If you would like to learn more about the IAEA’s work, sign up for our weekly updates containing our most important news, multimedia and more.

Here is the equation for the alpha decay of radon-219 into polonium. Beta decay involves the conversion of a down quark to an up quark. This changes a neutron into a proton plus an electron.

That happens when the element emits radiation (such as alpha particles) and decays into a lighter element. Pu-238 has a half-life of 87.7 years, making it a much longer-lasting source of energy than ...

In the UK, two Russian ex-secret service agents were targeted: Alexander Litvinenko fatally with radioactive polonium-210 in 2006, and Sergei Skripal with the toxic nerve agent Novichok in 2018.

In 2006, Alexander Litvinenko - an ex-Russian intelligence officer who became a Kremlin critic and fled to the UK - died after his tea was poisoned by radioactive polonium-210. More recently ...