• Question: what is technetium?

    Asked by anon-201315 to Sarah on 8 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Sarah O'Sullivan

      Sarah O'Sullivan answered on 8 Mar 2019:

      Technetium is the lightest radioactive element and it’s found a lot in used nuclear fuels. It’s a problem though as it can easily migrate in water and it has more of a radiation risk than uranium. It’s also a pain to handle because it can contaminate things with only tiny amounts. Because it’s such a faff, not many people do reactions with it so there’s not a lot of information about it, despite this information being really crucial to cleaning up nuclear sites. We’re trying to change that

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