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Actually uranium-238 is used in nuclear reactor, in fact in ordinary water moderated nuclear reactors 97% of the uranium in the fuel is uranium-238. Even in fast neutron (i.e. unmoderated) nuclear reactors 5% or more of the fuel is uranium-238. However, this uranium-238 in the fuel cannot be fissioned directly by the reactor, but some of it is transmuted to plutonium-239, plutonium-240, plutonium -241, and plutonium-242 which do burn. The problem with uranium-238 in the fuel is just that, it captures neutrons then over a period of several days transmutes to plutonium via radioactive decay and this loss of neutrons stops the neutron chain reaction that maintains fission; to minimize this effect some uranium-238 is removed from the fuel by enrichment and most nuclear reactors also use a moderator of some kind to rapidly slow neutrons (uranium-238 captures intermediate speed neutrons about 100 to 700 times more easily than it does either fast or slow neutrons) to thermal (21C or 2.2km/s or 0.025eV) speeds, at which uranium-235 fissions 213 times more easily than uranium-238 captures neutrons.
Also reactors have been built that used uranium-238 as part of their shielding, as being denser than lead it is an excellent absorber of gamma and x-ray radiation.
Wiki User
∙ 9y ago
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoRadium is highly radioactive (even radon gas is also radioactive). Radium has the potential to cause great harm - intake/inhalation, injection/shot, ingestion/consumption or body exposure to radium can cause cancer and other disorders.
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What mineral contains radium?
Radium has not its own minerals; radium exist in extremely low concentrations in uranium and thorium ores.
Which is more reactive uranium radon or radium?
Uranium is the most reactive.
Where is the radium located?
Radium exist in uranium ores but in very low concentrations.
What is it called when you isolate polonium and radium from uranium ore?
Separation and refining of radium and polonium from uranium ores by different chemical technology processes.
How is radium isolated?
Along with thorium, radium is found in uranium ore (pitchblende) as a decay product of uranium. It was first isolated in 1898 by Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, and Gustave Bemont, in Paris France. Smaller amounts have been extracted from the mineral carnotite (potassium uranium vanadate).
Is radium used in a uranium bomb?
No, any link
Why is radium found in uranium ores but not in barium ores?
Radium is a decay product of uranium.
What mineral contains radium?
Radium has not its own minerals; radium exist in extremely low concentrations in uranium and thorium ores.
Is uranium and radium produced from radioactive elements?
Uranium and radium, and a number of others, are natural elements found in the ground, and they are radioactive.
Which is more reactive uranium radon or radium?
Uranium is the most reactive.
Where was radium founded?
Radium exist in very small concentrations in uranium ores.
Where is the radium located?
Radium exist in uranium ores but in very low concentrations.
Radium is one of the alkaline earth metals -However its only natural source is uranium-why?
Because radium is a decay product of uranium or thorium.
What is it called when you isolate polonium and radium from uranium ore?
Separation and refining of radium and polonium from uranium ores by different chemical technology processes.
How is radium isolated?
Along with thorium, radium is found in uranium ore (pitchblende) as a decay product of uranium. It was first isolated in 1898 by Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, and Gustave Bemont, in Paris France. Smaller amounts have been extracted from the mineral carnotite (potassium uranium vanadate).
Is radium common in nature?
Radium is a decay product of uranium and is therefore found in all uranium-bearing ores. (One metric ton of pitchblende yields 0.0001 grams of radium). Radium was originally acquired from pitchblende ore from Joachimsthal, Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. Carnotite sands in Colorado provide some of the element, but richer ores are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes area of Canada, and can also be extracted from uranium processing waste. Large radium-containing uranium deposits are located in Canada (Ontario), the United States (New Mexico, Utah, and Virginia), Australia, and in other places.
Where in the world is radium?
Radium exist in very low concentrations in uranium and thorium ores.
