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One Gram Of Radium: Radium is actually a disintegration product of uranium, therefore the two are always found associated together, generally in Granite rock. There is a nearly constant ratio between uranium and radium in all rocks of sufficient age where radioactive equilibrium has not been altered by weathering or leaching—1 part radium to 3,400,000 parts of uranium. The richest uranium ores contain less than l/$ gram of radium per ton, and radium is recovered from deposits containing as little as 1 gram of radium in 300 tons of ore.Radium, one of the uranium decay products, has a half life of 1,640 years, just a fleeting moment in geological time. One gram of radium gives off two thousand billion alpha particles each minute, which means that this number of radium atoms has been transformed to another element, radon. However, one gram of radium contains so many atoms that even in a year only about 1 part in 2,300 has disintegrated. It is from these considerations that it is seen that even a substance as intensely radioactive as radium appears not to decay.
Radium (or radon) is available in several modalities to suit the different types of clinical treatment for which it is needed. More recently radioactive cobalt has become available and can be similarly employed. (1) Radium can be used at a distance from the body. This is often referred to as tele-radium therapy. (2) It is available in "seeds" and removable needles for surgical insertion into tissue. This is known as interstitial radiation therapy. (3) Tubes of radium may be temporarily placed in body cavities, that is, intracavitary radiation. (4) Plaques containing radium can be used for surface application. |
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