Cesium is chemical element with the symbol Cs and an atomic weight of 55. It was discovered in 1860 by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff with the new flame spectroscopy method. It is a soft, silvery gold alkali metal with a melting point of 28° C or 82° F and is one of only five elemental metals that is liquid near room temperature. It is highly reactive and pyrophoric. In open air, it will burst into flames and it reacts explosively with water.
Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. It was discovered in 1811 by Frenchman Bernard Courtis in one of those luck accidents when he added too much sulfuric acid to ashes of seaweed that he was processing. The purple vapor that was given off crystallized out on nearby surfaces and was eventually given the name “iodine” derived from the Greek word for purple.
Americium is alkaline metal element with the symbol Am and atomic number 95. It is above uranium in the periodic table and is referred to as a transuranic element. Silvery in color, Americium is a soft radioactive metal. It was first synthesized in 1944 by Glenn T. Seaborg at the University of California, Berkeley. The name was taken from America.
Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and the atomic number 27. It readily forms compounds with other elements and compounds. When it is extracted from naturally occurring compounds via reductive smelting, it is a hard, shiny, sliver-gray metal.
Plutonium is a silvery-grey radioactive actinide metal with the symbol Pu and the atomic number of 94. Plutonium was first synthesized in 1940 by Glenn Seaborg an Edwin McMillan at the University of California by bombarding U-238 with deuterons which are nuclei of deuterium containing a neutron and a proton. Following its synthesis, plutonium-244 was discovered in minute quantities in the natural environment.
Plutonium is a silvery-grey radioactive actinide metal with the symbol Pu and the atomic number of 94. Plutonium was first synthesized in 1940 by Glenn Seaborg an Edwin McMillan at the University of California by bombarding U-238 with deuterons which are nuclei of deuterium containing a neutron and a proton. Following its synthesis, plutonium-244 was discovered in minute quantities in the natural environment.
Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and an atomic number of 88. It was discovered in 1898 by Marie and Pierre Curie. They extracted it from uranium ore. Twelve years later, Marie Curie and Andre Debierne isolated the pure metallic form of radium by electrolysis from radium chloride. It was given the French name radium from Latin radius or ray. The curie unit of radioactivity was named for Marie Curie and is based on the radioactivity of Ra-226.
Radon is a tasteless, colorless, odorless elemental noble gas in the family with helium, neon, argon, krypton and xenon. Its chemical symbol is Rn and it has an atomic number of 86. It is the densest noble gas and one of the densest gases that exist. As with the other noble gases, radon is chemically inert and rarely forms compounds with other substances. It was discovered in 1900 by Friedrich Ernst Dorn as a gas given off by radium.
When enriched uranium is used in nuclear reactors, the exhausted fuel consists mainly of U-238 with small amounts of U-235, plutonium and minor actinides such as neptunium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, and fermium. There are commercial facilities in France, the United Kingdom and Japan for reprocessing spent fuel. Reprocessing is also carried out at nuclear weapons facilities. Reprocessing is currently carried out in eleven countries.
When uranium metal is processed to increase the proportion of U-235, a byproduct of the process is a great deal of uranium metal containing smaller amounts of U-235 than the natural proportion of 0.72 %. This byproduct is known as “depleted” uranium(DU). The U-238 in DU emits alpha particles which contain 2 protons and 2 neutrons. These alpha particles only travel a few centimeters in open air and can be blocked by a sheet of paper or plastic, a layer of clothing.
