Reply #42: Polonium is the product. [View All]

[mr715]

Uranium decay produces very little energy.

Uranium fission produces loads of radiation but fission does not proceed after the detonation of a nuclear bomb because it requires a critical mass.

After a thermonuclear explosion, highly radioactive elements are formed, and they decay quickly. Uranium is only one 10,000th as radioactive as polonium and some other chemicals are worse.

For comparison, the significantly more radioactive plutonium has a CHEMICAL toxicity very millions of times greater than its radiological toxicity.



The longer the half-life, the lower the energy.