Is this a gadget? No. Will people who like gadgets find it interesting? I hope so. I did.
Scientists in Middle-of-Nyet, Russia have discovered a mineral that’s capable of absorbing radioactivity present in liquid nuclear waste.
It’s called 27-4 for lack of an official name.
According to RussiaToday…
“After coming into contact with the mineral, radioactive water becomes completely safe. Had this mineral been available to physicists after the Chernobyl or Three Mile Island disasters, the consequences might have been very different, as both accidents resulted in contamination from radioactive water.
However, it is not as simple as it sounds. Scientists say they need tonnes of it and so far they have only discovered a few grammes. But they are confident that they can chemically reproduce it on a much larger scale.”
Very cool. Apparently a third of all new minerals are discovered in the same region in Russia where 27-4 was found.
Russian scientists discover radiation- absorbing mineral [RussiaToday] via Slashdot
oh look
two articles in a row NOT ABOUT APPLE IWHATEVERS
after two days of avoiding CG, I’ll start reading again
This is awesome. Although, I hope it never needs to be used, anywhere.
So radiation can be absorbed into a mineral from contaminated water (since that is in fact all that is mentioned in the article), effectively making the mineral itself radioactive, or? At least, that’s what the article implies. Now, if that’s true, it means that you’re not solving any problem other than that of dirty water, which is fantastic for areas where this of course can lead to serious catastrophies (chernobyl comes to mind). It doesn’t however solve the issue of radioactive dust in the air, which probably is just a big a threat as contaminated water.
Still, being able to clean contaminated water with ease is awesome. Now, if all the radiaton is absorbed, could this new mineral be refined and then used as a power source in nuclear power plants, much like uranium? If so, couldn’t the same mineral be used to absorb the radiation in that very plant and then be reused as a source of nuclear power? I know its a very fuzzy theory, riddled with issues (mainly due to the lack of information in the original article), but the thought is tantalizing. It would mean that nuclear power plants could possibly run with extreme efficiency, recycling whatever waste they have (except heat) into electricity. Imagine having a power plant produce electricity from virtually nothing.
Anyhow, what I can’t wrap my head around (probably because I know way to little about these things) is, if the mineral absorbs radiation when in contact with contaminated water, how come it itself doesn’t contaminate the water? Does it truly neutralize the radiation? Either way, extremely cool news.
“Scientists say they need tonnes of it and so far they have only discovered a few grammes.”
Am I the only one who pronounces the ‘e’ in my head when I read that?
“Scientists say they need tonies of it and so far they have only discovered a few grammies.”
Heh.
The topic is quite curious, i must say