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From: ken@argus.UUCP (Kenneth Ng)
Newsgroups: net.sci
Subject: Re: life of nuke wastes
Message-ID: <355@argus.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 15-Jul-86 22:49:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: argus.355
Posted: Tue Jul 15 22:49:07 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 16-Jul-86 05:01:38 EDT
References: <559@ecn-pc.UUCP> <74300002@uicsl>
Organization: NJ Inst of Tech., Newark NJ
Lines: 29

In article <74300002@uicsl>, gooley@uicsl.UUCP writes:
> 
> INHALED plutonium is exceedingly toxic, but of course it must be in the form
> of a fine powder.  Ingested plutonium is relatively harmless...

Er, I wouldn't say that ingested plutonium is harmless.  It has about the
same toxicity as lead.  Plutonium inhaled is about as bad as Sarian, which
is a nerve gas.  But you have about 10-30 years to live after exposure to
plutonium, and about 1 hour with Sarian.

May I recommend the article "Toxicity of Plutonium" by Bernard L. Cohen,
published in Health Physics, sometime between 1975 and 1980.  Be warned,
however, that it is a very technical and dense article.

-- 
Kenneth Ng:
Post office: NJIT - CCCC, Newark New Jersey  07102
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