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mfb- t1_j6845ze wrote

Reply to comment by missthingxxx in ELI5: How is caesium-137 used in mining operations? by kitsunesan1029

I haven't seen an actual activity value for it but with typical values the power will be just of the order of a milliwatt or less. That's far less than the sunlight that hits an equal area so it won't be notably hotter.

Looking for its gamma emission directly is more promising.

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missthingxxx t1_j685bii wrote

Do you reckon they're gonna find it?

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mfb- t1_j6866kd wrote

If they don't find it then it's probably going to lie somewhere in the desert for centuries until essentially all the caesium has decayed (99.9% over 300 years) or the container gets damaged and it's spread out over such a large area that it's harmless, too.

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