Re: The Future Navy Will Be Nuclear


"Juergen Nieveler" <juergen.nieveler.nospam@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns9B39D5D0E3D14juergennieveler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You must have got a different physics book than the rest of our
universe, then. In my world, halflife of PU239 is 24000 years...

Yes, but that long halflife is because PU239 is not terribly radioactive. It
is the fission products that tend to be highly radioactive, but they also tend
to have much shorter half lives. The decay of spent nuclear fuel is a very
expotential thing. Most of the radioactivity goes away in the first few years,
but the remainder stays somewhat radioactive for many thousands of years. Not
much (if anything) stays "highly radioactive for thousands of years", even
though that is the refrain you hear continuously from the anti-nukes.


Vaughn


.

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