![]() ![]() Spent reactor fuel contains other isotopes of caesium particularly caesium 134, with a relatively short) half-life of two years and caesium 135 with a particularly long half-life of 2.3 million years. In the world of industry, caesium 137 is used for its characteristic penetrative gamma ray signature This comparatively quick elimination means that only one nucleus out of 160 will decay inside the human body Once absorbed by a human body, caesium spreads through the muscles until, after the 100 days of its biological lifespan, it disappears. The isotope can concentrate in the food chain: in the flesh of fish or game, for instance The microwave spectral line emitted by the isotope cesium-133 has a frequency of 9,192,631,770 hertz (cycles per second). The mycelium, the name given to the vegetative part of fungi and mushrooms that grow within a few centimeters of the ground, traps caesium in the same way as it (unintentionally) traps pesticides. Atomic cesium is employed in the world’s time standard, the cesium clock. Attached to minerals, it tends to stay on the ground and is particularly abundant on the forest floor, after having been intercepted by the vegetation. In the natural environment, caesium is far less mobile than iodine for instance. After Chernobyl, for instance, large quantities of caesium were released into the atmosphere, but by 1995 the levels of radiation had dropped below what they had been before the 1986 accident. With the natural dispersion and decay that has occurred over the following decades, the amount of caesium that affects us has dramatically decreasedĬaesium 137 is also one of the principal sources of radioactive contamination after nuclear reactor accidents. The atmospheric nuclear bomb tests carried out in the 1960s contributed to spread caesium 137 on the Earth surface, which meant that for a while the isotope constituted between 1 and 4 % of the human body natural radioactivity. 53 electrons: 54: Xenon has 54 protons, 77 neutrons and 54 electrons: 55: Caesium has 55 protons. Even though caesium slowly enters the ground, the faster activity decline in humans has made it unnecessary for the Belgians to decontaminate their soil. How many protons and neutrons does tellurium-123 have. In both cases, the decline of caesium 137 found in the body is much faster than the natural radioactive decline of a 30 years half-life. Despite being far removed from the sites of nuclear tests and the Chernobyl accident, one can see very clearly the peaks in activity caused by the tests and, with a smaller magnitude, the peak of Chernobyl. The activity of caesium 137 in the human body has been continuously monitored by the Mol laboratory in Northern Belgium for the past half century. ![]() Progress of caesium 137 in the human body: ![]()
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