radioactivity of radium then must be enormous. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251281/original/file-20181218-27770-1rd5g2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251281/original/file-20181218-27770-1rd5g2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251281/original/file-20181218-27770-1rd5g2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251281/original/file-20181218-27770-1rd5g2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251281/original/file-20181218-27770-1rd5g2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251281/original/file-20181218-27770-1rd5g2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251281/original/file-20181218-27770-1rd5g2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251281/original/file-20181218-27770-1rd5g2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What it looks like.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium#/media/File:Radium226.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This substance is the most radioactive natural element, a million times <a href="http://www.radioactivity.eu.com/site/pages/Radium.htm">more so</a> than uranium. It is so radioactive that it gives off a pale blue glow. Yet it would still take the Curies another three years to produce a pure radium salt. Having originally worked with 100g of the ore, equivalent to a tenth of a bag of sugar, they would need a tonne of ore to isolate just a tenth of a gram of radium dichloride. They <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/summary/">received</a> the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for this work, sharing it with Becquerel. </p>
<p>Pierre was tragically killed in a coach accident in 1906 (he was also deeply unwell from the effects of his work with radiation). Marie Curie took his professorship and continued with their research, later isolating pure radium metal and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1911/summary/">receiving</a> the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911.</p>
<h2>Radium with everything</h2>
<p>The boom and bust of radium over the first three decades of the 20th century remains one of the great cautionary tales of our times. Among a slew of papers that the Curies published in the years after its discovery, one <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3093546/">showed that</a> radium could treat cancer by killing cancer cells more quickly than healthy cells. It became used as one of the first radiation treatments for cancer and other skin diseases. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251280/original/file-20181218-27752-1q4m8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251280/original/file-20181218-27752-1q4m8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251280/original/file-20181218-27752-1q4m8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251280/original/file-20181218-27752-1q4m8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251280/original/file-20181218-27752-1q4m8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251280/original/file-20181218-27752-1q4m8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251280/original/file-20181218-27752-1q4m8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251280/original/file-20181218-27752-1q4m8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Radium-infused soap.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet the metal’s strange blue glow <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-radium-decontamination/frances-20th-century-radium-craze-still-haunts-paris-idUSBRE86I0AH20120719">convinced some</a> that it had other benefits. It became widely used in quack treatments and elixirs, from therapeutic waters to soap to chocolate bars, where the buyer was only safe if the mixtures contained no radium at all. </p>
<p>Among other uses, entrepreneurs used radium to create “glow-in-the-dark” paint. This led to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/06/the-radium-girls-still-glowing-in-their-coffins/">the tragedy</a> of the radium dial painters in New Jersey – an all too familiar story of the promise of profit over safety, and denial of the facts. Factory workers, mostly young girls seeking an independent income, ingested the metal while applying the paint to watch faces. The radium bound to their bones like its chemical cousin, calcium, injuring, disfiguring and killing many of the two thousand workers estimated to have been employed at peak. </p>
<p>The radium industry dramatically declined after health concerns began <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/03/how-we-realized-putting-radium-in-everything-was-not-the-answer/273780/">emerging</a> in the mid-1920s. It still has a lingering presence in the contaminated soils and land around the old extraction and industry buildings in Denver, Pittsburgh and New Jersey. The UK is still dealing with the legacy of radium-painted dials used in World War II, with Dalgety Bay in Fife just one area affected by radium displaced from old waste dumps. When once the challenge was to extract this buried treasure, now the focus is on safely treating it as buried waste.</p>
<p>Marie Curie made it her lifelong goal to work out what radioactivity was, what produced it and what it could mean for the nature of matter. This almost certainly contributed to <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/this-week-in-science-history-marie-curie-dies">her death</a> from leukaemia at the age of 66, though she
remains the only scientist to have received Nobel Prizes in both physics and chemistry. She became a landmark figure for women in science, and the element curium was later named in her honour. </p>
<p>Today radium is barely used in medicine, apart from treating some specific bone cancers. It was too expensive and rare to be a widespread feedstock for radiation therapy, and was replaced by alternatives like radon gas and later an isotope of cobalt. Yet radiation therapy and the knowledge about radioactivity that came with discovering radium remain hugely important. The story of radium mirrors that of radiation itself – a double-edged sword, with great benefits that always need to be balanced against the potential for massive harm.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Mansell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With its strange bluish glow and cancer-killing qualities, meet the wundermetal that became one of the great cautionary tales of modern times.Stephen Mansell, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/861772018-12-07T11:39:53Z2018-12-07T11:39:53ZHunting for rare isotopes: The mysterious radioactive atomic nuclei that will be in tomorrow’s technology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249379/original/file-20181206-128202-1d16zby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers have identified 3,000 radioactive isotopes – and predict 4,000 more are out there.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/high-energy-particles-collision-abstract-illustration-539127385">GiroScience/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you hear the term “radioactive” you likely think “bad news,” maybe along the lines of fallout from an atomic bomb.</p>
<p>But radioactive materials are actually used in a wide range of beneficial applications. In medicine, they routinely help diagnose and treat disease. Irradiation helps keep a number of foods free from insects and invasive pests. Archaeologists use them to figure out how old an artifact might be. And the list goes on.</p>
<p>So what is radioactivity?</p>
<p>It’s the spontaneous emission of radiation when an atom’s dense center – called its nucleus – transforms into a different one. Whether in the form of particles or electromagnetic waves called gamma rays, radiation transfers energy away from the atomic nucleus.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249353/original/file-20181206-128193-1ucj6s2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249353/original/file-20181206-128193-1ucj6s2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249353/original/file-20181206-128193-1ucj6s2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249353/original/file-20181206-128193-1ucj6s2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249353/original/file-20181206-128193-1ucj6s2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249353/original/file-20181206-128193-1ucj6s2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249353/original/file-20181206-128193-1ucj6s2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249353/original/file-20181206-128193-1ucj6s2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The nuclear chart showing the 250 or so stable isotopes in pink, the around 3,000 known rare isotopes in green and the approximately 4,000 predicted isotopes in grey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Erin O'Donnell, Michigan State University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Through experiments, nuclear physicists have seen about 3,000 different kinds of nuclei to date. Current theories, though, predict the existence of about 4,000 more that have never yet been observed. Around the world, thousands of scientists, <a href="https://www.artemisspyrou.com">including me</a>, continue to study these tiny constituents of matter, while governments spend billions of dollars on building powerful new machines that will produce more and more exotic nuclei – and maybe eventually more technologies that will further improve modern life. </p>
<h2>The birth of nuclear physics</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249330/original/file-20181206-128193-1qr8qdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249330/original/file-20181206-128193-1qr8qdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249330/original/file-20181206-128193-1qr8qdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249330/original/file-20181206-128193-1qr8qdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249330/original/file-20181206-128193-1qr8qdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249330/original/file-20181206-128193-1qr8qdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249330/original/file-20181206-128193-1qr8qdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249330/original/file-20181206-128193-1qr8qdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Henri Becquerel, 1904.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Becquerel,_Henri_(1852-1908).jpg">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>French physicist <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/becquerel/biographical/">Henri Becquerel</a> discovered natural radioactivity in 1896. He was trying to study how uranium salts phosphoresce – that is, emit light – when they’re exposed to sunlight. Becquerel placed a uranium sample on a photographic plate covered with opaque paper and left it in direct sunlight. The plate got foggy, which he concluded was due to sun exposure.</p>
