Artificial Radioactive Isotopes of Polonium, Bismuth and Lead

Discovery of the thallium, lead, bismuth, and polonium isotopes

Currently, forty-two thallium, forty-two lead, forty-one bismuth, and forty-two polonium isotopes have so far been observed; the discovery of these isotopes is discussed. For each isotope a brief summary of the first refereed publication, including the production and identification method, is presented. ∗Corresponding author. Email address: [email protected] (M. Thoennessen) Preprint sub...

Murder with Radioactive Polonium Metal.

The physical and biological aspects of polonium-210, one of the most hazardous radioisotopes, are summarized. Although this radioisotope is naturally occurring and rare, it received quite a bit of attention after it was used in the 2006 assassination of former Russian Intelligence member Alexander Litvinenko in London. Recent reports on the suspected murder of Yasser Arafat with polonium-210 ar...

The Radioactive Isotopes

Mass separator for radioactive isotopes

A new isotope separator has been designed, constructed, and put into routine operation for separation of 133Xe providing a major advancement and significant cost reduction in preparation of this radioactive isotope. The design features and advantages are discussed that expedite high purity separation of relatively small quantities of this isotope. These advantages could be easily used to expedi...

The Use of Two Radioactive Isotopes

There are 2 radioactive isotopes of iron suitable for use as biological tracers. One of these, Fe59, has a half life of 47 days and emits gamma rays and low energy beta rays. The other, Fe55, has a half life of about 5 years and emits low energy x-rays only. This paper describes how these 2 isotopes are prepared for red blood cell tracer studies, how biological samples containing the radioactiv...