RADIOACTIVITY.EU.COM

icon THE PHENOMENON

THE PHENOMENON

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IN DAILY LIFE

icon QUESTION OF DOSES

QUESTION OF DOSES

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AT THE DOCTOR’S

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At the laboratory

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At the museum

icon NUCLEAR ENERGY

NUCLEAR ENERGY

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RADIOACTIVE WASTE

A general public knowledge base dedicated to radioactivity created and maintained by the french physics community

Uranium is the heaviest naturally occurring chemical element. All of its isotopes are radioactive, and it would have disappeared from our environment if two of these isotopes, uranium-238 and uranium-235, did not have a life span comparable to the age of the solar system.

Uranium-238 and uranium-235, along with their daughter isotopes, are the source of some of the radioactivity to which we are exposed. Uranium-235 is the only natural nucleus that is easily fissile. It is highly sought after, but it is rare, since natural uranium is 99.3% isotope 238 and only 0.70% isotope 235. After enrichment, uranium-235 is used as fuel in nuclear reactors and as an explosive in atomic bombs.

Similar definition(s) :

Plutonium

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