uranium

[PLIVELY34]

if i were standing beside a large piece of uranium, would i feel any heat coming off it? and if so how much it cost mr for say 10 kilograms as an alternative to my electric fire?

[ChuckFickens]

no, uranium is radioactive, it doesn't give of heat. probably not the most healthy place you could stand though!!!

10kg of it would cost you about �685 at current price but the price varies hugely for uranium, it's currently about 60dollars a pound but this time last year it was about 140dollars a pound

but it wouldn't be a alternative to an electric fire, it would just be a large lump of radioactive metal standing in the corner of your front room!

[PLIVELY34]

yeah wasn't really going to use it for an alternative heating source, i prefer not too subject myself to radiation poisoning. Thats quite cheap though thought it would have been more expensive. Thanks for answer

[ChuckFickens]

actually to change my answer slightly....

when you say "standing beside a large piece of uranium"....

how large??? and what precise type of uranium

uranium, like any radioactive material, has a critical mass, so although a 10kg block of uranium will not give out any heat, a 15+Kg block of uranium-233 or a 52+Kg block of uranium 235 would very likely give out a lot of heat.. very quickly (i.e. a very large bang!!)

Probably still not a good alternative to an electric fire though!!

[Teddio]

Suppose you were standing near to a few kilograms of Uranium-238. It has a very long half-life (4.5 billion years) and consequently a very low activity and small decay constant. Consequently the alpha radiation flux would be very low and the internally-generated heat would be so low as to ensure the temperature of the Uranium would be close to ambient temperature.

[jake-the-peg]

I've held a uranium fuel rod (prior to it going in a reactor! - afterwards would be a poor idea)

I can tell you it doesn't feel noticably warm in itself.

Remember that it's the 235 isotope of Uranium that's radioactive and fuel for reactors is only slightly enriched in this.

In order to get the heat out for generation you need to bring a lot of Uranium together and surround the rods in a "moderator" which slows down the neutrons enough for them to interact with other Uranium atoms and produce a chain reaction.

You can buy Uranium ore here
http://www.unitednuclear.com/bulk.htm

I'll leave the processing to you

[PLIVELY34]

you have actually held a uranium rod. Did you work in a nuclear power plant?

[jake-the-peg]

I was a physicist working for the Atomic Energy Authority.

Although I actually worked on Nuclear Fusion Experiments they used to take you on a two week tour of all the facilities around the country.

I got to see the storage pond at Sellafield (A "swimming pool" that you could float the Canberra cruise ship in)

http://www.world-nuclear.org/education/graphic s/storpondthorp.jpg

and the inside of Dounreay before it was dissembled.

Quite an experience

I had to give it up as there's just not enough money in Physics - I work in computer security now

[ChuckFickens]

Errr don't think I want to take a dip in that swimming pool somehow :)

[PLIVELY34]

very interesting jake the peg. i live about 500 metres from a shoreline of the irish sea. would you say i would have anything to worry about with regards to radiation. a lot of cases of cancer in the area. i'd say i'd be pretty fuc*ed if sellafield had a bit of an accident?

[jake-the-peg]

That depends.

You won't see a Chernobyl or a nuclear explosion coming out of Sellafield.

The nature of the process is such that some radioactivity will be discharged and although the amount that has been released has pretty much always been below the safe level, the levels of what is considered safe has dropped over the years.

However you have to put the risk in perspective - there are cancer risks from releases of things like dioxins and other chemicals in the environment.

Things like Creosote that we happily used to plaster over our fences can give you cancer.

How can I put it?

Would I bring up my familly in the Lakes near Sellafield? yes. Yes - I'd love to

Would I feed them locally caught Shellfish? - no way on Earth

[PLIVELY34]

not a big fish eater myself anyway so i'll not worry. and i am a smoker due trying to make sure i am not adding substantially to my cancer risk already. But then i should quit the smokes. Thanks for answers Jake