A Green Road Blog 

10. Uranium 235 ~ 7030.8 million years * (700 million years X 10) “It was discovered in 1935 by Arthur Jeffrey Dempster. If at least one neutron from U-235 fission strikes another nucleus and causes it to fission, then the chain reaction will continue. If the reaction will sustain itself, it is said to be critical, and the mass of U-235 required to produce the critical condition is said to be a critical mass. A critical chain reaction can be achieved at low concentrations of U-235 if the neutrons from fission are moderated to lower their speed, since the probability for fission with slow neutrons is greater. A fission chain reaction produces intermediate mass fragments which are highly radioactive and produce further energy by their radioactive decay. Some of them produce neutrons, called delayed neutrons, which contribute to the fission chain reaction. In nuclear reactors, the reaction is slowed down by the addition ofcontrol rods which are made of elements such as boron, cadmium, and hafnium which can absorb a large number of neutrons. In nuclear bombs, the reaction is uncontrolled and the large amount of energy released creates a nuclear explosion.”

“The Little Boy gun type atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 was fueled by highly enriched uranium.

Decay product of:
Protactinium-235
Neptunium-235
Plutonium-239

Decays to:
Thorium-231

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium-235

11. Plutonium 239 - 480,000 years (24,200 years * x 20)

“The nuclear properties of plutonium-239, as well as the ability to produce large amounts of nearly pure Pu-239, led to its use in nuclear weapons and nuclear power stations. The fissioning of an atom of uranium-235 in the reactor of a nuclear power plant produces two to three neutrons, and these neutrons can be absorbed by uranium-238 to produce plutonium-239 and other isotopes. Plutonium-239 can also absorb neutrons and fission along with the uranium-235 in a reactor. In any operating nuclear reactor containing U-238, some plutonium-239 will accumulate in the nuclear fuel.^[4] Unlike reactors used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, commercial nuclear power reactors typically operate at a high burnup that allows a significant amount of plutonium to build up in irradiated reactor fuel. Plutonium-239 will be present both in the reactor core during operation and in spent nuclear fuelthat has been removed from the reactor at the end of the fuel assembly’s service life (typically several years). Spent nuclear fuel commonly contains about 0.8% plutonium-239.

Plutonium-239 present in reactor fuel can absorb neutrons and fission just as uranium-235 can. Since plutonium-239 is constantly being created in the reactor core during operation, the use of plutonium-239 as nuclear fuel in power plants can occur without reprocessing of spent fuel; the plutonium-239 is fissioned in the same fuel rods in which it is produced. Fissioning of plutonium-239 provides about one-third of the total energy produced in a typical commercial nuclear power plant. Reactor fuel would accumulate much more than 0.8% plutonium-239 during its service life if some plutonium-239 were not constantly being “burned off” by fissioning.

A small percentage of plutonium-239 can be deliberately added to fresh nuclear fuel. Such fuel is called MOX (mixed oxide) fuel, as it contains a mixture of uranium oxide (UO₂) and plutonium oxide (PuO₂). The addition of plutonium-239 reduces or eliminates the need to enrich the uranium in the fuel.”

Decay product of:
Curium-243 (α)
Americium-239 (EC)
Neptunium-239 (β-)

Decays to:
Uranium-235 (&alpha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium_239

1. More plutonium found in Fukushima Daiichi soil – Detected in four samples April 7, 2011
2. TEPCO: Plutonium levels at 3.5 pCi/kg found in soil .5 km from reactor April 23, 2011
3. First time Plutonium reported outside Fukushima plant June 6, 2011
4. Nuclear expert says Americium has been found in New England — Element even heavier than Uranium (VIDEO) April 28, 2011
5. 3 different types of plutonium detected around Fukushima nuclear plant March 28, 2011

Plutonium Human Health Effects:

http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/r?dbs+hsdb:@term+@na+@rel+plutonium,+radioactive

PLUTONIUM, RADIOACTIVE
CASRN: NO CAS RN
“This record contains information specific for compounds containing plutonium and plutonium in the zero valence state; all plutonium nuclides are radioactive.

