As any resident of Harrisburg PA (like me) can attest, not all radiation is instantly lethal. I once did some basic research on the effects of a nuclear holocaust and was surprised to learn that even the direct radiation from a modern H-bomb wouldn’t even make you sick three or four miles from ground zero where the dose dramatically tapered off to only a few rads.

 Radioactive fallout is quite different than the direct effects. It can travel several hundred miles in a narrow 10-degree swath but its effects are only cumulative. It will kill you over a week of “unprotected exposure” if you are foolish enough to remain where the ash is falling.

In all, some realistic knowledge of radioactivity can help people see both the dangers and the benefits of nuclear materials. The Cassini space probe is the grandest NASA space effort to date and has already revealed many wonders of the Saturian system. All that protesters saw, however, was that is was powered by 70-lbs of plutonium. It was therefore labeled as a horrible threat to humanity at the cape during launch; yet, 500 miles to the north, no one bothered protesting the mere fact that U.S. Ballistic missile submarines regularly head out from Norfolk like clockwork. A single such sub has the destructive power of some 5,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs, not to mention the fact that they have a FAR FAR larger nuclear reactor than Cassini that could endanger sea life if an accident occurred. Heck, I personally wouldn’t mind if NASA made limited and safe use of nuclear engines to greatly lower launch costs.

Even as an environmentalist, I don’t necessarily hate the thought of nuclear power and think that it has a ‘noticeable’ role to play in the world. I also don’t fear the transfer of such waste to a central storage facility because I know how much those travel containers can take. I guess what I do fear out of all of it, is recent recommendations to consolidate all of our nuclear waste (piled up for the last 30 years) in a “temporary” storage facility until they find an adequate permanent facility. To me, such a “temporary warehouse facility” would make an IDEAL first strike target for a rouge nation looking for as much bang for the buck as they can get. Wouldn’t hitting a site like that be far worse that a 1000 Chernobyl’s? Storing such waste in a deep underground facility that can withstand ANYTHING is a must.

Mysterious indeed.

Why not just shoot the spy, instead of using a supposedly hard to track poison when in fact it has left radioactive traces all over the place, resto, planes, hotel rooms, etc... It seems like the perpetrators wanted the guy to suffer and know he was going to die... A bullet is much cheaper and untracable... makes you wonder

Since the radioisotope was found on the airliners that regularly visit Moscow, then it's only a matter of time (and a good spreadsheet) before the Brits isolate their suspects. There are not that many alpha emitters in this world, and polonium produces a very specific radiation signature. A careful analysis (i.e. evidence of gamma) may turn up other radioisotopes that could narrow the souce further, perhaps to the type of facility that produced the material. Moreover, since the isotope has a definite half-life, an analysis of the ratio of polonium to lead (the "daughter" product)of the samples found aboard the airliner would tell researchers when the material was actually produced. Unless diplomatic issues intrude, I believe this is a case that will be solved within a matter of weeks.

i find this case interensting in that it obviousely harkens back to the soviet era (poison tipped umbrella?) anyone that thinks the cold war is truly over is not paying attention. russia has a very long history of this type of repression, i.e. killing anyone who disagrees with those in power. add that to the fact that putin was the head of what used to be the kgb and it doesn't surprise me in the least. whether or not putin had anythin to do with mr. litvinenko's death, he doesn't seem to be doing much about it. also there are likely to be many old politicians and bureaucrats who would like to see a return to a soviet style repressive government. i dont think it will be anytime soon, if ever, that we can truly say russia doesnt have any chance of returning to that kind of rule. it is just too ingrained.

The StaticMaster brush you refer to in your post has a replacable cartridge that contains 500 microcuries of Po210. It would only take 10 of these (when new, of course) to make up that lethal dose. And I suspect that extraction and conversion of the Po210 from these cartridges into a soluble form would not be all that technically difficult. Very hazardous for the technician, however. Anyway, it's beginning to look like this could possibly have been done by somebody other than a large government that has significant nuclear laboratory resources. DaveK

C.E. has done his homework very well and thoroughly; expansion on some of his points should be required reading these days in my opinion. I would like to add a few comments:

(1) Absolutely true that the direct (gamma) radiation isn't the immediate killer in a H-bomb explosion; the 'fallout' is. But most of the fallout is NOT actually stuff that was in the bomb itself; it's stuff that was in close proximity which, intensely bombarded by *several* types of radiation (not just a, b and g) has been 'converted' to radioactive isotopes.

