Talk:Plutonium in the environment

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[edit] 238Pu hazard from RTGs =

I wonder if something more could be said about the RTG 238Pu hazard. I am thinking in particular about the comparison between the Pu dispersed in bomb tests, which would be mostly 239Pu and 240Pu, in much larger (ton) quantities, but also with a much longer lifetime than the 88 years for 238Pu. I believe that a high inclination angle (ie, near the center of the planet instead of the edge) impact from a spacecraft on a high speed flyby that missed due to some serious navigation error (like the 1999 Mars orbiter failure) or spacecraft malfunction could result in dispersal of much or all of the 238Pu into the atmosphere, and then the lifetime ratio of (24,000 y)/(88 y) ~ 265 could result in a large total activity in the environment, even compared to the bomb-related material, during the years shortly after the accident. Is anything known about this? The timescale for Pu to be sequestered would be a major consideration I think. Wwheaton (talk) 22:36, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hanford

I'm missing a reference to "Hanford Site" in Hanford, WA. This is where most of the US weapon plutonium was processed. A place where hundreds of waste containers leak highly radioactive waste into the environment. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jonnyjones (talk • contribs) 02:25, 13 April 2008 (UTC)