Human Health Effects:

Evidence for Carcinogenicity:
There is sufficient evidence in humans that inhalation of plutonium-239 aerosols causes lung cancer, liver cancer and bone sarcoma. Exposure to plutonium-239 also entails exposure to plutonium-240 and other isotopes. /Plutonium-239/
[IARC. Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Man. Geneva: World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1972-PRESENT. (Multivolume work). Available at: http://monographs.iarc.fr/index.php p. V78 478 (2001)] **PEER REVIEWED**

There is sufficient evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of mixed alpha-particle emitters (radium-224, radium-226, thorium-227, thorium-228, thorium-230, thorium-232, neptunium-237, plutonium-238, plutonium-239 (together with plutonium-240), americium-241, curium-244, californium-249 and californium-252). /Mixed-alpha particle emitters/
[IARC. Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Man. Geneva: World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1972-PRESENT. (Multivolume work). Available at: http://monographs.iarc.fr/index.php p. V78 478 (2001)] **PEER REVIEWED** ”

See link for the rest of the story…

12. Neptunium 237 – 20,140,000 years (2,144,000 years * x 20)

“19 neptunium radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being ²³⁷Np with a half-life of 2.14 million years, ²³⁶Np with a half-life of 154,000 years, and ²³⁵Np with a half-life of 396.1 day.

Neptunium accumulates in commercial household ionization-chamber smoke detectors from decay of the (typically) 0.2 microgram of americium-241 initially present as a source of ionizing radiation. With a half-life of 432 years, the americium-241 in a smoke detector includes about 3% neptunium after 20 years, and about 15% after 100 years.

Due to its long half-life neptunium becomes the major contributor of the total radiation in 10,000 years. As it is unclear what happens to the containment in that long time span, an extraction of the neptunium would minimize the contamination of the environment if the nuclear waste could be mobilized after several thousand years.^[21][22]

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptunium_237

“Neptunium is found in reactors as a by-product of plutonium production from uranium-238 (about one part neptunium is produced for every 1,000 parts plutonium). All neptunium isotopes are radioactive; the stablest is neptunium-237, with a half-life of 2,144,000 years, and among the most unstable is neptunium-225, with a half-life of more than 2 microseconds.” http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/409395/neptunium-237

Ruthenium 103 ~ 390 days (39 days x 10) [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]

Ruthenium 106 ~3 years  (374 days * x 10)

Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors. It is often attracted to bone, and is one of the causes of leukemia.

Long half life radioactive elements

Part of the problem is that the nuclear industry and nuclear information disseminators tend to make understanding anything about nuclear radiation very difficult. The speak another language, which is not easy to understand by non nuclear scientists. Maybe they are doing this on purpose, and maybe not. But if everyone uses a different way of describing nuclear breakdowns, how is anyone to be expected to understand and communicate anything meaningful about the entire subject? Having twenty different ways to describe the same thing, tends to hide what is going on in my opinion.

In another way, the long lived radioactive elements are always NEVER mentioned when it comes to nuclear power. The industry and mass media tend to focus solely only on the short lived radioactive elements, such as iodine 131 with a half life of eight days., and Caesium, with a thirty year half life.

Finally, the very description of half lives is meaningless and misleading to the amateur, because this way of describing nuclear radiation is very hard to understand. Most people assume that the element being described will no longer be harmful after the half life period is over. But that again, is another industry ploy perhaps designed to make these things sound more palatable. Iodine 131 is really a short lived radioactive element, but it takes 80 days to decay into something else. And Iodine 129 has a life of 6.5 million years where it remains dangerous, but that again is almost NEVER mentioned in the news. Guess what? Both forms of radioactive iodine are released after a nuclear accident and with nuclear fission. You cannot get one without the other.

Finally, to understand radioactive elements, we have to understand that to become something else, entirely, the following elements have to go through 10 to 20 half lives. So the real time it takes to become 'safe' is 10 to 20 times the half life that the nuclear officials like to talk about.