(2): quote: "fact that (nuke subs) have a FAR FAR larger nuclear reactor than Cassini that could endanger sea life if an accident occurred"

And I might add, a MUCH worse safety record...there are several subs full of Uranium and Plutonium on the bottoms of the Atlantic and Pacific...that we know about....

(3) " The Cassini space probe is the grandest NASA space effort to date".
MER 1 and 2, says I . . . .

(4)"has already revealed many wonders of the Saturnian system." 
As opposed to the ISS, whose most memorable recent accomplishment is launching a golf ball . . .

(5)"Even as an environmentalist"
As an environmentalist myself I must point out that C.E. seems to represent that segment of environmentalists who are knowledgeable and literate; not the unreasonable, knee-jerk, 'radiation is death' -types.

(6)"Storing such waste in a deep underground facility that can withstand ANYTHING is a must."
Sorry C.E., I doubt this will EVER be a concern to the sheep until something *really* bad happens. Then everyone will demand: 'why wasn't something done!!' (though 'they' won't have a clue what *something* they're talking about....).  

Kinda reminds me of the good ol'days at Rocky Flats.

I believe you may be making a mistake of assuming that all polonium is isotope 210. Since isotope 210 has a half-life of only 138 days, that seems unlikely. I would suggest that most of the applications you're talking about are isotope 208, with a half-life of 2.8 years, or isotope 209, with a half-life of 103 years.

Polonium has an intriguing historical context for this current day spy thriller. Polonium was discovered by Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie and named after Marie's native land of Poland (Latin: Polonia). Poland at the time was under Russian, Prussian and Austrian domination, and not recognized as an independent country. Madame Curie hoped that naming the element after her native land would bring attention to Poland's plight. Polonium is perhaps the first element named to draw attention to a political controversy.

This story will run and run. Watch it.

Actually, some of those anti-static elements contain up to 500 microcuries of the stuff,usually plated onto gold foil. That's 5000x more than those $69 samples. assuming they were fresh, and one could isolate 100% of the polonium content from each, it shouldn't take more than 10 of them, at a total cost of less than $1000.00 , to kill a guy. Of course, that is no reason to try to ban the stuff, as some have suggested, rat poison, insecticides, bullets, and even cyanide are a lot cheaper and more straightforward and will leave the guy just as dead.

Great article. It was very informative and led to many other locations.

Chris Eldridge has some wonderful comments (above.)Knowledge is truly a power that can save your life in a crisis and keep you from making poor decisions. One of the greatest challenges of the times is to find ways to recycle nuclear waste. It creates tremendous hazards when it accumulates at power plant sites. We can't just keep storing away stuff in our mountains forever at tremendous expense. Even the safest underground sites are subject to earthquakes and other disasters. Let's find ways to reward our finest young minds for developing the solutions.

A few clarifications on the comments by Chris Eldridge of Harrisburg, PA (and I am only 20 miles south).  First, that narrow 10 degree swath for fallout is highly dependent on burst altitude AND weather patterns.

The Cassini probe did not contain a nuclear reactor.  Rather it used the thermal heat from decaying plutonium to directly generate electricity.  The plutonium was ceramic encased and even a catastrophic lauch failure would be unlikely to rupture the source.

US Ballistic missile subs don't sortie regularly from Norfolk.  The sub base is much further south at Kings Bay, GA.  Part of the reason you might not see protests is the US Navy's excellent safety record in handling nuclear reactors.  There's a lot the cicilian side could learn there.  Heck, why not let the Navy run the civilian reactors?

I have to disagree with a nuclear waste facility being an "ideal" first strike target. You'd get more "bang" targeting a city, as horrible as that sounds.  But yes, the waste should be stored underground, and the proposed facility at Yucca will do just that.  As far as withstanding "anything"?  That's just not possible.

Radiation must be understood, not feared.

If it takes a substantial amount of this substance to make someone sick, it must be someone with a lot of access that perpetrated this act.

Does anyone think the British are making a big fuss over this to distract attention from the problems in Iraq?

Initially they said the man had been given thallium then radioactive thallium and then whatever...the story keeps changing.

Poor Putin was blamed on the man's deathbed, yet one report said the dying man blamed a trusted Italian contact of his.

How can on be expected to believe what should have been a hush hush job now turns out into a very public one with 12 known contaminated sites, 4 airplanes suspected, and possibly 33,000 people or more put at risk?

Another "Niger" style story has become a tale from Arabian Nights!

