Exercise

The worst nuclear accident in history happened in 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear plant near Kiev in the Ukraine. An explosion destroyed one of the plant's four reactors, releasing large amount of radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere.

Consider 10 grams of the plutonium isotope Pu-239 released in the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

1.

How long will it take for the 10 grams to decay to 1 gram?

2.

Plot the graph showing the decay of the mass of the plutonium isotope took place up to date (1986-1998). Does it look like a typical curve of exponential decay(Fig.1)? Why? Discuss the graph in the context of the radioactive safety.