Many sources claim that there are only 7 long lived radioactive nuclear elements. Actually, there are many more than that. Here is the proof that what nuclear experts claim is actually full of very long lived, dangerous,  hot radiation and even more hot air. 

The Longest Lived Radiation Producing Elements

1. Technetium 99 - 2 million years (200,000 years X 10) This element produces the huge amounts of LLFP radioactivity. It also emits beta particles and is hazardous if ingested. It forms anions that move around easily in environment. Tons of this element have been disposed of in the ocean.  This element emits X-rays. The most dangerous part about technetium is inhalation of this element in a dust or liquid form. If it gets in the lungs or intestines, Technetium 99 can cause cancer, and increase the risk of getting cancer. “An estimated 160 TBq (about 250 kg) of technetium-99 was released into the environment up to 1994 by atmospheric nuclear tests.^[2] The amount of technetium-99 from nuclear reactors released into the environment up to 1986 is estimated to be on the order of 1000 TBq (about 1600 kg), primarily by nuclear fuel reprocessing; most of this was discharged into the ocean. (The nuclear industry believes that dilution makes it safe) In recent years, reprocessing methods have improved to reduce emissions, but as of 2005 the primary release of technetium-99 into the environment is by the Sellafield plant, which released an estimated 550 TBq (about 900 kg) from 1995-1999 into the Irish Sea. From 2000 onwards the amount has been limited by regulation to 90 TBq (about 140 kg) per year.^[3] “

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technetium-99

2. Tin 126 – 2.3 - 4 million years (230,000 years X 10 or 20) Emits gamma radiation, and is dangerous with external or internal exposure. Tin - 126 decays into antimony -126. Antimony - 126 also emits gamma rays, otherwise called X Rays, making external or internal exposure to Tin-126 dangerous. Fast breeder reactors produce more of this than other reactors, but all nuclear reactors produce some of this element, as well as shorter lived radioactive cousins. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin-126#Tin-126

3. Selenium 79 – 3.2 - 6 million years (327,000 years X 10) Selenium-79 is a radioisotope of selenium present in spent nuclear fuel and the wastes resulting from reprocessing this fuel. It is one of only 7 long-lived fission products. Its half-life has been variously reported as 650,000 years, 65,000 years, 1.13 million years, 480,000 years, 295,000 years, 377,000 years and most recently with best current precision, 327,000 years.^[1][2] Se-79 decays by emitting a beta particle  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenium-79

4. Zirconium 93 - 15 million years + (1.53 million years X 10) “⁹³Zr is a radioisotope of zirconium with a half-life of 1.53 million years, decaying with a low-energy beta particle to Niobium-93m, which decays with a half life of 14 years and a low-energy gamma ray to ordinary ⁹³Nb.

Nuclear fission produces it at a fission yield of 6.2956%, on a par with the other most abundant fission products. Nuclear reactors usually contain large amounts of zirconium as fuel rod cladding (see Zircaloy), and neutron irradiation of ⁹²Zr also produces some ⁹³Zr.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirconium-93#Zirconium-93

  “Consuming about 1% of the Zr supply, zirconium is used for cladding nuclear reactor fuels.^[15] For this purpose, it is mainly used in the form of zircaloys. The benefits of Zr alloys is their low neutron-capture cross-section and good resistance to corrosion under normal service conditions.^[5][6] The development of efficient methods for the separation of zirconium from hafnium was required for this application.

One disadvantage of zirconium alloys is their reactivity toward water at high temperatures leading to the formation of hydrogen gas and to the accelerated degradation of the fuel rod cladding:

