Domain: ccnr.org
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Re:Naturally occuring plutonium - Out of Africa
I think I first read about Oklo in a Scientific American in the early 80's. It is fascinating, as the conditions had to be almost perfect for a sustainable chain reaction to occur.
I would like to draw your attention to this link. The following facts are taken from that page.
"The oxidation of plutonium represents a health hazard since the resulting stable compound, plutonium dioxide is in particulate form that can be easily inhaled. It tends to stay in the lungs for long periods, and is also transported to other parts of the body. Ingestion of plutonium is considerably less dangerous since very little is absorbed while the rest passes through the digestive system." Two points - firstly, it is rather unlikely that the plutonium will be oxidized on Titan, and secondly, the main problem with plutonium is when it is inhaled. There are not many humans or other complex organisms with lungs on Titan.
Reactivity of plutonium (remember, earth is a very reactive environment, with high temperatures and many oxidizing materials, especially when compared to Titan)
"Non-divided metal at room temperature (corrodes)-relatively inert, slowly oxidizes". Not even remotely close to happening on Titan. If free hydrocarbons are present, there are not going to be many decent oxidizing agents left floating around.
Radioactive activity of plutonium is mainly alpha particles - Alpha particles are merely high speed helium ions, and will not make it far. They make it far enough to make a mess of your lungs when you inhale a bunch of finely divided plutonium particles, but alpha particles are easily stopped by a piece of paper.
Given that nuclear engineers are paid to be paranoid, expect the reactor core to be designed to remain intact after an impact. The density of plutonium is high enough that it would remain unmoved by a hurricane after it reaches the surface (twice as dense as lead, slightly denser than gold - basically, 5kg of metallic plutonium would take up about as much volume as 1 cup (250mL) of water). The total environmental impact of any crash would be limited to an exceedingly small area.
Supernova debris is present all over the universe. If they are finding it on earth (bother to read the second link?) you can bet that some is present on Titan. Also, just about everything in the universe is contaminated with radiactive material at some concentration (produced by those shiny things up in the sky called stars!!), not to mention the background radiation of the universe. Ever heard of cosmic rays? Titan should get some too. Just because it is concentrated or produced by man does not make plutonium extra special or more dangerous in any way than plenty of stuff that occurs naturally.
Darren