Bbrhuft t1_jcayi93 wrote
Reply to comment by RadWasteEngineer in Radon is a monatomic gas, but its decay products are solids. After a decay, what happens to the individual atoms of the daughter elements? Do they stay suspended in the atmosphere or slowly rain out? by foodtower
Wow, so it's biologically concentrating Po-210 like how Chernobyl mushrooms concentrate Cesium-137, or radioactive galena...
This will interest you. Here's a sample of radioactive galena I have from the Kateřina Coal Mine, Radvanice, Czech Republic.
Here's a close up photo...
https://www.mindat.org/photo-1144820.html
It looks like a bismuth specimen, due to its odd formation process, deposition from hot gas.
The Kateřina Coal Mine was a bizarre combination of a coal and uranium mine, that caught fire in the 1960s or 70s. Fumes from the burning coal seams deposited galena in cracks, which ended up contaminated with radioactive Lead-210, half life 22 years.
The specimen was likely collected in the 1990. The entire site was rehabilitated about 15 years ago, it's now a nice green park. Big difference from the hell scape of a burning radioactive coal mine.
RadWasteEngineer t1_jcaz3dh wrote
Yes, bioconcentration.
That's amazing about the burning coal mine forming galena from the lead. Nature is incredible.
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