<p>Thanks to a few days of cloudy weather, though, Becquerel left his whole setup in a dark drawer. Surprisingly, the photographic plate still fogged up, even in the absence of light. Sunlight had nothing to do with his previous observation. It was the natural radioactivity of the uranium samples that had this effect. As the uranium nuclei decayed – that is, transformed into different nuclei – they spontaneously emitted lightwaves that registered on the photographic plates.</p>
<p>Becquerel’s discovery ushered in a new era of physics and launched the field of nuclear science. For this work, he won the Nobel Prize in 1903.</p>
<p>Since then, nuclear scientists have unraveled a lot of the inner workings of the atomic nucleus, and have harnessed its amazing energy both for good and unfortunately not so good uses. Nuclear physics discoveries have given us ways to look inside our bodies noninvasively, ways to create energy without air pollution, and ways to study our history and our environment.</p>
<h2>On the atomic level</h2>
<p>The known atomic nuclei belong to 118 different elements, some of them naturally occurring and some of them human-made. For every element on the periodic table there are many different “isotopes,” from the Greek word “ισότοπο,” which means “same place,” implying the same place on the periodic table of the elements.</p>
<p>To be the same element, two isotopes must have the same number of protons – the positively charged subatomic particle. It’s their number of neutrons – subatomic particles with no charge at all – that can vary significantly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249332/original/file-20181206-128196-1lo06wp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249332/original/file-20181206-128196-1lo06wp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249332/original/file-20181206-128196-1lo06wp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249332/original/file-20181206-128196-1lo06wp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249332/original/file-20181206-128196-1lo06wp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249332/original/file-20181206-128196-1lo06wp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249332/original/file-20181206-128196-1lo06wp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249332/original/file-20181206-128196-1lo06wp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The periodic table lists all the elements based on their number of protons. Isotopes of an element have the same number of protons – for Beryllium it’s four – but various numbers of neutrons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Artemis Spyrou</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, gold is element 79 on the periodic table, and all isotopes of gold will have the same metallic, yellowish appearance. However, there are 40 known isotopes of gold that have been discovered, and another roughly 20 are theorized to exist. Only one of these isotopes is the “stable,” or naturally occurring, form of gold you might be wearing on your ring finger right now. The rest are radioactive isotopes, also known as “rare isotopes.”</p>
<p>Rare isotopes each have unique properties: They live for different amounts of time, from a fraction of a second to a few billion years, and they release different types of radiation and different amounts of energy.</p>
<p>For example, modern smoke detectors <a href="https://www3.epa.gov/radtown/americium-smoke-detectors.html">use the isotope Americium-241</a>, which emits a type of radiation called alpha particles that have a very short range. The radioactivity can’t travel more than a couple of inches in air. Americium-241 lives for a few hundred years.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the isotope Fluorine-18, which is commonly used in medical PET scans, lives for only about 100 minutes – long enough to complete the scan, but short enough to avoid irradiating the healthy body unnecessarily for an extended period. The secondary electromagnetic radiation that comes from Fluorine-18 is in the form of long-range gamma rays, which allows it to travel out of the body and into the PET cameras. </p>
<p>These different nuclear properties make each rare isotope unique, and nuclear physicists have to design specialized experiments to study each one of them separately.</p>
<h2>Hunting for more</h2>
<p>Current nuclear science research strives to develop new techniques for discovering new isotopes, understanding their properties, and eventually producing and harvesting them efficiently.</p>
<p>Producing rare isotopes <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPG919lJK8s&t=57s">is not an easy task</a>; it requires large machines that will make nuclei travel, and collide with each other, at speeds close to the speed of light. During these collisions nuclei can fuse together, or they can break each other apart, producing new nuclei, potentially with previously unseen combinations of protons and neutrons.</p>
<p>Nuclear physicists have dedicated equipment - detectors - that can observe these newly formed nuclei and the radiation they emit, and study their properties. For example, at the <a href="https://www.nscl.msu.edu">National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MFjq3JsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">where I work</a>, my group has developed an extremely efficient gamma ray detector we called SuN.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249321/original/file-20181206-128202-nxvd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249321/original/file-20181206-128202-nxvd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249321/original/file-20181206-128202-nxvd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249321/original/file-20181206-128202-nxvd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249321/original/file-20181206-128202-nxvd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249321/original/file-20181206-128202-nxvd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249321/original/file-20181206-128202-nxvd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249321/original/file-20181206-128202-nxvd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The SuN detector at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory measures gamma rays and helps researchers study the properties of rare isotopes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Artemis Spyrou</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The majority of the known isotopes emit gamma radiation when they decay. We want to know how much energy is released in this process, how many different gamma rays are emitted and how the energy is shared between them, and how long it takes for the decay to take place. SuN can answer these questions about whichever isotope we are investigating.</p>
<p>In a typical experiment, we implant a beam of rare isotopes at the center of SuN. The rare isotopes will decay of their own accord after a short amount of time, roughly one second or less, and emit their characteristic radiation. SuN detects these emitted gamma rays. It’s our job as nuclear experimentalists to put together the puzzle of how those gamma rays were emitted and what they tell us about the properties of the new isotope.</p>
<p>These kinds of production and detection techniques are complex and costly, and therefore there are only a handful of rare isotope laboratories in the world that can produce and study the most exotic nuclear species.</p>
<p>It’s impossible to predict which new discoveries in basic research will have an impact on people’s lives. Who could have known 100 years ago, when the electron was discovered, that for a few decades almost every house in the developed world would have an electron machine – otherwise known as a <a href="https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/tv3.htm">cathode-ray tube</a> – to watch television? And who could have guessed that the discovery of radioactivity would eventually lead to <a href="https://rps.nasa.gov/power-and-thermal-systems/power-systems/current/">space exploration powered by radioactive decays</a>?</p>
<p>In the same way, we cannot predict which rare isotope discoveries will be the game-changers, but with more than half of the predicted isotopes still unexplored, to me the possibilities feel endless.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Artemis Spyrou receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. </span></em></p>Alongside their famous dangers, radioactive materials have many beneficial uses. With as many more predicted as have already been discovered, nuclear physicists are searching for more isotopes.Artemis Spyrou, Associate Professor of Nuclear Physics, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/994642018-07-06T15:07:46Z2018-07-06T15:07:46ZHow Novichok is different from radioactive poisons – and what this means for decontamination<p>A man and a woman <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44719639">were found unconscious</a> in Wiltshire, England, on July, after having been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok. The woman has now died while the man is in critical condition. This is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nerve-agents-what-are-they-and-how-do-they-work-93079">same substance</a> that was used to poison the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in March.</p>
<p>The second incidence of poisonings has reignited fear and speculation about the substance. According to Google, <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hn6YXGydFhM/Wz9CA1uFkkI/AAAAAAAABzM/DIq8wvZvosk2UKIeeP7K8m25IgrDWnsZgCL0BGAYYCw/h383/2018-07-06.png">there has been a huge increase</a> in the search term “Novichok half life”. Half life is a term commonly used to describe the amount of time it takes for half of the atoms of radioactive poisons such as polonium to disintegrate. Polonium is <a href="https://theconversation.com/litvinenko-poisoning-polonium-explained-53514">what killed</a> the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. </p>
