A small container of radioactive Caesium-137, which went missing on January 16 from a truck ferrying machinery from an ONGC exploration site near Machilipatnam was retrieved from a scrap shop in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh.
About:
Caesium-137 (atomic mass 137) is a heavier, radioactive isotope of Caesium (Cs) whose most stable form is Cs-133.
Production: Cs-137 is most commonly produced as a by-product in fission reactions of uranium and plutonium in nuclear plants or nuclear explosions. It is, thus, part of the spent fuel.
Properties:
Silvery white, soft, and malleable, Cs-137 is one of the very few metals that exist in liquid form at room temperature.
Cs-137 has a half-life of about 30 years. It decays through the emission of beta particles and gamma rays.
Application: Cs-137 is used in a variety of measuring instruments in the construction and other industry. It is also used, as in ONGC’s case, in well-logging devices in the drilling industry for the characterisation of rocks.
Health effects: Very high exposure — an extremely rare occurrence — can result in an increased risk of cancer.
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