The comment from Chris Eldridge is an excellent one. Too little knowledge is an extremely dangerous thing, as by now we all know through the Iraq fiasco. If someone could put together a comprehensive explanation that could be printed in booklet form or on the net, in newspapers, etc., with enough explanation to educate without teaching bright kids how to do naughty things with the stuff, I think a lot of people would be interested. I know next to nothing about nuclear power and the way Chris presented it, acknowledging the problems along with the benefits instead of glossing over what you don't want people thinking about, was just the ticket.

So why didn't they treat him with the Rifle Colorado anti bacteria bacteria that is used in Rifle Colorado on the spent fuel rods?

When the academy of Scientists made the statement that no threshold was below radiation causing cancer, I think we all need to be very carful in what we do about any radiation, with the amount of radiation we receive each day from normal activities, we do not need any more exposure. Each human body is different in what amount of radiation it can with stand, some people can stand much more exposure than others, to be safe, we must use the lowest levels of exposure possiable to protect the public. If we had one burp from a nuclear power plant actually measured( AND THESE BURPS DO OCCURE) we would have enough radiation to eventually kill hundreds of people, but the public is not warned of this, We need better information on the affects of radiation on the public. we are heading for disaster with nuclear powered industry

It's all G.W.B.'s fault. And I'm quite certain Dick Cheney & Haliburton are in on it as well.

Isn't this the declared war of criminal Berezovski against Russia? Not every one in the West is that stupid to think that Kremlin would waste a penny on a former moll.

The invisible nature of radiation is, to me, most of what makes it so frightening. In the event of a release of harmful radiation, if you could detect it with your own senses, you might at least have a chance of avoiding it. The helplessness the threat of radiation exposure induces in the psyche is, I believe, as dangerous as the radiation itself.

We have gone too far, too fast,too soon. The more advanced we get, the more destruction we cause. Environmentally,morally,physically,and socially. God help all humanity, we need it now.

Chris,

I do possess a basic, perhaps even intermediate knowledge of radiation and nuclear power.

To say that 3 or 4 miles wouldn’t make you sick, and fall-out is lethal, try not to forget what an atomic bomb of any kind is supposed to do: KILL

To not acknowledge this is absurd.

And no one should side step the fact that if you happen to be present for a nuclear blast, 3 or 4 miles out, the odds of you getting cancer from the 'initial' radiation burst and the radioactive windblast generated by such a blast are pretty good.

But this is not the problem. Despite your thoughtful and intelligent argument, the problem and fact is this:

Nuclear power and Nuclear Power waste by-products in the wrong hands can be, demonstrated as such, lethal, PERIOD.

Britain’s Astronomer Royal wrote a book called 'The 7 numbers' (forgive me now, I am plagiarizing) and in this book he describes one of these 7 numbers as the energy required to permit/encourage the fusion of atoms. It happens all the time in the heart of our SUN where it converts Hydrogen to Helium. If this number were too low, then fusion would be rampant and happen everywhere all the time. If this number were too high, then fusion would never happen and the universe would be a vast primordial cloud of hydrogen.

Nuclear Fission is the process of splitting atoms. As I understand it, mankind has yet to develop a reactor that will re-energize the spent nuclear fuel by re-fusing it back into viable fissionable material for current Nuclear Power Reactors. So the current process of generating electricity using Nuclear Power has a lethal by-product that cant be used and must be stored DEEP underground so that we can protect generations of society and the environment.

How long should we continue to produce such lethal substances before we say, "Ok, people are being killed with the stuff we’ve got too much of."?

When will it be enough?

When will common sense prevail?

The evil that men do live on...

If you read the latest 'Arkady Renko' novel by Martin Cruz Smith, you will note the method of murdering a couple people is poisoning by lethal ingestion of microscopic amounts of a radioactive substance, gleaned from the ruins of Chernobyl; several years before 9/11, Tom Clancy had a 747 laden with fuel fly into the Capitol during a presidential address to a joint session of Congress, in one of his 'Jack Ryan' novels....As they say in the pulp-fiction trade, "As gripping as today's headlines...!" It does begin to look as though our worst-case imaginings are not a question of 'if', but merely of 'when'....

A very interesting article. It's refreshing to see a clear, objective explaination of a little known radioactive substance. I could rant for pages about how much better our environment would be today if more of our energy needs were met by nuclear power instead of gas or coal, and maybe even hydro (dams destroy fish).

Radioactive static eliminators were available for industrial applications one of the most well known US manufacturers as far back as 1977 without any incidents related to their use, availability or manufacture, documenting the safety of the application.

