Which radioactive pollutant has recently drawn attention of public due to its occurrence in the building material?
Which radioactive pollutant has recently drawn attention of public due to its occurrence in the building material?
The correct option is D Thorium
Thorium radioactive pollutant has recently drawn attention of public due
to its occurrence in the building material.
Thorium is a naturally-occurring, slightly radioactive metal discovered
in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, who named it after Thor,
the Norse god of thunder. It is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils,
where it is about three times more abundant than uranium.
The alpha particles can travel only very short distances through most
materials and cannot go through human skin. The gamma radiation can travel
farther and can easily go through human skin. The decay of thorium-232 into its
decay products happens very slowly.
However, advocates of using thorium as a nuclear fuel instead of uranium
point out that it solves many of these problems. Thorium can't be weaponized
because it doesn't produce enough recoverable plutonium, which is required for
building nuclear weapons.
Thorium radioactive pollutant has recently drawn attention of public due to its occurrence in the building material.
Thorium is a naturally-occurring, slightly radioactive metal discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. It is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils, where it is about three times more abundant than uranium.
The alpha particles can travel only very short distances through most materials and cannot go through human skin. The gamma radiation can travel farther and can easily go through human skin. The decay of thorium-232 into its decay products happens very slowly.
However, advocates of using thorium as a nuclear fuel instead of uranium point out that it solves many of these problems. Thorium can't be weaponized because it doesn't produce enough recoverable plutonium, which is required for building nuclear weapons.
