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210 Po is extremely toxic; it and other polonium isotopes are some of the most radiotoxic substances to humans. [ 6 ] [ 18 ] With one microgram of 210 Po being more than enough to kill the average adult, it is 250,000 times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide by weight. [ 19 ]
By mass, polonium-210 is around 250,000 times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide (the LD 50 for 210 Po is less than 1 microgram for an average adult (see below) compared with about 250 milligrams for hydrogen cyanide [80]). The main hazard is its intense radioactivity (as an alpha emitter), which makes it difficult to handle safely.
As production of polonium-210 was discontinued in most countries in late 2000s, all of the world's legal polonium-210 (210 Po) production occurs in Russia in RBMK reactors. [ 29 ] [ 101 ] [ 102 ] A Moscow Times article claimed Russia produces about 85 grams (450,000 Ci) annually, [ 103 ] but this was disputed by Russian nuclear physicist Radiy ...
Polonium is dangerous as an alpha particle emitter. If ingested, polonium-210 is a million times as toxic as hydrogen cyanide by weight; it has been used as a murder weapon in the past, most famously to kill Alexander Litvinenko. [2] Polonium poisoning can cause nausea, vomiting, anorexia, and lymphopenia.
210 Po with a half-life of 138.376 days has the longest half-life of any naturally-occurring isotope of polonium and is the most common isotope of polonium. It is also the most easily synthesized polonium isotope. 209 Po, which does not occur naturally, has the longest half-life of all isotopes of polonium at 124 years.
This page lists radioactive nuclides by their half-life.
2006 Ivory Coast toxic waste dump killed seventeen Alexander Litvinenko (d. 2006), Russian ex-spy and investigator; died three weeks after being poisoned by radioactive polonium-210 Zamfara State lead poisoning epidemic (2010); at least 163 people died in Zamfara State , Nigeria
Polonium-210: 84: 126: 138 d: α: 5307 Decay product: Highly toxic, used in poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko: Radon-222: 86: 136: 3.8 d: α: 5590 Decay product: gas, responsible for the majority of public exposure to ionizing radiation, second most frequent cause of lung cancer Thorium-232: 90: 142: 1.4 × 10 10 y: α: 4083 Primordial: basis ...