Radioisotope generators − inside the ‘nuclear batteries’ that power faraway spacecraft. Story by Benjamin Roulston, Clarkson University • 1mo.

The radioactive decay of plutonium-238 releases enough energy that it can glow red from its own heat, and it is this powerful heat that is the energy source to power an RTG.

This is an unstable arrangement, consequently, carbon-14 is radioactive, but its decay rate is so slow ... Because some radioisotopes can decay incredibly fast, ...

The laboratory is also expanding its radioisotope program with the goal of ... (Tc-99m), the daughter isotope (meaning the product of radioactive decay) ... The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory ...

Radioisotopes, either natural or man-made, will decay after a certain amount of time. During this process, the radioactive chemical element will transmute to a different species.

“Every second, 4,000 to 5,000 nuclei decay in your own body, caused by natural radioactive isotopes like potassium 40 and carbon 14. We also have radiation from the universe and from the ground.” ...

Regrettably, the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) at Hanford — which has been used for nuclear research and might have been put to good use producing radioisotopes for science and medicine — is ...

The Sun is changing the supposedly constant rates of decay of radioactive elements, and we have absolutely no idea why. But an entirely unknown particle could be behind it.

The IAEA provides fundamental nuclear data for energy and non-energy applications, as well as atomic data for fusion energy research. Nuclear structure and decay data describe the lifetimes and decay ...

Exotic nuclear decay observed in dark-matter detector. As well as detecting neutrinos, the new method, which is detailed in Physical Review Letters, could also be of interest for nuclear forensics.For ...

Inside radioisotope generators, the ‘nuclear batteries’ that power faraway spacecraft. ... 2025 Voyager 1, shown in this illustration, has operated for decades thanks to a radioisotope power ...