Anyone who’s been following the news on the nuclear reactors at Fukushima would’ve known that although not all reactors have plutonium in the fuel, Japan has unfortunately used some amount of the poisonous radioactive element in at least one of its reactors and has recently been detected in the soil near the plant.
But as lay people, we don’t really care what has been found in the soil. We really don’t. We’re more concerned about how it affects us. So the curiosity in me, which thankfully kills nothing but cats, had me read up a little on plutonium and I hope this information helps in whatever way it can.
As with uranium, plutonium decays and releases radiation. Plutonium poses a greater risk when inhaled than ingested. Because it has a very long biological half-life, it will continue decaying and releasing radiation in the body after being inhaled and thus potentially causes cancer.
As much as the name is not heard in daily life, as with radiation, minute traces of plutonium can be found in the human body and also in the environment. Current reports revealed that the amount of plutonium found in the soil near the plant is at the same level as those found in most soil, so it is not a health hazard.
I don’t know how true that is but… I guess I am still more of a health hazard to myself as of now. A week has passed, and the knife wound hasn’t completely healed. I still can’t believe I actually inserted the knife into my finger.