<p>But how are nerve agents different from radioactive materials and what does that mean for how we clean up and treat victims after these incidents?</p>
<p>Atoms in radioactive materials have unstable nuclei, meaning they can split up (decay to a stable state) by giving off nuclear radiation. Some types of radiation are harmful only if the substance is inhaled or ingested, while other types can penetrate and damage human tissue even if the material is external to the body.</p>
<p>Ultimately radiation damages cells, affecting their ability to divide normally. Large doses can cause acute radiation poisoning, which can kill you very quickly as the organs in the body stop functioning. Smaller doses have the potential to damage DNA over time, causing cancer decades after the exposure.</p>
<p>Radioactive substances <a href="https://www.nde-ed.org/EducationResources/HighSchool/Radiography/halflife2.htm">can have very long half lives</a>, from seconds up to several billion years (for uranium-238). The polonium that killed Litvinenko had a half life of 138 days. This means that it would stay in the environment for several years. While half of the atoms may have decayed after 138 days, it would be another 138 for half of that to decay, and so forth.</p>
<h2>Fast-acting and lethal</h2>
<p>We can apply the term “half life” to nerve agents too, although this would relate to its rate of loss from the environment due to the action of wind, rain, sunlight and bacteria rather than the rate of atomic decay. For VX, the amount present will diminish by about 50% every three days in grass. If Novichok agents undergo a similar rate of loss in the environment, then very little would remain after a month in a sample that has been exposed to the elements. However, for those searching half life it’s important to state that nerve agents aren’t radioactive materials.</p>
<p>The actual toxicity and chemical properties of Novichok remain a closely guarded secret for security reasons. But we do know a few things about it. Nerve agents are chemicals that essentially short-circuit parts of the nervous system leading to constant stimulation of muscles, secretory glands and uncontrolled brain activity (similar to epilepsy). This can cause breathing difficulties by paralysing the muscles which help us to breathe.</p>
<p>Nerve agents are normally liquids at room temperature. There are three main types: non-persistent, mid-volatility and persistent. This is based on how quickly the liquid chemicals evaporate and dictates how people become exposed. For example, the nerve agent <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-43395483">Sarin</a> is quite volatile and so is non-persistent, as the liquid will rapidly disperse into the air as a vapour. This means that human exposure to Sarin is almost exclusively from breathing in the vapour – it does not hang around long enough to be absorbed through the skin. </p>
<p>At the opposite end of the spectrum, the nerve agent known as VX is practically non-volatile and so is categorised as a persistent agent. Novichok appears to be very similar and so its effects will be mainly due to skin absorption following contact with the liquid agent, or from ingesting contaminated food or drink. Skin exposure to VX does not cause immediate or rapid poisoning. Indeed, the first signs and symptoms of exposure <a href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/vx/basics/facts.asp">can take up to 18 hours</a>. </p>
<h2>Differences in treatment and clean up</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226525/original/file-20180706-122256-z0phvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226525/original/file-20180706-122256-z0phvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226525/original/file-20180706-122256-z0phvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226525/original/file-20180706-122256-z0phvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226525/original/file-20180706-122256-z0phvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226525/original/file-20180706-122256-z0phvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226525/original/file-20180706-122256-z0phvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alexander Litvinenko in hospital.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2006/11/25/obituarios/1164449771.html">wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Radiation poisoning can be treated in part by attempting to remove any residual radioactive material from the body. One way of achieving this is to use “<a href="https://www.drugs.com/drug-class/chelating-agents.html">chelating agents</a>” which can bind radioactive elements to help excrete them from the body. As the main effect of radiation is on rapidly dividing cells, the immune system can suffer extensive damage. Drugs to boost the production of white blood cells can therefore be used to help prevent infection. Supportive treatments to reduce vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration are also used.</p>
<p>For nerve agents, the most important thing do do is to remove the agent from contaminated skin surfaces to avoid further absorption. The <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/uk-rolls-out-terror-attack-plan-1.14696">UK</a> and <a href="https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/media/36872/prism-volume-1.pdf">US</a> have recently developed new decontamination procedures, staring with <a href="http://www.orchidsproject.eu/project.html">washing with warm water</a>. </p>
<p>Removing the substance from hair and skin with water will also substantially reduce the risk of paramedics and hospital staff getting contaminated. They can then safely administer the “<a href="http://www.who.int/environmental_health_emergencies/deliberate_events/interim_guidance_en.pdf">triple therapy</a> antidote”, which consists of drugs that can help to counteract muscle paralysis and limit potential brain damage. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/novichok-the-deadly-story-behind-the-nerve-agent-93562">Novichok: the deadly story behind the nerve agent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There are many ways to decontaminate towns following <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination">radioactive contamination</a> depending on what substance was used and how it was spread. Basic clean up techniques include removing contaminated items, washing affected areas with large volumes of water and fixing the contaminant in place using specialist paints or plastic coatings that can then be peeled off to remove contamination.</p>
<p>Similarly, in the case of the recent Novichok poisoning, the UK government has spent millions of pounds removing potentially contaminated grass, soil, paving stones and other items from areas around Salisbury. This is why Novichok is most likely a persistent nerve agent, which may last for days or weeks in the environment before being diluted through natural weathering or neutralised by the action of sunlight, bacteria or water. </p>
<p>The main difference between the two clean up procedures between radioactive poisons and nerve agents is that radioactivity is much easier to detect, often from a safe distance using instruments such as a Geiger counter. However, small but toxic quantities of persistent nerve agents are likely to be very difficult or impossible to detect using handheld instruments. Therefore, contamination would need to be confirmed by taking a surface swab which would need to be transported to a laboratory for chemical analysis.</p>
<p>So while radioactivity may be around for much longer than nerve agents, the latter can be more difficult to decontaminate given that it is so hard to know exactly where it is. Indeed in the most recent case, the pair exposed to Novichok reportedly had high concentrations of the substance on their fingers. But finding out exactly what item it is that they have touched is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. Luckily there’s <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44733873">a big operation underway </a> to look for it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99464/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Chilcott receives funding from the US Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority.</span></em></p>Former Russian spies Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal were both poisoned – one polonium, the other by Novichok. Now that there’s been another nerve agent case, what’s the difference?Robert Chilcott, Professor, Centre for Research into Topical Drug Delivery and Toxicology, University of HertfordshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/871552018-01-17T15:20:27Z2018-01-17T15:20:27Z50 years ago, a US military jet crashed in Greenland – with 4 nuclear bombs on board<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201698/original/file-20180111-101511-1avfuo3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cleanup crew search for radioactive debris.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://youtu.be/owvbRU5Ry9w">U.S. Air Force </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fifty years ago, on Jan. 21, 1968, the Cold War grew significantly colder. It was on this day that an American <a href="http://www.boeing.com/history/products/b-52-stratofortress.page">B-52G Stratofortress</a> bomber, carrying four nuclear bombs, crashed onto the sea ice of Wolstenholme Fjord in the northwest corner of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Greenland">Greenland</a>, one of the coldest places on Earth. Greenland is part of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Denmark">Kingdom of Denmark</a>, and the Danes were not pleased.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201695/original/file-20180111-101502-125k7lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201695/original/file-20180111-101502-125k7lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201695/original/file-20180111-101502-125k7lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201695/original/file-20180111-101502-125k7lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201695/original/file-20180111-101502-125k7lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201695/original/file-20180111-101502-125k7lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201695/original/file-20180111-101502-125k7lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201695/original/file-20180111-101502-125k7lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ejected gunner is helped to safety.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thule_AFB_B-52_Gunner_Rescue.jpg">United States Air Force</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The bomber – call sign HOBO 28 – had crashed due to human error. One of the crew members had stuffed some seat cushions in front of a heating vent, and they subsequently caught fire. The smoke quickly became so thick that the crew needed to eject. Six of the 7 crew members parachuted out safely before the plane crashed onto the frozen fjord 7 miles west of Thule Air Base – America’s most northern military base, <a href="http://depts.washington.edu/icylands/projects/thule/maps/thulemap.php">700 miles north of the Arctic Circle</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-199" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/199/5db5b02e2c686c5e4477e487ec983d2710ca0697/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The island of Greenland, situated about halfway between Washington D.C. and Moscow, has strategic importance to the American military – so much so that the United States had, in 1946, made an <a href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1947v03/d414">unsuccessful bid to buy it</a> from Denmark. Nevertheless, Denmark, a strong ally of the United States, did allow the American military to operate an air base at Thule.</p>
