Use of Radioactive Elements in Industry Liam Killeen Use of Radioactive Elements in Industry

tracers A tracer is a radioactive element that leaves a path in a chemical that can be followed through the chemical by a chemical reaction. Tracers are commonly used in studies of plants in the medical industry.

Nuclear Reactors Nuclear power stations use uranium in fission reactions as a fuel to produce energy. Nuclear reactors give off steam and it looks like big clouds, I used to call them cloud makers. Steam is made from the heat during the fission process. http://www.ndt- ed.org/EducationResources/HighSchool/Radiograph y/usesradioactivity.htm

This is a nuclear power plant letting loads of steam out of the top.

Radioactive Chemicals Used in Household Products Americum- used in many smoke detectors to detect toxic lead that can be in dried paints. Cadmium- Used to check metal alloys for checking stock and scrap sorting. Californium- used to detect explosives in airline luggage and moisture of materials stored in soil. http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/source-reduction- management/radionuclides.html

Gamma Sterilization “Large scale gamma irradiation is used to sterilize disposable medical supplies such as syringes, gloves and other instruments that would be damaged by heat sterilization. Large scale gamma irradiation is also used for killing parasites found in wool, wood and other widely distributed products. In the 1960's the irradiation of meat was allowed by the US, and it is now a commonly used food sterilization method. Small scale irradiates are also used for blood transfusions and other medical sterilization procedures.” http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Nuclear_Che mistry/Radioactivity/Discovery_of_Radioactivity#Industry

Nuclear Weapons Nuclear weapons are bombs of mass destruction. Nuclear bombs were used in 1945 to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki in japan. These bombs tore apart whole cities and killed many people. Now there are enough nuclear bombs in the united states to blow up the world 16 times.

These are the nuclear bombs that were used to bomb Japan in 1945.

Discovery of Radioactivity The first type of radiation was found in 1789 by Martin Kaproth. Martin found a radioactive element called Uranium. Martin was a German chemist and named the element after the planet Uranus. Many other radioactive elements have been found after his discovery of Uranium.

History behind the radioisotopes Radioisotopes were first mass produced after World War two. 64,000 radioactive materials were shipped to scientists by 1955. The biggest radioactive disaster was when Nagasaki and Hiroshima were bombed. The atom bombs completely destroyed these cities and caused problems with disease and mutilation for many years to come.