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RE: Toxic Trivia (Polonium)
I recall reading not too long ago, in R. Rhodes' book(s) on US A-bomb/H-bomb
development, that in the early years of the Manhattan project the X-10
reactor was used to breed polonium in bismuth logs (several hundred pounds
of the latter - I forget what the Po-210 yield was ), for the purpose of
manufacturing Po-Be neutron sources ("urchins") that are "assembled" at the
time of the implosion of the bomb core. This technology was only used in the
first generation of A-bombs, and was subsequently replaced by electronic
gadgets.
(some Po was also scavanged from medical needles - people involved were
Bertrand Goldschmiedt and Elisabeth Rona - both originally from the famous
Joliot-Curie laboratory in France.)
Elsewhere, I believe that polonium is a major problem in Fast Breeder
Reactors cooled by lead-bismuth eutectic alloy liquid metal (currently used
only in some Russian submarines and research/demonstration plants, as far as
I know, but also considered for future applications, such as the proposed
actinide waste-burning subcritical reactor - or whatever the official name
is ).
Maybe others can supply more details (Emile ?).
Regards,
Jaro
frantaj@aecl.ca
PS. anybody have a copy of the E. Rona book about the Curie Lab they
wouldn't mind selling to me ? ...I've tried various places (Amazon, etc.)
but without success.
> ----------
> From: J. Andrew Tompkins[SMTP:jatalbq@mindspring.com]
> Reply To: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
> Sent: Wednesday February 09, 2000 6:07 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: RE: Toxic Trivia (Polonium)
>
> <html>
> The only historical accumulation of Po-210 I'm aware of was part of an
> effort to fuel some of the earliest RTGs. One of which was the
> SNAP-3 power source which used 3,000 Ci of Po-210 to produce 5
> W(electric) of power. This power source is the one that was taken to the
> White House in January 1959 to brief President Eisenhower.
> Historically Po-210 was displaced as the availability of Pu-238 and Sr-90
> increased. Ref: Atomic Power in Space (DOE/NE/32117-H1).<br>
> <br>
> Andy Tompkins<br>
> Woodstock, GA <br>
> <br>
> jatalbq@mindspring.com<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> with At 03:57 PM 2/9/00 -0600, you wrote: <br>
> <blockquote type=3Dcite cite>I did a quickie Excel calculation and came up
> with 0.5g is 2200 Ci. I guess <br>
> it doesn't surprise me that it gives up so much heat. There are cases,
> such <br>
> as weapons production, where we actually deal with relatively large
> masses <br>
> of radioactive material. Where would one find half a gram of Po-210? It
> <br>
> sounds like a small amount, but activities of such magnitude are only
> <br>
> consolidated for specific uses. <br>
> <br>
> Gus <br>
>
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