Re: Saturn Probe Pu Power?

["J. Andrew Tompkins" <JATALBQ@ix.netcom.com>]

Mike Malaxos wrote:
> 
> If one pound of Pu distributed throughout the atmosphere can induce cancer
> in every person on earth, what can the tonnes of U 235, Th 232 and U238
> injected into the atmosphere  do. I am very interested in your comments
> Radsafers.
> 
> 
> 
> 

In average soils, Thorium-232 is present at levels of 2 - 3 ppm, which
is a couple of micrograms for every gram of soil on the earth!  This is
much more than a couple of tons. OK, the specic activity is much lower
for Th-232 than for Pu-238 but the availability of Th-232 is much
higher.