Nuclear Knowledge

Nuclear Reactor

I had a brainwave about learning some more stuff about Uranium, nuclear radiation and it’s risks, and here’s what i’ve collected.

Uranium Ore By Weight:
99.28% Uranium-238
0.71% Uranium-235
0.0058% Uranium-234

Uranium-235 = Nuclear Fuel, Atom Bomb
Uranium-238 = Depleted Uranium

Low-enriched uranium (reactor grade): 3-4% U-235
Highly enriched uranium (weapons grade): 90% U-235

Radioactive contamination: Radioactivity where it is not wanted.
Radioactive fallout: Dust brought up and highly irratied by an A-bomb.

Radiation Dose = Energy absorbed by human tissue
Dose Rate = Amount of energy absorbed by human tissue per unit time

Determenistic Effect: Hair Loss, Nausea, Reddening of skin. Severity proportional to dose.
Stochastic Effect: Delayed effect (Cancer). Risk proportional to dose.
External Contamination: Radioactivity outside the body, skin, clothes.
Internal Contamination: Radioactivity inside the body, inhalation, ingestion, open wound.
Shrapnel Contamination: Radioactive metals or ceramic stuck in the tissue.

Nuclear weapon energy release: 50% as blast, 35% as heat, 5% as radiation, 10% as fallout radioation.

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