Zr + 2 H₂O → ZrO₂ + 2 H₂

This exothermic reaction is very slow below 100 °C, but at temperature above 900 °C the reaction becomes rapid and is proportional to the square of mass of metal available. Most metals undergo similar reactions, such as e.g. iron whose reaction with water steam inside an incandescent tube was used by Antoine Lavoisier to produce hydrogen. The redox reaction is relevant to the instability of fuel assembliesat high temperatures,^[27] This reaction was responsible for a small hydrogen explosion first observed inside the reactor building of Three Mile Island accident at the nuclear power plant in 1979, but then, the containment building was not damaged. The same reaction occurred in the reactors 1, 2 and 3 of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant (Japan) and in the spent fuel pool of reactor 4 after the reactors cooling was interrupted by the earthquake and tsunami disaster of March 11, 2011 leading to the Fukushima I nuclear accidents. After venting of hydrogen in the maintenance hall of these three reactors, the explosive mixture of hydrogen with air oxygen detonated, severely damaging the installations and at least one of the containment buildings. To avoid explosion, the direct venting of hydrogen to the open atmosphere would have been a preferred design option. Now, to prevent the risk of explosion in many pressurized water reactor (PWR) containment buildings, a catalyst-based recombinator is installed to rapidly convert hydrogen and oxygen into water at room temperature before explosivity limit is reached.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirconium

5. Iodine 129 - 157 million years (15.7 million years X 10) This radioactive iodine has a half life about a billion times longer than iodine 131. “¹²⁹I is primarily formed from the fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear reactors. Significant amounts were released into the atmosphere as a result of nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s.” ¹²⁹I decays with a half-life of 15.7 million years, with low-energy beta and gamma emissions, to xenon-129 (¹²⁹Xe)”  It is also released in large quantities when a nuclear reactor melts down, along with it’s shorter lived radioactive cousin. 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine-129

6. Palladium  107  -  65 million years (6.5 million years x 10) “Palladium-107 is the second longest lived radioactive element. It undergoes pure beta decay to Ag-107.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladium-107#Palladium-107

7. Caesium 135 - 23 million years (2.3 million years x 10) The longest-lived radioisotopes are ¹³⁵Cs with a half-life of 2.3 million years…..Beginning in 1945 with the commencement of nuclear testing, caesium isotopes were released into the atmosphere where it is absorbed readily into solution and is returned to the surface of the earth as a component of radioactive fallout.

“The other caesium isotopes have half-lives from a few days to fractions of a second. Almost all caesium produced from nuclear fission comes from beta decay of originally more neutron-rich fission products, passing through isotopes of iodine then isotopes of xenon. Because these elements are volatile and can diffuse through nuclear fuel or air, caesium is often created far from the original site of fission.”Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium-135#Caesium-135

8. Uranium 234 ~ 2.46 million years * , (246,000 years x 10)  “U-234 occurs as an indirect decay product of uranium-238, but it makes up only 0.0055% (55 parts per million) of the raw uranium because its half-life of just 245,500 years is only about 1/18,000 as long as that of U-238. The path of production of U-234 via nuclear decay is as follows: U-238 nuclei emit an alpha particle to become thorium-234 (Th-234). Next, with a short half-life, Th-234 nuclei emit a beta particle to become proactinium-234 (Pa-234). Finally, Pa-234 nuclei decay by alpha emission to thorium-230, except for the small percentage of nuclei which undergo spontaneous fission. Depleted uranium contains much less U-234 (around 0.001% ^[2]) which makes the radioactivity of depleted uranium about one-half of that of natural uranium. Natural uranium has an "equilibrium" concentration of U-234 at the point where an equal number of decays of U-238 and U-234 will occur. Depleted uranium also contains less U-235, but in spite of its half-life that is much shorter than the one of U-238, the concentration of U-235 in natural uranium is low enough (about 0.7%) so that the U-235 depletion does not result in a significant reduction in radioactivity.”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium-234

9, Uranium-238 ~ 4.468 billion years (700 million years X 10)  Around 99.284% of natural uranium is uranium-238, which has a half-life of 4.468 billion years).^[1] Depleted uraniumhas an even higher concentration of the ²³⁸U isotope, and even low-enriched uranium, while having a higher proportion of the uranium-235 isotope, is still mostly ²³⁸U. Reprocessed uranium is also mainly ²³⁸U, with about as much uranium-235 as natural uranium, a comparable proportion of uranium-236, and much smaller amounts of other isotopes of uranium such as uranium-234, uranium-233, and uranium-232.^[2]   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium-238