[time-nuts] Neat little cesium box

[Jim Lux]

On 6/14/13 10:55 AM, DaveH wrote:
> Most RTG sources use Plutonium 238 or Strontium 90. Primary decay component
> is Alpha particles which can be stopped dead by a few mm of shielding.
>
> Good article on Wikipedia:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator
>
> Dave
>

but not ALL the radiation is alpha particles.
It also generates some x rays (up to about 100keV and gammas (up to 
about 1 MeV).

Sure, the fraction is very tiny, but when you have a lot of 
disintegrations/second, even a small percentage can add up

(this is the problem with so-called aneutronic fusion reactions)