-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In list.cypherpunks, Jim Dixon spake:
In message <199408251633.JAA16087@netcom4.netcom.com> Mike Duvos writes:
Workers in nuclear fuel fabrication facilities have been known to use small disks of plutonium sintered into a ceramic base as poker chips.
Is this true? I mean, do you know it from personal experience? I was told by what I considered to be reliable sources that plutonium was extremely toxic. Upon reflection, I am sure that this is the word that was used: toxic, not radioactive.
Plutonium oxide has a reputation for causing eventual lung cancer when inhaled in microgram quantities. But if the plutonium metal is sintered into a ceramic, it's not loose and breathable. I can't say how otherwise toxic it might be, but I'd expect it to be similar to other heavy metals. So the poker chips sound pretty safe. - -- Roy M. Silvernail [ ] roy@sendai.cybrspc.mn.org PGP public key available by mail echo /get /pub/pubkey.asc | mail file-request@cybrspc.mn.org These are, of course, my opinions (and my machines) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAwUBLl0ekRvikii9febJAQFjmQP+NZQNtjp4D/nLDv9iF613FjvMi+IufqqL Km5zh6dU8G55/MzhyDqhVi3uN+xyzUdMXti1QbYNA7iiuIWlb2igR+VF9lqBC0Te v+OsgT8NFAcRLwAKtCWv2dylo0aAI6q2gJXlhHNqzCsjJk2wpSZwxVWPA4HoUfh5 OI0UZvAx7rc= =/ASB -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----