<p>The crash severely strained the United States’ relationship with Denmark, since Denmark’s 1957 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2013.856300">nuclear-free zone policy</a> had prohibited the presence of any nuclear weapons in Denmark or its territories. The Thule crash revealed that the United States had actually been routinely flying planes carrying nuclear bombs over Greenland, and one of those illicit flights had now resulted in the radioactive contamination of a fjord.</p>
<p>The radioactivity was released because the nuclear <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/warhead">warheads</a> had been compromised. The impact from the crash and the subsequent fire had broken open the weapons and released their radioactive contents, but luckily, there was no <a href="https://www.remm.nlm.gov/nuclearexplosion.htm#blast">nuclear detonation</a>.</p>
<p>To be specific, HOBO 28’s nuclear weapons were actually <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/03/world/asia/north-korea-hydrogen-bomb.html">hydrogen bombs</a>. As I explain in my book, “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10691.html">Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation</a>,” a hydrogen bomb (or H-bomb) is a second-generation type of nuclear weapon that is <a href="https://www.livescience.com/53280-hydrogen-bomb-vs-atomic-bomb.html">much more powerful than the two atomic bombs</a> dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those two bombs were “<a href="http://www.atomicarchive.com/Fission/Fission1.shtml">fission</a>” bombs – bombs that get their energy from the splitting (fission) of very large atoms (such as uranium and plutonium) into smaller atoms.</p>
<p>In contrast, HOBO 28’s bombs were <a href="http://www.atomicarchive.com/Fusion/Fusion1.shtml">fusion</a> bombs – bombs that get their energy from the union (fusion) of the very small nuclei of hydrogen atoms. Each of the four <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mk_28_F1_Thermonuclear_Bomb.jpg">Mark 28 F1</a> hydrogen bombs that HOBO 28 carried were nearly 100 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima (1,400 kilotons versus 15 kilotons). </p>
<p>Fusion bombs release so much more energy than fission bombs that it’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFiBXFFzT5c">hard to comprehend</a>. For example, if a fission bomb like Hiroshima’s were dropped on the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., it’s likely that the White House (about 1.5 miles away) would suffer little direct damage. In contrast, if just one of the Mark 28 F1 hydrogen bombs were dropped on the Capitol building, it would destroy the White House as well as everything else in Washington, D.C. (a destructive radius of about 7.5 miles). It is for this reason that <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/03/asia/hydrogen-bomb-north-korea-explainer/index.html">North Korea’s recent claim of achieving hydrogen bomb capabilities</a> is so very worrisome.</p>
<p>After the crash, the United States and Denmark had very different ideas about how to deal with HOBO 28’s wreckage and radioactivity. The U.S. wanted to just let the bomber wreckage sink into the fjord and remain there, but Denmark wouldn’t allow that. Denmark wanted all the wreckage gathered up immediately and moved, along with all of the radioactively contaminated ice, to the United States. Since the fate of the Thule Air Base hung in the balance, the U.S. agreed to Denmark’s demands.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/owvbRU5Ry9w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command film report on the Crested Ice project.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The clock was ticking on the cleanup, code named operation “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owvbRU5Ry9w">Crested Ice</a>,” because, as winter turned into spring, the fjord would begin to melt and any remaining debris would sink 800 feet to the seafloor. Initial weather conditions were horrible, with temperatures as low as minus 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and wind speeds as high as 80 miles per hour. In addition, there was little sunlight, because the sun was not due to rise again over the Arctic horizon until mid-February.</p>
<p>Groups of American airmen, walking 50 abreast, swept the frozen fjord looking for all the pieces of wreckage – some as large as plane wings and some as small as flashlight batteries. Patches of ice with radioactive contamination were identified with <a href="http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-geiger-counters-work.html">Geiger counters</a> and other types of radiation <a href="https://www.ehs.harvard.edu/node/7596">survey meters</a>. All wreckage pieces were picked up, and ice showing any contamination was loaded into sealed tanks. Most every piece of the plane was accounted for except, most notably, a <a href="http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Library/Teller.html">secondary stage</a> cylinder of uranium and <a href="http://www.atomicarchive.com/Fusion/Fusion2.shtml">lithium deuteride</a> – the nuclear fuel components of one of the bombs. It was not found on the ice and a sweep of the seafloor with a minisub also found nothing. Its current location remains a mystery.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202116/original/file-20180116-53310-klmpcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202116/original/file-20180116-53310-klmpcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202116/original/file-20180116-53310-klmpcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202116/original/file-20180116-53310-klmpcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202116/original/file-20180116-53310-klmpcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202116/original/file-20180116-53310-klmpcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202116/original/file-20180116-53310-klmpcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202116/original/file-20180116-53310-klmpcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. and Danish officials mark the end of the cleanup effort.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://rhulgeopolitics.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/the-idealist-idealisten-denmark-2015-screening-one-of-the-darkest-chapters-in-danish-cold-war-history/">Archival</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the loss of the fuel cylinder was perplexing and disturbing, it is a relatively small item (about the size and shape of a beer keg) and it emits very little radioactivity detectable by radiation survey meters, making it very hard to find at the bottom of a fjord. Fortunately, it is not possible for this secondary “fusion” unit to detonate on its own without first being induced through detonation of the primary “fission” unit (plutonium). So there is no chance of a spontaneous nuclear explosion occurring in the fjord in the future, no matter how long it remains there. </p>
<p>The successful cleanup helped to heal United States-Denmark relations. But nearly 30 years later, the Thule incident spawned a new political controversy in Denmark. In 1995, a Danish review of internal government documents revealed that <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/H-C-Hansen">Danish Prime Minister H.C. Hansen</a> had actually given the United States <a href="https://nautilus.org/projects/nuclear-policy/u-s-nuclear-weapons-deployments-disclosed/">tacit approval</a> to fly nuclear weapons into Thule. Thus, the Danish government had to share some complicity in the Thule incident. </p>
<p>As recently as 2003, environmental scientists from Denmark revisited the fjord to see if they could <a href="http://naalakkersuisut.gl/%7E/media/nanoq/files/publications/departement%20for%20sundhed%20og%20infrastruktur/sundhed/thulesundhed/publikationer/plutonium%20in%20the%20environment%20at%20thule%20greenland.pdf">detect any residual radioactivity</a> from the crash. Was bottom sediment, seawater or seaweed radioactive, after nearly 40 years? Yes, but the levels were extremely low. </p>
<p>Thule Air Base survived all of the controversies over the decades but became increasingly neglected as nuclear weaponry moved away from bomber-based weapon delivery and more toward land-based and submarine-based <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/what-is-an-intercontinental-ballistic-missile-and-how-does-it-work">intercontinental ballistic missiles</a>. Nevertheless, as Thule’s bomber role waned, its importance for <a href="http://www.explainthatstuff.com/radar.html">radar detection</a> of incoming ICBMs grew, since a trans-Artic trajectory is a direct route for Russian nuclear missiles targeted at the United States.</p>
