Hot particle

Hot particle

A hot particle is a small, highly radioactive object, with significant content of radionuclides. Most hot particles released into the environment originate in nuclear reactors. They also are a component of the fallout from a nuclear weapon detonation.

The size of hot particles contained in nuclear fallout ranges from 10 nanometers to 20 micrometers for the worldwide fallout; local fallout particles are significantly bigger (100 micrometers to several millimeters).

Hot particles can consist of tiny specks (~10 micrometers sized) of nuclear fuel (so-called fuel fleas due to their tendency to become electrically charged and then jump from surface to surface), or of other material activated by exposition to neutron radiation.

Hot particles can be identified by a Geiger counter, or by autoradiography. Their age and origin can be determined by their isotopic signature.

Hot particles present significant health hazard when ingested or entered the body by other means.

The Chernobyl disaster was a major source of hot particles.


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