?? Plutonium is an alpha particle emitter. A sheet of notebook paper will stop an alpha particle. . .
I'm not trying to minimize the danger of having Pu around, it is incredibly toxic to ingest and the whole "lets blow up an island in the Pacific" is not this nation's finest hour. But, let's deal in facts, not hysteria
I guess there is little danger
During the decay of plutonium, three types of radiation are released—alpha, beta, and gamma. Alpha, beta, and gamma radiation are all forms of
ionizing radiation. Either acute or longer-term exposure carries a danger of
serious health outcomes including
radiation sickness,
genetic damage,
cancer, and death. The danger increases with the amount of exposure.
[31] Alpha radiation can travel only a short distance and cannot travel through the outer, dead layer of human skin. Beta radiation can penetrate human skin, but cannot go all the way through the body. Gamma radiation can go all the way through the body.
[124] Even though alpha radiation cannot penetrate the skin, ingested or inhaled plutonium does irradiate internal organs.
[31] Alpha particles generated by inhaled plutonium have been found to cause lung cancer in a cohort of European nuclear workers.
[125] The
skeleton, where plutonium accumulates, and the
liver, where it collects and becomes concentrated, are at risk.
[30] Plutonium is not absorbed into the body efficiently when ingested; only 0.04% of plutonium oxide is absorbed after ingestion.
[31] Plutonium absorbed by the body is excreted very slowly, with a
biological half-life of 200 years.
[126] Plutonium passes only slowly through cell membranes and intestinal boundaries, so absorption by ingestion and incorporation into bone structure proceeds very slowly.
[127][128]
Plutonium is more dangerous when inhaled than when ingested. The risk of
lung cancer increases once the total radiation
dose equivalentof inhaled plutonium exceeds 400
mSv.
[129] The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the lifetime cancer risk from inhaling 5,000 plutonium particles, each about 3
µm wide, to be 1% over the background U.S. average.
[130] Ingestion or inhalation of large amounts may cause acute radiation poisoning and possibly death. However no human being is known to have died because of inhaling or ingesting plutonium, and many people have measurable amounts of plutonium in their bodies.
[111]
The "
hot particle" theory in which a particle of plutonium dust irradiates a localized spot of lung tissue is not supported by mainstream research—such particles are more mobile than originally thought and toxicity is not measurably increased due to particulate form.
[127]When inhaled, plutonium can pass into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, plutonium moves throughout the body and into the bones, liver, or other body organs. Plutonium that reaches body organs generally stays in the body for decades and continues to expose the surrounding tissue to radiation and thus may cause cancer.
[131]
