Word: cesium
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...Alamos' plasma thermocouple, the solid metals of a bimetallic thermocouple are replaced by a tiny (finch long) rod of uranium suspended inside a vacuum-sealed can that contains liquid cesium. The uranium is enriched with U-235. Around the cesium is a circulating coolant (see diagram). When the device is lowered inside a reactor, the uranium is bombarded by the neutrons generated by the reactor, causing the U-235 to fission and give off intense heat...
Under vacuum, cesium turns partly to gas. As the uranium heats up. it ionizes the cesium gas to a plasma of charged particles (electrons wrenched from their atoms). As in conventional thermocouples, there is a flow of electric current between hot and cold: from the hot (2,000° C.) junction of the uranium and ionized cesium to the cold (300° C.) junction of the cesium and the oil coolant...
Castruccio's lunar power plant (which he calls an "electron farm") is nothing but a thin plastic sheet coated with cesium or some other material that gives off electrons when struck by light. On earth these electrons would get nowhere; they would be captured immediately by atmospheric atoms. On the airless moon the electrons could be collected by a wire mesh. Flowing out of the mesh, they would form a direct electric current...
...people lived on radioactive isotopes, the cost of living would be no source of worry. Last week the Atomic Energy Commission was offering cesium 137 for $1 to $2 per curie* (according to amount) instead of the former $14. Cerium 144 has dropped from $1,000 to $1 to $2. Other radioisotopes are marked down in proportion...
...Breathe Only Out. In London, Dr. H.O.J. Collier suggested that in view of the increasing hazards of radiation, modern health rules be distilled to three essentials: i) stop seeing the doctor and thus avoid X rays: 2) drink no milk, thus limit intake of cesium-137 (a radioactive isotope) j 3) stay indoors to be shielded from cosmic rays...