radioactivity

The National Interest reports that the United States faces a critical shortage of tritium, the radioactive hydrogen isotope needed both to fuel future fusion power reactors and to maintain the reliability of the US nuclear weapons stockpile. With only limited domestic tritium production capacity, mainly from reactors at the Savannah River Site, the shortage could delay commercial fusion development and complicate warhead maintenance.

A 27-foot robot snake, thin as a quarter, was sent into a sealed nuclear hot cell in Scotland carrying a 2.5-ounce radiation sensor and a camera. It is steered from behind by cables like a puppet, and once inside, two small balloons inflate to prop it upright and hold it steady. The demonstration shows how slender, cable-driven robots could inspect hazardous radioactive sites humans cannot safely enter.

A new book review of 'Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance' is drawing attention for its account of a family history entangled with radioactivity, chemical weapons, wartime Germany and the Holocaust. The reviewer calls it a fascinating but troubling 'moral minefield', placing the family's story within the history of science and Second World War atrocities, with threads reaching as far as Turkey.

Forty years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, scientists have found that radioactive particles released by the 1986 explosion remain largely intact in the environment. The finding suggests the contamination is more persistent than expected, with implications for long-term safety around the exclusion zone and for how nuclear fallout degrades over decades.

The Virginia Department of Health has released radon risk maps for the state, showing which areas face the greatest exposure to the radioactive gas. Radon, which seeps into homes from the ground and is a leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, varies widely by geology. Residents are being encouraged to check their zone and test their homes.

Scientists report that radioactive hot particles found in the Chernobyl exclusion zone have barely changed since the 1986 reactor explosion, remaining chemically similar to the material released on the day of the disaster. The findings suggest these particles are highly stable in the environment, with implications for understanding long-term radioactive contamination and health risks in the region nearly four decades later.

The story of Henri Becquerel's accidental 1896 discovery of radioactivity is recirculating. Hoping to study X-rays via sunlight on uranium salts, he was thwarted by overcast Paris skies, put his plates away in a drawer, and later found they had exposed themselves, revealing a new form of radiation and opening the door to nuclear physics.