As a fellow enviromentalist, I agree with Chris, nuclear is the only hope for the future and managing the risks without all the hype is tough. Accidents happen in the oil industry, remember the Exxon Valdez?I remember a physics professor stating the ultimate polution is thermal. Not the green house type but heat generated by end use solar, geothermal, nuclear and hyrocarbons (negating the carbon cycle).What he was saying is all energy polutes and the only solution to polution is dilution. A lethal dose of polonium-210 can be diluted. RScott

How dare you interrupt public hysteria with facts!

It looks as if static brushes using polonium-210 are still being sold, if I'm reading this ad right:

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?
pid=1818&kw=Anti-Static&st=2

"It's a very practical substance," the blurb says. However, I do believe Steven (see above) is correct in saying that the Po-210 would decay, meaning that you'd have progressively less polonium and more lead. Here's more on the uranium decay chain:

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/chain.htm

Thanks so much for all your great comments. It's very cool to see so many smart people adding to the discussion.

have a friend that is a russian jew, he has always stated watch out for russia they can't be trusted no matter what. they have an agenda.

Several months ago, Scientific American has a fascinating article on fast-breeder reactors. Our current generation of nuclear power plants extract less than 1% of the energy from the uranium fuel, leaving 99% as highly radioactive, but useless fuel rods. The fast-breeder on the other hand, actually extract more power and can then be reprocessed into more fuel rods, plus short half-life radioactive waste. Reusing like this, you can extract maybe 80% or more of the energy from the original uranium and be left with only short half-life radioactive wastes that will become inert in just a century or so instead of the thousands of years for the current fuel rod waste.

Oh, my! I didn't realise that the Po210 is just plated onto gold foil. That basically means that extraction of the Po210 would be almost trivial, on a technical basis. And I agree with the previous poster that it probably wouldn't take even 10 of these to make up a lethal dose. DaveK

Here is a 31 millicurie source for $229:

http://www.ricelake.com/docs/
viewProduct.php?productID=91906

That's 31,000 microcuries. 62 times what's in the staticmaster brushes, and properly prepared, enough to do in 10 big men. Looks like the theory that it had to be a state actor with access to a nuclear reactor might have some holes in it.

There isn't a whole lot we can do about naturally occuring radiation, but putting it in products that almost anybody can buy seems unbelievable to me. I can't believe that people make statements like "Such radiation poses a negligible external hazard, because it penetrates only a few cells deep" and "It's physically bound to that substrate, so it's not possible to mechanically remove it". Skin cancer starts with one cell and it can and does kill. People on a mission of destruction have extremest personalities and will take 3, 4 or 10 years to create something to harm others. Radioactive materials being bonded to substrate is no guarantee...terrorists can simply get most of the inert ingredients from around the radioactive material and then bond it to some explosives and set it off in a city or other congested area. Manmade radioactive material should be controlled by the government only. If you need to calibrate radiation detection devices, you should have to send them to a government facility. Nothing radio active should be put in consumer products that can potentially be ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. The only way we can come close to controlling this is that all governments agree to 100% control of all radioactive materials, this way we know that there is less of a chance of these materials falling in the wrong hands. Even governments such as Iran's are likely responsible with these materials, so we don't have to agree on everything, but we do all have to agree on this.

On another note, there was a recent article that said there may be no fish left in the oceans by the middle of this century. Imagine if there is a nuclear accident in one of our oceans. This poison would spread around the world and there is no way to clean it up. Most sea life would die out in a few years and all would be inedible. Many millions would die in a very short time and there would be nothing that anyone could do. `Nonsense you may say! If it happens it will be hopeless for most if not all. This may sound like a sci fi movie, but one nuclear sub contains enough radioactive material to poison the worlds oceans beyond repair. It would be a similar situation to the mass extiction of the dinosaurs, but much quicker. We must turn to clean alternative fuels such as wind and solar, and quit dumping of toxic wastes. We are at a crossroad here and now, so lets move ourselves to the next level by removing toxins from our environment and changing potential extinction level hazards over to environment friendly technology. We can start by creating a world law to outlaw nuclear powered submarines. The technology exists to find submarines so why do we need them. How about detection devices powered by the oceans currents and solar energy. If you can't trust some countries, it will be fairly easy to spot them building a nuclear sub or any sub for that matter. The World's nations would agree to drop a few hundred pounds of conventionals on it before the nuclear engine is installed and they are done. You could even warn them by giving a day and time so nobody gets hurt...their not going to just move it. Let's lose the "WE ARE BUILDING AN EMPIRE" attitude and move toward peaceful defense and clean our air, water and soil so we all can live healthier longer lives.

