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caesium-137
Also known as Cs-137, 137Cs
Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Trace quantities also originate from spontaneous fission ofuranium-238. It is among the most problematic of the short-to-medium-lifetime fission products. Caesium has a relatively low boiling point of and easily becomes volatile when released suddenly at high temperature, as in the case of the nuclear accident and with nuclear explosions, and c
Key facts
- Isotope.image
- HD.17.095 (11966576463).jpg
- Isotope.image_caption
- A sealed caesium-137 radioactive source
- Isotope.num_neutrons
- 82
- Isotope.num_protons
- 55
- Isotope.mass_number
- 137
- Isotope.abundance
- 0 (trace)
- Isotope.symbol
- Cs
- Isotope.parent
- Xenon-137
- Isotope.parent_mass
- 137
- Isotope.parent_symbol
- Xe
- Isotope.parent_decay
- b
- Isotope.decay_product
- barium-137m
- Isotope.decay_mass
~16 min read
Article
25 sectionsContents
- Decay
- Uses
- Health risks
- Environmental contamination
- Nuclear bomb fallout
- <span lang="ru-Latn">Chernobyl</span> disaster
- <span lang="ja-Latn">Fukushima Daiichi</span> disaster
- Incidents and accidents
- 1987 <span lang="pt-BR">Goiânia, Goiás</span>, Brazil
- 1989 <span lang="uk-Latn">Kramatorsk</span>, Ukraine
- 1994 <span lang="et">Tammiku</span>, Estonia
- 1997 Georgia
- 1998 <span lang="es-ES">Los Barrios, Cádiz</span>, Spain
- 2009 <span lang="zh-Latn">Tongchuan, Shaanxi</span>, China
- 2015 University of <span lang="no">Tromsø</span>, Norway
- 2016 <span lang="fi">Helsinki</span>, Finland
- 2019 Seattle, Washington, United States
- 2023 Western Australia, Australia
- 2023 <span lang="th-Latn">Prachinburi</span>, Thailand
- 2024 <span lang="ru-Latn">Khabarovsk</span>, Russia
- 2025 Indonesia and United States
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Trace quantities also originate from spontaneous fission ofuranium-238. It is among the most problematic of the short-to-medium-lifetime fission products. Caesium has a relatively low boiling point of and easily becomes volatile when released suddenly at high temperature, as in the case of the nuclear accident and with nuclear explosions, and can travel very long distances in the air. After being deposited onto the soil as radioactive fallout, it moves and spreads easily in the environment because of the high water solubility of caesium's most common chemical compounds, which are salts. Caesium-137 was discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg and Margaret Melhase.
==Decay==