<p>In 2017, Thule got a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inside-thule-air-base-arctic-jeff-glor/">US$40,000,000 upgrade</a> for its radar systems due, in part, to increased concern about <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/defense/348864-congress-cannot-continue-to-ignore-the-russian-nuclear-threat">Russia as a nuclear threat</a>, and also because of worries about recent <a href="https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2014/04/23/russias-territorial-ambition-and-increased-military-presence-in-the-arctic/">Russian military forays into the Arctic</a>. Thule Air Base thus remains indispensable to American defense, and the United States remains very interested in Greenland – and committed to <a href="https://dk.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/">maintaining good relations with Denmark</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87155/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy J. Jorgensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In what came to be known as the Thule incident, an American bomber crashed in Greenland, spreading radioactive wreckage across 3 square miles of a frozen fjord. Denmark was not happy.Timothy J. Jorgensen, Director of the Health Physics and Radiation Protection Graduate Program and Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/879462017-11-22T18:01:37Z2017-11-22T18:01:37ZThunderstorms create radioactivity, scientists discover<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195818/original/file-20171122-6072-skhc5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxime Raynal/wikipedia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thunder and lightning have sparked awe and fear in humans since time immemorial. In both modern and ancient cultures, these natural phenomena are often thought to be governed by some of the most important and powerful gods – <a href="http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/indra.htm#.WhVO8bSFhmA">Indra in Hinduism</a>, <a href="https://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Zeus/zeus.html">Zeus in Greek mythology</a> and <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Thor/">Thor in Norse mythology</a>. </p>
<p>We know that thunderstorms can trigger a number of remarkable effects, most commonly power cuts, hailstorms and pets hiding under beds. But it turns out we still have things to learn about them. A new study, <a href="http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature24630">published in Nature</a>, has now shown that thunderstorms can also produce radioactivity by triggering nuclear reactions in the atmosphere. </p>
<p>This may sound like the plot of a blockbuster science fiction disaster. But in reality, it’s nothing to worry about. Since the early 20th century, scientists have been aware of <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-much-radiation-is-harmful-to-health-17906">ionising radiation</a> – particles and electromagnetic waves that can damage cells – raining down into the Earth’s atmosphere from space. This radiation can react with atoms or molecules, carrying enough energy to liberate electrons from either atoms or molecules. It therefore leaves behind an “ion” with a positive electrical charge.</p>
<p>Just over a century ago, the Austrian physicist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Francis_Hess">Victor Hess</a> made measurements of ionisation in a hot-air balloon five kilometres above the Earth’s surface. He noted that the ionisation rate increased rapidly with height, the opposite of what might be expected if the source of the ionising radiation was coming from the ground. Hess therefore concluded that there must be a source of radiation with very high penetrating power located above the atmosphere. He was named co-recipient of the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1936/">Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936</a> for his discovery, later dubbed “cosmic rays”.</p>
<p>We now know that cosmic rays are made up of charged particles: primarily, electrons, atomic nuclei and protons – the latter make up the nucleus along with neutrons. Some originate from the sun, while others come from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-extragalactic-mystery-where-do-high-energy-cosmic-rays-come-from-6623">distant explosions of dead stars</a> in our galaxy, known as supernovas. When these cosmic rays enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they interact with atoms and molecules to produce a shower of <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-fundamental-particles-38339">subatomic particles</a>. Among these are neutrons, which have no electric charge.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195848/original/file-20171122-6044-cx0uhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195848/original/file-20171122-6044-cx0uhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195848/original/file-20171122-6044-cx0uhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195848/original/file-20171122-6044-cx0uhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195848/original/file-20171122-6044-cx0uhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195848/original/file-20171122-6044-cx0uhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195848/original/file-20171122-6044-cx0uhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A simulation of a cosmic ray shower formed when a proton hits the atmosphere about 20km above the ground.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is these neutrons that <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-radiocarbon-dating-and-how-does-it-work-9690">make radiocarbon dating possible</a>. Most carbon atoms have six protons and either six or seven neutrons in their nuclei (dubbed “isotopes <sup>12</sup>C and <sup>13</sup>C” respectively). However, neutrons produced by cosmic rays can react with atmospheric nitrogen to create <sup>14</sup>C, a heavy and unstable isotope of carbon that, over time, will “radioactively decay” (split up while emitting radiation) back into nitrogen. </p>
<p>In nature, <sup>14</sup>C is incredibly rare and makes up only about one in a trillion carbon atoms. But, apart from its weight and radioactive properties, 14C is basically identical to the more common carbon isotopes. It oxidises to form carbon dioxide and enters the food chain as plants absorb the radioactive CO<sub>2</sub>. </p>
<p>The ratio of <sup>12</sup>C to <sup>14</sup>C in a given organism will start to change when that organism dies and ceases to ingest carbon. The <sup>14</sup>C already in its system then starts to decay. It’s a slow process since <sup>14</sup>C has a radioactive half-life of 5,730 years, but it is predictable, meaning that organic samples can be dated by measuring the ratio of <sup>12</sup>C to <sup>14</sup>C still remaining.</p>
<p>In this way, cosmic rays are responsible for nuclear reactions in the Earth’s atmosphere. Until today, we thought it was the only natural channel producing radioactive elements such as <sup>14</sup>C. The word “nuclear”, so sinister when partnered with “bomb” or “waste”, simply refers to the changes that are brought about in an atomic nucleus. </p>
<h2>Chasing neutrons</h2>
<p>Almost 100 years ago, the renowned Scottish physicist and meteorologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Thomson_Rees_Wilson">Charles Wilson</a> proposed that thunderstorms could also trigger nuclear reactions in the atmosphere. Wilson, who undertook fieldwork at the isolated meteorological observatory on the summit of Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain, was fascinated by thundercloud formation and atmospheric electricity. However, his suggestion predated the discovery of the neutron – one of the tell-tale products of nuclear reactions – by seven years, so his proposal could not be tested.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195817/original/file-20171122-6020-a2u08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195817/original/file-20171122-6020-a2u08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195817/original/file-20171122-6020-a2u08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195817/original/file-20171122-6020-a2u08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195817/original/file-20171122-6020-a2u08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195817/original/file-20171122-6020-a2u08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195817/original/file-20171122-6020-a2u08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lightning over the St Lawrence River on a stormy night in Quebec in 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jp Marquis/wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since Wilson’s time, there have been many studies that have claimed to have detected thunderstorm-produced neutrons, but <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/313773a0">none have proven to be definitive</a>. Others have searched for energetic electomagnetic radiation (X-rays and gamma-rays) that accompanies the avalanche of high-energy electrons that we know is produced by lightning in thunderclouds. Calculations show that these electrons and gamma-rays can knock neutrons out of nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere. But although the X-ray and gamma-rays have been observed, there has never been a direct observation of the consequent nuclear reactions taking place in a thunderstorm.</p>
<p>The new study uses a different approach. Instead of searching for the elusive neutrons, the authors rely on other byproducts of the nuclear reactions. If electrons and gamma-rays cause unstable isotopes of nitrogen and oxygen to be formed by nuclear reactions following a lightning stroke, these should decay after a few minutes to form stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen. </p>
<p>Crucially, this decay produces a particle known as a “positron”, the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-antimatter-53414">antimatter</a>” version of the electron. All particles have antimatter versions of themselves – these have the same mass but the opposite charge. When antimatter and matter come in contact, they annihilate in a flash of energy. This is the energy the researchers looked for. Using radiation detectors looking over the Sea of Japan, they observed the unambiguous gamma ray fingerprints of positron-electron annihilation taking place immediately after lightning strikes in low winter thunderclouds. This is clear evidence of nuclear reactions taking place in thunderclouds.</p>
<p>These results are important as they demonstrate a previously unknown source of isotopes in the Earth’s atmosphere. These include <sup>13</sup>C, <sup>14</sup>C and <sup>15</sup>N but future studies may also reveal others, such as isotopes of hydrogen, helium and beryllium. </p>
<p>The findings also have implications for astronomers and planetary scientists.
