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Sydney ‘science nerd’ may face jail for importing plutonium in bid to collect all elements of periodic table | Sydney | The Guardian (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 4 months ago by Fallstar@mander.xyz to c/sydney@aussie.zone

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[–] Sporkbomber@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I mean this isn't someone trying to import in nickel or any other element. He was shipping highly radioactive and toxic material around. It's typically frowned on to expose people to radiation for the sake of you completing a collection.

[–] Nath@aussie.zone 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Don't we all have a teeny bit of uranium in our homes in smoke detectors? Or was that some urban myth I'm remembering?

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 7 points 4 months ago

Not an urban myth, but a combination of slightly incorrect and very out of date. "Ionisation" smoke alarms typically contain Americium-241, which is radioactive just like uranium is (that's the slightly incorrect).

But ionisation smoke alarms are illegal to install in Queensland (probably other states too, I just didn't check), and haven't been recommended since at least 2006 (that's the very out of date). Instead, these days, smoke alarms are typically photoelectric.

[–] Gibsonhasafluffybutt@aussie.zone 3 points 4 months ago

Blah blah blah

We have bigger problems to deal with than this guy.