Theories Discussion > General Discussion

Radioactivity - Sources ?

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gunmat:
First, I want to say that I am not an expert in the field. My knowledge is superficial and stems from a course in elementary atomic physics, as part of my engineering studies several decades ago, and from reading publications by Rosalie Bertell, (RIP), and others.
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I have read Levashov's report, comments from Igor Pavlov, and Ryan Pierce's remarks. Levashov's analysis, from 1959, only shows beta radiation. This limits the radiation source to materials used extensively in civil industry. Some are mentioned here, but the list could be longer.
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Iodine (I) is used in medicine, especially in the production of radioactive isotopes used in diagnostics and treatment of various diseases, such as thyroid problems.
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Tritium is used in self-luminous objects like emergency exits, emergency signs, and clocks. It is also used in some medical diagnostic tools.
Cobalt-60 (Co-60) is used in medical radiation therapy and industrial radiography.
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Carbon-14 (C-14) is used in carbon dating.
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Strontium-90 (Sr-90) is found in the environment after nuclear tests and nuclear accidents. Strontium nitrate is used in fireworks to produce red colors. It is also used as pigments in ceramics, glass, and paints, providing a range of red colors. Strontium can be added to certain types of steel to enhance properties such as strength and formability. It can also help reduce porosity in cast steel products. Historically, strontium compounds were used in cathode-ray tube screens. Strontium compounds are used in some flame retardants. In other words, Strontium has broad applications in civil industry.

Igor Pavlov mentions in his comment that it is unlikely that only beta rays were emitted from the samples. This is supported by elementary theory of radioactive radiation. Gamma radiation can occur when beta particles collide and annihilate each other. The mass collapses and simultaneously emits weak gamma radiation. But this is beside the point. So let's stick to the fact that beta radiation was measured in 1959.
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The radiation source could have originated from sloppy handling relatively harmless radioactive material used in civil industry, and perhaps for research purposes at UPI. And maybe from radioactive contamination after a nuclear accident.
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It is not fruitful to only look for findings that confirm a particular theory. One must also consider those that open up other explanatory models.
If we look at this from a statistical perspective, strontium has a has a wider range of applications in civil industry production than the other substances I have listed, and it can also be associated with fallout from nuclear accidents…

Axelrod:
If we talk about pollution after the Kyshtym accident, then an article in Russian Wikipedia (Kyshtym accident) gives the following data

cerium-144 (285 days) β-, γ-, α- praseodymium-144 (17.5 min / β-) → neodymium-144 (2.3⋅1015 years / α-) → cerium-140 (stable) 66%
zirconium-95 (64 days) β-, γ- niobium-95 (35 days / β-) → molybdenum-95 (stable) 25%
strontium-90 (28.8 years) β-yttrium-90 (64.1 h / β-, γ-) → zirconium-90 (stable) 5%
cesium-137 (30.17 years) β-, γ- barium-137 (stable) 3%
niobium-95 (35 days) β-molybdenum-95 (stable)
ruthenium-106 (374 days) β-rhodium-106 (29.8 s/β-, γ-) → palladium-106 (stable)

The starting element for these substances is apparently uranium-235.
I have no idea where and how radioactive iodine is obtained from uranium.

It turns out that 2/3 of the emission was cerium, but by May 18, 1959 its share could have decreased from 66% to 6%

If we consider strontium-90:
If we talk about the impact, I specifically studied that the radiation energy from yttrium-90 is approximately 4 times greater than the radiation energy from strontium-90, therefore, in this case it turns out that the impact from strontium is only 20%, and the impact from yttrium is 80%

gunmat:
As I said, my list could be made longer. It was just an example to widen up possibilities.

Axelrod:
There are about 100 chemical elements and several thousand of their isotopes in the parish.
This is similar to the situation where Google Translate has 100+ languages and several thousand other languages, many of which are similar to the main languages.
For example, for cerium (atomic mass 140) there are isotopes in the range 119-157,
caused by different numbers of neutrons in an atom.

I am a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, but nuclear physics is not my specialty, so I have to figure it out like before the exam. Especially, I cannot translate it to English correctly.

As for the annihilation of beta particles, I don’t remember, it is the annihilation of a proton and an electron, or the annihilation of an electron with a positron.

The Russian article Yttrium-90 has such information.

Yttrium-90 undergoes β− decay into stable zirconium-90 with a half-life of 64.1 hours [5], a decay energy of 2.28 MeV [1] The radiation of 0.01% 1.7 MeV [6] photons also occurs.

The figure 0.01% means that for every 10 thousand decays of strontium-90 into yttrium-90, and in parallel, 10 thousand decays of yttrium-90 into zirconium-90 occur.
Those. For every 20 thousand decays, only 1 decay occurs with gamma radiation.
But when considering thousands of isotopes, I think there are other options.

Those. Strontium-90 is ideal, but it is also a result of the decay of rubidium-90.
Rubidium-90 is formed in the decay chain of uranium-235, but there the elements decay quite quickly, and the half-life of strontium takes 30 years.

A stable version of strontium-88 is used in industry as a metal. If a human person consumes radioactive strontium-90, the body can confuse it with calcium, and therefore strontium (dangerous and toxic) can accumulate in the bones.

gunmat:
Positrons and electrons annihilate each other when they come near each other, the mass collapses, and a weak gamma radiation (photons) is emitted, which only has a theoretical mass. But this is elementary theory.

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