* Uranium 238: 4.5 billion years
* Uranium 235: 710 million years
* Plutonium 239: 24,100 years
* Strontium 90: 30 years
* Caesium 134: two years
* Caesium 137: 30 years (Caesium can be absorbed in food and water or inhaled as dust. It is easily taken up by plants and animals.)
* Ruthenium 103: 39 days; Ruthenium 106, about a year
* Iodine 131: 8 days
plus a dozen other radionuclides even more toxic. Now the news is spewing the half-truth that you get more radiation from the Sun than from these particle emitters. That's accurate, but what they fail to mention is that the SUN provides NON-IONIZING RADIATION (which is good for you and you need it, as does all life on Earth) and these particles are IONIZING RADIATION, which causes cancers, cellular disruption, and DNA damage.
