[ RadSafe ] DU and other sublimed metals; nano-pathology

[Glenn R. Marshall]

Only about 40% of the particles emitted from DU are alpha (from U-238
decay).  The rest are beta (from Th-234 and Pa-234m), which have such
short half lives that they are almost immediately in equilibrium with
the parent.  The next daughter in line, U-234 (245,000 year half life)
has not had sufficient time to contribute any significant decay.  The
validity of this assumption varies somewhat depending on the percent
enrichment from which the DU was the byproduct.

Glenn Marshall, CHP

-----Original Message-----
From: James Salsman [mailto:james at bovik.org] 
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 4:33 PM
To: Jeffrey Mellon
Cc: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] DU and other sublimed metals; nano-pathology

It's not the DU which has the absence of alpha particles, but rather
the damage to DNA from DU in vitro is a million times more likely to
have occurred from catalytic production of hydroxyl and other radicals
than from alpha radiation.

Sincerely,
James Salsman

Jeff Mellon wrote:

> So DU has an "absence of significant alpha particle decay" and "it is 
> not considered to be a significant radiological hazard"??  These
quotes 
> are from Dr. Alexandra C. Miller's  2001 article in the /Journal of 
> Inorganic Biochemistry --/ a link to same provided earlier in this
exchange.
>  
> The alphas from DU sure make MY Eberline alpha survey meter go bananas
- 
> rather like natural U.

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