Other planets within our solar system have thunderstorms in their atmospheres that might contribute to the composition of their atmospheres. One of these planets is Jupiter, which is fittingly also the god of thunder in ancient Roman mythology.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87946/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jim Wild receives funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a member of the American Geophysical Union. He is currently the Chairman of the STFC Astronomy Grants Panel. </span></em></p>Scientists have finally been able to prove that thunder and lightning drive nuclear reactions.Jim Wild, Professor of Space Physics, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/713462017-01-18T15:01:37Z2017-01-18T15:01:37ZWhen it comes to big finds, scientists need more than just luck and chance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152838/original/image-20170116-8769-cublv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The author's backpack was hiding this almost complete therapsid fossil. Was finding it all down to luck?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julien Benoit</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The history of science abounds with stories about discoveries made by chance. One of the most famous cases, involves French physicist <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/becquerel-bio.html">Antoine Henri Becquerel</a>, who accidentally discovered radioactivity by leaving a piece of granite on photographic paper in a drawer of his desk. Another, is the story of Scottish biologist <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html">Alexander Fleming</a>, who forgot his bacterial cultures at home when he went on holiday. They rotted – and Fleming discovered penicillin.</p>
<p>These charming stories showcase science’s most human aspect: men and women who make lucky mistakes that can save lives or change the world. Even scientists are happy to believe these tales, though they don’t do much justice to our colleagues’ expertise. </p>
<p>But is this really the way science works? Can anybody, scientist or not, rely on luck to make important discoveries? My own “lucky strike” as a palaeontologist – finding a nearly complete fossil of a pre-mammalian ancestor – helped me to understand that good science isn’t rooted in chance. It’s based on people with expertise being in the right place at the right time, equipped with enough knowledge to know what they’re looking at. </p>
<h2>A fossil find</h2>
<p>My moment of “luck” occurred in South Africa’s Karoo in 2015. I’d been invited to join an international team of palaeontologists led by Professor Bruce Rubidge and Dr Michael Day from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. We came from Europe, South America and Africa to look for the fossils of <a href="http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Therapsid">pre-mammalian therapsids</a>, which date back around 260 million years.</p>
<p>The Karoo is a semi-arid desert mostly populated by sheep and thorny bushes that covers a huge swathe of South Africa between Johannesburg and Cape Town. Hundreds of millions of years ago it was covered with lakes, rivers, dense primeval vegetation. Large reptile-like beasts roamed this landscape.</p>
<p>On the day in question we were fossil hunting between the towns of Sutherland and Fraserburg. There were rich pickings: Bruce and Michael had identified an area filled with fossil remains. So, we were in the right place. And, crucially, my shoes were totally wrong for the Karoo. Between the thorns and the heat, the plastic of my shoes had melted and their toes had been ripped open by thorns.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152839/original/image-20170116-8806-x8ur11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152839/original/image-20170116-8806-x8ur11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152839/original/image-20170116-8806-x8ur11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152839/original/image-20170116-8806-x8ur11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152839/original/image-20170116-8806-x8ur11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152839/original/image-20170116-8806-x8ur11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152839/original/image-20170116-8806-x8ur11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152839/original/image-20170116-8806-x8ur11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alexander Fleming.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So I sat down on an outcrop of sandstone that formed a natural bench, putting my backpack down next to me. A brief burst of rain brought a bunch of critters out from their hiding places to drink; an astonishing spectacle. When the sun returned, I felt ready to carry on. I picked up my backpack – and saw the beautiful, nearly complete fossilised therapsid skeleton it had been covering.</p>
<p>It was 30cm long and in great condition, and it has been right next to me, under my backpack all the time ! I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm, exclaiming, “How lucky am I?”. And that’s when I started thinking about “luck” in the context of scientific discovery. Was I that lucky after all?</p>
<h2>Serendipity and science</h2>
<p>Bruce and Michael, two experts in their field, had chosen our prospecting spot carefully based on what they knew. They had sent out a complete team of palaeontologists who knew what to look for. This doesn’t look like luck to me: it was probability in action. </p>
<p>This is the very essence of what we call serendipity: the art of creating the good intellectual, scientific and experimental context for a “fortuitous” discovery to happen. Fleming may well have discovered penicillin by chance, but the conditions were right because he had all the equipment and specimens he needed.</p>
<p>Becquerel would never have realised what he’d found if he hadn’t been carefully studying natural fluorescence. His existing knowledge allowed him to recognise a major discovery.</p>
<p>Maybe I discovered this skeleton by chance – or perhaps I found it because that was what we were looking for, in the right place and with the right people.</p>
<p>My humble fossil was certainly far from the level of Fleming and Becquerel’s discoveries. But it offered a valuable reminder that pure luck can’t account for scientific breakthroughs. Hours of work, and countless people and money are invested to create the right opportunity for discoveries to happen. Serendipity happens when scientists create their own luck.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julien Benoit receives funding from PAST and its scatterlings projects; the NRF; and the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences (CoE in Palaeosciences).</span></em></p>Good science isn’t rooted in chance. It’s based on people with expertise being in the right place at the right time, equipped with enough knowledge to know what they’re looking at.Julien Benoit, Postdoc in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/679762016-11-03T00:18:14Z2016-11-03T00:18:14ZWhen ‘energy’ drinks actually contained radioactive energy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144280/original/image-20161102-27215-segti1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7651%2C5602&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Refreshingly radioactive?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=225920680">Drink image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Modern life have you feeling frazzled? Flagging a bit as you rush through your day? Maybe you’re one of the millions of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-4337.2010.00111.x">consumers who lean on energy drinks</a> to put a little extra pep in your step. </p>
<p>Though emblematic of our time, energy drinks aren’t an invention of the new millennium. People have relied on them to combat fatigue for at least a century. Today, their “energy” typically derives from some type of neurological stimulant that makes people feel more energetic, or sometimes just sugar.</p>
<p>But there was a time when energy drinks actually contained real energy. The active ingredient in these drinks was <a href="http://periodic.lanl.gov/88.shtml">radium</a>, a radioactive element that releases a packet of radiant energy with every <a href="https://www.nde-ed.org/EducationResources/HighSchool/Radiography/radioactivedecay.htm">atomic decay</a>. While the connection between consuming a radioactive element and reaping a perceived energy boost is tenuous at best, it didn’t stop people in the early 1900s from ignoring the known downsides of ingesting radioactivity and risking the long-term health consequences.</p>
<h2>Yum yum radium?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144252/original/image-20161102-27237-jrcwgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144252/original/image-20161102-27237-jrcwgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144252/original/image-20161102-27237-jrcwgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144252/original/image-20161102-27237-jrcwgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144252/original/image-20161102-27237-jrcwgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144252/original/image-20161102-27237-jrcwgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144252/original/image-20161102-27237-jrcwgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144252/original/image-20161102-27237-jrcwgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">RadiThor claimed to be a panacea for a variety of health ailments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/blueshift12/25799475341">Sam L.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>One of these energy-containing products was <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1990.03450050077032">RadiThor</a>. This energy drink was simply radium dissolved in water. It was sold in the 1920s in one-ounce bottles costing about US$1 each ($15 in 2016 dollars). Its manufacturer claimed the drink not only provided energy but also cured a host of ailments, including impotence. Evidence for a sexual benefit to humans was lacking, but at least <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(00)52019-4">one scientific paper</a> claimed that radium water could increase “the sexual passion of water newts.” For many men, in this pre-Viagra era, the water newt evidence was enough. RadiThor was a big seller.</p>
