12 May
2003
12 May
'03
2:17 p.m.
Plutonium is an extremely toxic metal. 1 microgram
will kill you damn
quick.
Plus it's readily absorbed by tissue, which means everywhere you have a Pu
speck, you're irradiating tissue with ionizing radiation in a few centimeter
radius. Not good for a long term outlook.
Ok, that answered the other question I just posed, that is, how dangerous
is it.
Sounds like its some pretty nasty stuff so an explosion WOULD be of
actual concern.
Incidently, the tree huggers worries on this matter
are not completely
unfounded. Because of launch weight issues, the shielding material is not
really designed to survive reentry.
And add to it like Dwight said, NASA's track record for screwing things
up... and yeah, I guess there was a good cause for concern. I could see
it being less of an issue in the past when NASA spent tons and tons of
money on a single probe, but these days, when they seem hell bent on
getting the cost under that of a VW Bug, I would expect more accidents to
occur.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>