08-25-2007, 12:02 AM
There is a FUNDAMENTAL misconception. The Truth is that the longer the halflife, the less dangerous is the nuclide. For example. In medicine, a common radionuclide used is Technecium 99m. Its T1/2 is 6 hours. It is widely used in nuclear medicine studies. It decays to Technicium 99. (the m stands for metastable) Tc99's T1/2 is millions of years. It is not a problem because all that means is that it gives off MUCH less radioactivity per unit time. So, the longer the T1/2, the less radioactive and dangerous. The ultimate is nonradioactive substances which have a T1/2 of infinity. The most dangerous substances have short half lives and high specific activity.
In short, DU is a wimp. It has very low specific activity and very low photon energy. There are lots of other things to fear more, including drunk drivers, smoking, drinking, drug use, and lava.
In short, DU is a wimp. It has very low specific activity and very low photon energy. There are lots of other things to fear more, including drunk drivers, smoking, drinking, drug use, and lava.