[ RadSafe ] When is radon radiation, and when is it a radioactive material?

[Strom, Daniel J]

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 10:15:33 -0500, "Geo>K0FF"
<GEOelectronics at netscape.com> wrote

<snip>
Induced fission, S.F. spontaneous fission and cluster decay all eject
massive nucleon clusters ( nuclides) from a parent nucleus, but I
personally would not describe them as "radiation" and more than Radon
from Radium is radiation.
<snip>

When radium emits a 4784 keV alpha particle, the resulting radon nucleus
recoils with roughly 86 keV of energy, and is very densely ionizing
radiation until it stops and becomes neutralized. So, for a fleeting
moment after its creation, while it is a recoil nucleus, radon is
ionizing radiation!

Of course, radon is a radioactive material, and even in the tiny
fraction of a second that it is recoiling, it has a non-zero probability
of emitting an alpha particle itself and becoming a recoiling Po-218
nucleus. And so on...

- Dan Strom

The opinions expressed above, if any, are mine alone and have not been
reviewed or approved by Battelle, the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, or the U.S. Department of Energy.

Daniel J. Strom, Ph.D., CHP
Environmental Technology Directorate, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory
Mail Stop K3-56, PO BOX 999, Richland, Washington 99352-0999 USA
Overnight: Battelle for the U.S. DOE, 790 6th St., Richland WA 99354
ATTN: Dan Strom K3-56
Telephone (509) 375-2626 FAX (509) 375-2019 mailto:strom at pnl.gov
Brief Resume: http://www.pnl.gov/bayesian/strom/strombio.htm
Online Publications: http://www.pnl.gov/bayesian/strom/strompub.htm
Pagemaster for  http://www.pnl.gov/bayesian   http://qecc.pnl.gov
http://bidug.pnl.gov