A healthy economy fueled buy new and environmentally friendly technologies would create jobs and industries not yet realized. These technologies would create jobs in nearly every industry and at every level. We have been talking about this for years and even though these technologies have advanced, it seems like nothing is happening.

Sorry if I rambled too long, but one thing leads to another! Oh, and I feel badly that it seems politics and poison have come together to kill Alexander Litvinenko who probably had friends that were family of the person that ordered the hit...such treachery.

I agree that Nuke power seems to be the short term answer, but it is just a band-aid. The real solution is LIFESTYLE CHANGE! I know it sounds "Hippy", but it is true. We need to reduce our impact. In the short term, nuke power will suffice, but what happens 500 years down the road when humanity has all the Active waste to deal with, we dont really think sweeping our mess under the bed makes it go away do we? Ride a bike, turn off your lights, change your house to solar, buy local food, there are a lot more less dangerous ways to help our environment than changing our power sources....but they do need to change. I just think nuke is AN answer, but not THE answer.

this thread reminds me of the tale of the "radioactive boy scout"

http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html

Either way we look at this situation with the polonium210, we are going to see more of it. Not only will there be more contaminated sights but if this is all stemming from Russia we all can imagine the worst outcome, Iran seeking or using this as a weapon. We all know that Russia is and has been selling nuclear and missile technology to Iran. Well my friends the way Mahmoud Ahmedenijad talks about end of days and his relevance to prophecies in bible and or the Quran he is coming closer to fulfilling this end of the tail. For one the gathering of military powers in the holy land(babylon a.d) present day Baghdad. The coming of the antichrist or false prophet(Dr. Ahmedenijad) I guess you all can use your imagination were i am going with this. He can and he will use the resources from Putin the ex-KGB head and use it to strike Israel. That is my thought, we have yet only begun to see this new type of warfare.

To Geiger Tripper - It does remind one of the days at Rocky Flats..

Embrace the radition and be free...

Many of the former KGB agents in Russia (and other former Soviet satelites)became rich busynesmen. Those amoral people are controlling economical and political life in these countries. Many of them emigrated to West (like Boris Bereziovsky and Boris Abramovich). Unfortunatelly the West protect them. I'm absolutelly certain that the death of Litvienko is a result of the war inside Russian Mafia. Those people use the dirty methods of former KGB.

Disappointing that the article's author and editor chose to categorize the death of the man as "...the Litvinenko effect." It'd be much more responsible to state "the deleterious effect that killed Litvinenko."

I wished i was doused with nuclear material so i can have special powers and become a cuper hero!

Dear Axle, Please ask UN before trusting Jews, whatever they say. They will definitely tell you that they cannot be trusted. Our friend Ahmadinejad, who sent a wonderful letter to American people states the same.

Does anybody know if polonium has the same biological side effect of giving garlic breath as tellurium, which appears in the same column as Po in the periodic table? see "tellurium breath" here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tellurium

Interesting post on the Staticmaster ionizers ... but it wouldn't be easy to get the polonium out, based on this description:

http://www.amstat.com/problems.html

"The isotope is pressure welded by a patented process into a multi-layer gold and silver foil that is insoluble and inert in most chemicals. The physical properties of gold and silver provide excellent resistance to oxidation and corrosion. Because the isotope is an integral part of the foil, it is vibration and impact resistant."

Seems to me that one reaqson to poison using Polonium rather than high speed lead is to make it clear to other potential targets exactly who is doing the killing. Since having a raving madman pin a note to Litvinenko's body the way an Islamist did to Theo Van Gogh's was unacceptable to Moscow, one can imagine this ahving the same effect while still allowing enough deniability to avoid the consequences. one certainly hopes not, but it would not be an unreasonable outcome for Moscow to get all of the deterrent effect but relatively little blowback.

Hmmm, I my self have to question the murder aspect of the whole thing, and have to wonder if the late Litvinenko was not involved in smugling the polonium. As other's have mentioned there are much easier ways to murder someone, and much less dangerous to those trying to carry out that murder. Anyone, in trying to poison Litvinenko with the polonium, would put their own person at great risk in trying to do so. Also I would have to question, if Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium, would it result in several airliners and a dozen or more locations having detectable amounts of polonium. Seems to me that he came in contact with a sizable amount of it to track it all over the place. Or that he had a sizable amount on his person. Maybe he was a courier of the polonium with out knowledge of it and inadvertantly exposed him self to it with out knowing.

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