Uranium in smoke detector

I believe one of the decay products from smoke detectors is Uranium-233. Is
this useable as nuclear fuel?

KellyClarksonTV (or somebody else of the same name) wrote thusly in message
<[Only registered users see links. ].cs.com>:


It is an intermediate decay product of americium-241 which is the primary
isotope used in the smoke detectors. Since the amount of americium is
miniscule, and it has a half-life of 500 years or so, the amount of U-233
present over a reasonable timescale would be impossibly small.

Yes it is usable as nuclear fuel, as are most odd-numbered isotopes in that
region. It's just that it's difficult to amass enough of it from smoke
detectors. Better to use the americium directly, reduces the number of
smoke detectors required from the trillions to the millions.
--
Paul Townsend
Pair them off into threes

Interchange the alphabetic letter groups to reply

How much useable nuclear energy can you get from an average smoke detector?

On 15 Jan 2005 12:11:16 GMT, [Only registered users see links. ] (KellyClarksonTV)
wrote:

What's average smoke?

Cheers - Ian

"Ian Noble" <[Only registered users see links. ].uk> wrote in message
news:[Only registered users see links. ]...
detector?

In a school/college environment it's smoke that doesn't rise to the top
of the class - hence an average smoke detector should be wall mounted.