>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>
Received on Mon May 12 2003 - 14:17:01 BST