<p>RadiThor’s most famous customer was Eben Byers, a Pittsburgh industrialist and <a href="https://westpenngolfhalloffame.org/2015/11/25/eben-byers/">amateur golfer of some repute</a>. Byers first became acquainted with RadiThor when he took it to help heal a broken arm. Although the product contained no narcotics at all, Byers became at least psychologically, if not physiologically, addicted to it. He continued to consume large amounts of RadiThor even after his arm had healed. He reportedly downed a bottle or two daily for over three years, and sang its praises to all his friends, some of whom also took up the RadiThor habit.</p>
<p>In the end, Byers’ RadiThor addiction killed him. Unfortunately, ingested radium gets <a href="http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp144.pdf">incorporated into bone</a> and all of its radiation energy is, therefore, deposited in bone tissue. Over time, the radium delivered a whopping radiation dose to Byers’ skeleton. He developed holes in his skull, lost most of his jaw and suffered a variety of other bone-related illnesses. Ultimately, he <a href="http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1932/04/01/page/1/article/radium-poison-in-tonic-kills-eben-m-byers">died a gruesome death</a> on March 31, 1932.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144282/original/image-20161102-27215-1az3up7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144282/original/image-20161102-27215-1az3up7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144282/original/image-20161102-27215-1az3up7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144282/original/image-20161102-27215-1az3up7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144282/original/image-20161102-27215-1az3up7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144282/original/image-20161102-27215-1az3up7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144282/original/image-20161102-27215-1az3up7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144282/original/image-20161102-27215-1az3up7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marie and Pierre Curie, the discoverers of radium, understood the dangers inherent in eating it, and never condoned its use in food or drinks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/DEU-WISSENSCHAFT-CURIE-GEBURTSTAG/59f322a0265f455cbc435ae72b813e15/1/0">AP file photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Relearning radioactivity lesson</h2>
<p>The shame of this was that the dangers of ingested radium were already known, even before Byers started taking RadiThor. As I describe in my book, <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10691.html">“Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation</a>,” the medical community had been studying the health effects of radium since its discovery by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898. British scientist Walter Lazarus-Barlow had published as early as 1913 that ingested <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF03172071">radium goes into bone</a>. And in 1914, Ernst Zueblin, a medical professor at the University of Maryland, published a review of 700 medical reports, many of which showed that bone <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=GJFFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=Ernst+Zueblin+present+status+of+radioactive+therapy&source=bl&ots=ZXAmamhFeI&sig=qvX9wREcPF8KmgeBdZVLRbeo0og&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3wvap8YfQAhXo5oMKHf-3AkgQ6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q&f=false">necrosis and ulcerations</a> were a frequent side effect from ingesting radium. Unfortunately, the early red flags went unnoticed, and RadiThor sales remained strong through the 1920s.</p>
<p>When Byers died, he was put to rest in a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=vzBLDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=Eben+Byers+lead+allegheny+cemetery&source=bl&ots=745yvLTqJj&sig=DD47Rv1PW1F1-5DXEZ693VnSopA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHnNDSrYrQAhWGC5AKHUhKBqMQ6AEIQTAF#v=onepage&q=Eben%20Byers%20lead%20allegheny%20cemetery&f=false">lead-lined coffin</a>, to block the radiation being released from the bones in his body. Thirty-three years later, in 1965, an MIT scientist, <a href="http://news.mit.edu/1996/evans">Robley Evans</a>, exhumed Byers’ skeleton to measure the amount of radium in his bones. Radium has a half-life of 1,600 years, so Byers’ bones would have had virtually the same amount of radium in them as they did on the day he died.</p>
<p>Evans was an expert at measuring and mathematically modeling the human body’s uptake and excretion of radioactivity. Based on Byers’ self-reported RadiThor consumption, Evans’ model had predicted that Byers’ body would contain about 100,000 becquerel of radioactivity. (“<a href="http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/becquerel">Becquerel</a>” is an international unit of radioactivity.) What he found was that Byers’ skeletal remains actually had a total of 225,000 becquerel, suggesting that either Evans’ model of radiation uptake was underestimating radium’s affinity for bone, or alternatively, that Byers had actually understated his personal RadiThor consumption by a factor of at least two. It was not possible to determine which alternative accounted for the discrepancy.</p>
<p>Once Evans had completed his radium measurements, he returned Byers’ bones to their lead coffin in Pittsburgh, where they remain to this very day, as radioactive as ever.</p>
<h2>A contained catastrophe</h2>
<p>Although Byers certainly suffered from the radium in RadiThor, consumption of these energy drinks <a href="http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=81">never developed into a major public health crisis</a>. This is primarily for two reasons. Firstly, unlike Radithor, most of the other “energy” drinks on the market were total frauds and had no radium (or any other type of radioactivity) in them at all. Secondly, RadiThor and other products that actually did contain radium were very expensive because radium was a relatively rare and precious element that was costly to mine and purify. So only the wealthy, like Byers, were able to drink it on a daily basis. Consequently, RadiThor ailments were confined largely to the few who could afford to pay for it.</p>
<p>Ultimately, in the interest of protecting public health, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports_annual/.../ar1932_0.pdf">the federal government closed down the Bailey Radium Laboratories</a> – the company that made RadiThor – and radium-containing energy drinks disappeared from the consumer market by 1932.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144281/original/image-20161102-27240-1obszsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144281/original/image-20161102-27240-1obszsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144281/original/image-20161102-27240-1obszsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144281/original/image-20161102-27240-1obszsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144281/original/image-20161102-27240-1obszsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144281/original/image-20161102-27240-1obszsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144281/original/image-20161102-27240-1obszsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144281/original/image-20161102-27240-1obszsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Radioactive drinks are no longer on the market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=58342885">Drink image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, the energy drink market is occupied by drink formulations that <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/12/the-buzz-on-energy-drink-caffeine/index.htm">rely on the stimulant caffeine</a> to invigorate their customers and provide them with the enhanced “energy” that they seek. <a href="http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-979-caffeine.aspx?activeingredientid=979">Caffeine</a> – the commonplace ingredient in coffee, tea, chocolate and cola – may not be as exotic as radium, but it actually is a stimulant, so customers do feel energized, and it <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0265203021000007840">isn’t very dangerous to health</a>.</p>
<p>Today’s customers seem content with these newer alternatives to radium-containing RadiThor. It’s not clear, however, whether the water newts are satisfied.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy J. Jorgensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Back in the early 1900s, if you felt a bit sluggish you could reach for a beverage enhanced with radioactive elements to really add some pep to your step. It wouldn’t be a healthy choice, though.Timothy J. Jorgensen, Director of the Health Physics and Radiation Protection Graduate Program and Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/624412016-09-25T19:30:56Z2016-09-25T19:30:56ZSixty years on, Maralinga reminds us not to put security over safety<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138727/original/image-20160922-11676-1khqhq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Blasted trees in the aftermath of a bomb test at Maralinga.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is September 27, 1956. At a dusty site called One Tree, in the northern reaches of the 3,200-square-kilometre Maralinga atomic weapons test range in outback South Australia, the winds have finally died down and the countdown begins.</p>
