Polonium 210 Found in Body of Former Russian Spy

Drudge Report.com ^ | November 24, 2006 | Drudge

[Ophiucus]

It makes no sense to try to assassinate someone by causing them to get cancer and die in 20 years.

Cancer is not the only result from radiation exposure. Think about it. Radiation treatments are used as a cancer treatment because is directly destroys the exposed tissues.

This gentleman, in a way, burned from the inside out.

[Ophiucus]

...during episodes of non-sinosoidal depleneration....

So he was a poisoned radio? :-p

[DBrow]

"probably nothing that is that available (or is it possibly used for other purposes?)."

Well, it is widely used in antistatic devices, one or two are even available to US consumers.

3M makes Po capsules for anti-static air nozzles.

In the US, a citizen can get his hands on some if he tries. Not much, but you can get some. The half life is short so you can't accumulate much by opening Staticmaster brushes.

If the amount is "massive" whatever that means, then England has a problem in that a critical bomb component was passed around and used for mischief, and nobody detected it- a second message in using Po210 as an assassination tool.

[indthkr]

"Sure don't sound like "over-the counter" stuff"

With folks like Iran and North Korea acquiring nuclear capability (likely, with the help of corrupt/disgrunted Russian nuke experts), this stuff may be more "over-the-counter" on the Black Market than any of us would want to think about.

What isn't over the counter is the training and ability to package and disperse it to a target without become a victim as well.

[RDTF]

Drudge is reporting it as a spray..

PAPER: An assassin murdered former Russian spy Litvinenko with 'death spray'... Developing...

[M. Espinola]

Cut the Moscow propaganda. Nobody believes you.

[Freedom of Speech Wins]

Sounds like London isn't a good place for those on the run from Russia.

[M. Espinola]

[Lewisxxxusa]

You can buy Polonium on the web-guess that cuts the Kremlin out.

[Liberty Valance]

Paging Nick Danger.
This looks like a job for you ;o)

[Churchillspirit]

Who is they?

[Churchillspirit]

Sounds very nasty. Poor guy!

[Sword_Svalbardt]

From Wikipedia: Polonium is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Po and atomic number 84. A rare radioactive metalloid, polonium is chemically similar to tellurium and bismuth and occurs in uranium ores. Polonium had been studied for possible use in heating spacecraft. It exists as a number of isotopes.

SS

[bd476]

	Atomic Number:	84		Atomic Radius:	167 pm
	Atomic Symbol:	Po		Melting Point:	254 °C
	Atomic Weight:	209		Boiling Point:	962 °C
	Electron Configuration:	[Xe]6s24f145d106p4		Oxidation Point:	6, 4, 2

History

(Poland, native country of Mme. Curie) Polonium, also called Radium F, was the first element discovered by Mme. Curie in 1898 while seeking the cause of radioactivity of pitchblend from Joachimsthal, Bohemia. The electroscope showed it separating with bismuth.

Sources

Polonium is a very rare natural element. Uranium ores contain only about 100 micrograms of the element per ton. Its abundance is only about 0.2% of that of radium.
In 1934, scientists discovered that when they bombarded natural bismuth (²⁰⁹Bi) with neutrons, ²¹⁰Bi, the parent of polonium, was obtained. Milligram amounts of polonium may now be prepared this way, by using the high neutron fluxes of nuclear reactors.

Polonium is available commercially on special order from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Properties

Polonium-210 is a low-melting, fairly volatile metal, 50% of which is vaporized in air in 45 hours at 55?C. It is an alpha emitter with a half-life of 138.39 days. A milligram emits as many alpha particles as 5 g of radium.

The energy released by its decay is so large (140W/g) that a capsule containing about half a gram reaches a temperature above 500C. The capsule also presents a contact gamma-ray dose rate of 0.012 Gy/h. A few curies (1 curie = 3.7 x 1010Bq) of polonium exhibit a blue glow, caused by excitation of the surrounding gas.

Polonium is readily dissolved in dilute acids, but is only slightly soluble in alkali. Polonium slats of organic acids char rapidly; halide amines are reduced to the metal.

Uses

Because almost all alpha radiation is stopped within the solid source and its container, giving up its energy, polonium has attracted attention for uses as a lightweight heat source for thermoelectric power in space satellites.

Polonium can be mixed or alloyed with beryllium to provide a source of neutrons. The element has been used in devices for eliminating static charges in textile mills, etc.; however, beta sources are both more commonly used and less dangerous. It is also used on brushes for removing dust from photographic films. The polonium for these is carefully sealed and controlled, minimizing hazards to the user.

Isotopes

Twenty five isotopes of polonium are known, with atomic masses ranging from 194 to 218. Polonium-210 is the most readily available. Isotopes of mass 209 (half-life 103 years) and mass 208 (half-life 2.9 years) can be prepared by alpha, proton, or deuteron bombardment of lead or bismuth in a cyclotron, but these are expensive to produce.

Metallic polonium has been prepared from polonium hydroxide and some other polonium compounds in the presence of concentrated aqueous or anhydrous liquid ammonia. Two allotropic modifications are known to exist.

Handling

Polonium-210 is very dangerous to handle in even milligram or microgram amounts, and special equipment and strict control is necessary. Damage arises from the complete absorption of the energy of the alpha particle into tissue.

The maximum permissible body burden for ingested polonium is only 0.03 microcuries, which represents a particle weighing only 6.8 x 10-12 g. Weight for weight it is about 2.5 x 1011 times as toxic as hydrocyanic acid. The maximum allowable concentration for soluble polonium compounds in air is about 2 x 10-11 microcuries/cm3.

Polonium

[skinkinthegrass]

How does one hope to deliver such a poison without being poisoned?

easy...don't tell the assassin(s), what the substance is....two dead, n/p.

[skinkinthegrass]

Q: What poison was determined in the death of that Bulgarian dissident in the 70's?...Rison.

[skinkinthegrass]

Speaking of which, who handles that for the Russians these days, outside of Russia? SVR, FSB, or GRU? Mafiya? Someone else?

The Klintoons' Little Rock Mafia??? :)

[Thunder90]

I looked into Pootie Poot's soul and it looked like Brezhnev's.

[Stultis]

I don't imagine you can get this stuff in your local pharmacy. Just how difficult is it to get your hands on this stuff? Do you basically have to have your own nuclear reactor? If so can we conclude that Putin wants people to know he did this? (I.e. an announcement: "Cross me and you die"?)

[Stultis]

Why don't the Russians busy themselves offing Islamists instead of guys like Litenko.

I suppose because they're too busy building reactors and integrated air-defense systems for the Islamists.

Bizarre that Putin is arming those who wish to destroy him and his people, but such (apparently) is the path he has chosen.