Radioactive metal that killed Litvinenko
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Polonium-210 is one of the many radioactive isotopes of polonium, an element that occurs naturally in very low concentrations in the Earth's crust. It emits high-energy alpha particles which can damage and destroy living cells once the substance is ingested. Outside the body it is not a significant health hazard and particles can be blocked by the outer surface of the skin.
The isotope emits so many alpha particles that a capsule containing just half a gram of it would reach a temperature of about 500C. Amounts no bigger than a pinch of salt would be enough to cause acute radiation poisoning if ingested.
It takes 138 days for polonium-210 to decay to half of its activity levels. Once in the body, however, the biological half-life of polonium-210 is about 50 days. This suggests that the body of Alexander Litvinenko should still contain some amounts of the element. However, the bulk of the dose will have been excreted. Once ingested, polonium-210 is widely distributed in the soft tissues of the body, including the bone marrow.
It is mainly used industrially to eliminate static electricity generated in manufacturing processes such as rolling paper. The normal method of making polonium-210 in sufficient quantities so as to be useful is to produce it artificially in a nuclear reactor.
Polonium was the first element discovered by Marie Curie in 1898 while searching for the cause of radioactivity of pitchblende ore, which contained uranium.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments