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The half-life is a fixed period of time: the average time it will take for one of every two atoms to decay to another isotope or element.

So no matter how much of a given radioactive isotope that you start with, only one-half of it will still be that isotope after a single half-life period. Likewise only half of that remaining material will be the same isotope after another half-life period.

Of course, some of the atoms will be decaying all the time, so the half-life is only a convenient way to define the quantity at any given time.

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Q: Does the half-life of a radioactive material increase with the amount of material present?
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What is the radioactive decay law?

The rate of decay (activity) of a radioactive isotope is proportional to the number of atoms of the isotope present.


Is the use of high level radioactive waste from nuclear power station for the production of the raw materials for nuclear weapons a justifiable proposition?

High level radioactive waste would have no potential for producing a nuclear explosion, so your question is puzzling. Perhaps you mean production of a dirty bomb, which terrorists might use to contaminate an area by spreading radioactive material around using a conventional explosive. That is obviously not justified unless you are a terrorist.Plutonium can be extracted from spent uranium fuel and used in nuclear weapons, but I would not describe it as high level radioactive waste, plutonium is only mildly radioactive.In fact I think at present in the US and in Russia, the stockpile of nuclear weapons is being reduced and some of the fissile material is going into civil nuclear reactor fuel.


What melodies from Phantom of the Opera are present in the sequel Love Never Dies?

None- it consists of all new material.


Are Nuclear wastes non biodegradable?

Actually, they are biodegradeable, sort of. Radioactive materials do decay, or become weaker over time. Eventually they become inert, or non-radioactive. The problem is some radioactive isotopes take tens or even hundreds of thousands or millions of years to decay. The decay rate of a radioactive element is measured in half-lives. After one half-life, half of the radioctivity is gone. Take an element with a half-life of ten years. After ten years, there is half of the radioactivity present. After 20 years, one quarter, after 30 years, one eighth, and so forth. Eventually the level will fall to the point it poses no danger. Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years. Uranium-235, used in nuclear reactors, has a half-life of 713,000,000 years.


What is the best hope for safe long term containment of radioactive waste?

A final repository needs to be somewhere deep underground and in a very geologically stable area, where earthquakes are unlikely and flooding unknown. Preferably in an area without much population. The idea is that even if it is forgotten in the future, and the present level of technological knowledge is forgotten by mankind, whoever lives in that neighbourhood will not be harmed by radiation.

Related questions

What is it called when an unwanted material that contains radioactive atoms is present on another material?

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How long is the half life of radioactive water?

The half life of radioactive water depends on what radioactive nuclides are present in the water.


What is the difference between radioactive and non radioactive materials?

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What do you use to find absolute age through radioactive dating?

You measure the amount of radioactive decay that is present in certain elements that were present when the rock formed from melt.


What is the difference between a non-radioactive substance and a radioactive substance?

Radioactive substances are unstable as a result of the extra neutrons present in the nuclei of the substance. Non-radioactive substances are stable.


Half of the total amount of time it takes for all of a radioactive substance to decay is called the halflife of the substance?

okay


How much does it cost to remove cobalt?

The removal of cobalt can cost from a little to a lot, depending on what it is to be removed from and in what form it is present. A small block of it sitting on a table can be picked up and carried away. Powdered cobalt scattered in a deep-pile rug can present other problems. And this is non-radioactive cobalt. If the cobalt that needs to be removed is radioactive, there are a ton of complicated proceedures to do that. Sometimes things contaminated with radioactive material cannot be recovered and must be disposed of whole in a radioactive waste disposal site. Links are provided.


What is the radioactive decay law?

The rate of decay (activity) of a radioactive isotope is proportional to the number of atoms of the isotope present.


What is radioactive decay law?

The rate of decay (activity) of a radioactive isotope is proportional to the number of atoms of the isotope present.


Why is helium present in radioactive minerals?

heluim are 4 nucleide


Radioactive materials are present everywhere true or false?

true :p


What is the third person plural present tense of the verb increase?

The third person plural present tense of the verb increase is (they) increase.