<p>The site has been on alert for more than two weeks, but the weather has constantly interfered with the plans. Finally, Professor Sir William Penney, head of the UK Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, can wait no longer. He gives the final, definitive go-ahead.</p>
<p>The military personnel, scientists, technicians and media – as well as the “indoctrinee force” of officers positioned close to the blast zone and required to report back on the effects of an atomic bomb up close – tense in readiness.</p>
<p>And so, at 5pm, Operation Buffalo begins. The 15-kilotonne atomic device, the same explosive strength as the weapon dropped on Hiroshima 11 years earlier (although totally different in design), is bolted to a 30-metre steel tower. The device is a plutonium warhead that will test Britain’s “Red Beard” tactical nuclear weapon.</p>
<p>The count reaches its finale – <em>three… two… one… FLASH!</em> – and all present turn their backs. When given the order to turn back again, they see an awesome, rising fireball. Then Maralinga’s first mushroom cloud begins to bloom over the plain – by October the following year, there will have been six more.</p>
<p>RAF and RAAF aircraft prepare to fly through the billowing cloud to gather samples. The cloud rises much higher than predicted and, despite the delay, the winds are still unsuitable for atmospheric nuclear testing. The radioactive cloud heads due east, towards populated areas on Australia’s east coast.</p>
<h2>Power struggle</h2>
<p>So began the most damaging chapter in the history of British nuclear weapons testing in Australia. The UK had <a href="http://www.industry.gov.au/resource/Documents/radioactive_waste/RoyalCommissioninToBritishNucleartestsinAustraliaVol%201.pdf">carried out atomic tests</a> in 1952 and 1956 at the Monte Bello Islands off Western Australia, and in 1953 at Emu Field north of Maralinga.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138731/original/image-20160922-11652-1494gcb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138731/original/image-20160922-11652-1494gcb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138731/original/image-20160922-11652-1494gcb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138731/original/image-20160922-11652-1494gcb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138731/original/image-20160922-11652-1494gcb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138731/original/image-20160922-11652-1494gcb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138731/original/image-20160922-11652-1494gcb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">British nuclear bomb test sites in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jakew/Wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The British had requested and were granted a huge chunk of South Australia to create a “permanent” atomic weapons test site, after finding the conditions at Monte Bello and Emu Field too remote and unworkable. Australia’s then prime minister, Robert Menzies, was all too happy to oblige. Back in September 1950 in a phone call with his British counterpart, Clement Attlee, he had said yes to nuclear testing without even referring the issue to his cabinet.</p>
<p>Menzies was not entirely blinded by his well-known anglophilia; he also saw advantages for Australia in granting Britain’s request. He was seeking assurances of security in a post-Hiroshima, nuclear-armed world and he believed that working with the UK would provide guarantees of at least British protection, and probably US protection as well.</p>
<p>He was also exploring ways to power civilian Australia with atomic energy and – whisper it – even to buy an <a href="https://www.nonproliferation.org/wp-content/uploads/npr/walsh51.pdf">atomic bomb with an Australian flag on it</a> (for more background, see <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/rethinking-the-joint-project-australias-bid-for-nuclear-weapons-19451960/DCE2FC212FCE7F81F5A6951B21357916">here</a>). While Australia had not been involved in developing either atomic weaponry or nuclear energy, she wanted in now. Menzies’ ambitions were such that he authorised offering more to the British than they requested.</p>
<p>While Australia was preparing to sign the Maralinga agreement, the supply minister, Howard Beale, wrote in a top-secret 1954 cabinet document: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Although [the] UK had intimated that she was prepared to meet the full costs, Australia proposed that the principles of apportioning the expenses of the trial should be agreed whereby the cost of Australian personnel engaged on the preparation of the site, and of materials and equipment which could be recovered after the tests, should fall to Australia’s account.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Beale said that he did not want Australia to be a mere “hewer of wood and drawer of water” for the British, but a respected partner of high (though maybe not equal) standing with access to the knowledge generated from the atomic tests.</p>
<p>That hope was forlorn and unrealised. Australia duly hewed the wood and drew the water at Maralinga, and stood by while Britain’s nuclear and military elite trashed a swathe of Australia’s landscape and then, in the mid-1960s, promptly left. Britain carried out a total of 12 major weapons tests in Australia: three at Monte Bello, two at Emu Field and seven at Maralinga. The British also conducted hundreds of so-called “minor trials”, including the highly damaging Vixen B radiological experiments, which scattered long-lived plutonium over a large area at Maralinga. </p>
<p>The British carried out two clean-up operations – Operation Hercules in 1964 and Operation Brumby in 1967 – both of which made the contamination problems worse.</p>
<h2>Legacy of damage</h2>
<p>The damage done to Indigenous people in the vicinity of all three test sites is immeasurable and included displacement, injury and death. Service personnel from several countries, but particularly Britain and Australia, also suffered – not least because of their continuing fight for the slightest recognition of the dangers they faced. Many of the injuries and deaths allegedly caused by the British tests have not been formally linked to the operation, a source of ongoing distress for those involved.</p>
<p>The cost of the clean-up <a href="http://www.industry.gov.au/resource/Documents/radioactive_waste/martac_report.pdf">exceeded A$100 million</a> in the late 1990s. Britain paid less than half, and only after protracted pressure and negotiations. </p>
<p>Decades later, we still don’t know the full extent of the effects suffered by service personnel and local communities. Despite years of legal wrangling, those communities’ suffering has never been properly recognised or compensated.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138733/original/image-20160922-11649-1oct9gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138733/original/image-20160922-11649-1oct9gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138733/original/image-20160922-11649-1oct9gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138733/original/image-20160922-11649-1oct9gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138733/original/image-20160922-11649-1oct9gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138733/original/image-20160922-11649-1oct9gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138733/original/image-20160922-11649-1oct9gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138733/original/image-20160922-11649-1oct9gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Maralinga landscape today.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wayne England/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Why did Australia allow it to happen? The answer is that Britain asserted its nuclear colonialism just as an anglophile prime minister took power in Australia, and after the United States made nuclear weapons research collaboration with other nations illegal, barring further joint weapons development with the UK.</p>
<p>Menzies’ political agenda emphasised national security and tapped into Cold War fears. While acting in what he thought were Australia’s interests (as well as allegiance to the mother country), he displayed a reckless disregard for the risks of letting loose huge quantities of radioactive material without adequate safeguards.</p>
<p>Six decades later, those atomic weapons tests still cast their shadow across Australia’s landscape. They stand as testament to the dangers of government decisions made without close scrutiny, and as a reminder – at a time when leaders are once again preoccupied with international security – not to let it happen again.</p>
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<p><em>Liz Tynan will launch her book, <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/atomic-thunder/">Atomic Thunder: The Maralinga Story</a>, on September 27. A travelling art exhibition, <a href="http://blackmistburntcountry.com.au/">Black Mist Burnt Country</a>, featuring art from the Maralinga lands, will open on the same day.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liz Tynan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On September 27, 1956, an atomic mushroom cloud rose above the Maralinga plain - the first of seven British bomb tests. Why was Australia so keen to put UK military interests ahead of its own people?Liz Tynan, Associate professor and co-ordinator of professional development GRS, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.