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[Phys-l] Fwd: decay constant variation and solar flares?!



Begin forwarded message:

In a message received today someone wrote:

Hi Ludwik,

Have you heard this surprising news about nuclear decay?

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/august/sun-082310.html

Thank you for the link. Here is the essence of the claim:

"Checking data collected at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island and the Federal Physical and Technical Institute in Germany, they came across something even more surprising: long-term observation of the decay rate of silicon-32 and radium-226 seemed to show a small seasonal variation. The decay rate was ever so slightly faster in winter than in summer."

Experimental evidence that the rate of radioactive decay remains constant (in natural earth environment) is very reliable. But it is not difficult to change it. Put a radioactive isotope into the core of a nuclear reactor an it will start disappearing faster that outside, due to the bombardment neutrons. This idea is at the heart of a project whose aim is destroy highly radioactive waste. For more details see:

http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/waste/
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Ludwik

http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html