Agricultural Tracers

Tracers like those used in medicine are also used in agriculture to study plants and their intake of fertilisers. The usage of tracers allows scientists and farmers to optimise the use of fertilising and weed killing chemicals. Optimisation of these chemicals is desirable because it saves money, and reduces chemical pollution. When fertilisers are used in overly excessive amounts, the excess will run off and pollute rivers nearby, as well as possibly seeping through to the water table underground and polluting the water supply. To prevent this, studies are conducted to find out the optimal amount of chemical required, with fertilisers and weedkillers often tagged by nitrogen-15 or phosphorus-32 radioisotopes. These radioisotopes are analysed in the crops to see how much of the original chemical was actually consumed by the plants, compared to how much was given. Ionising radiation is used as an alternative to chemicals in the treatment and preservation of foods. In meats and other foods of animal origin, irradiation destroys the bacteria that causes spoilage as well as diseases and illneses such as salmonella poisoning. This allows for a more safer food supply, and meats that can be stored for longer before spoilage. Irradiation of food is carried out using accelerated electrons (beta radiation), and ionising radiation from sources such as the radioisotopes cobalt-60 and cesium-137. X-rays are also sometimes used. None of these sources of radiation used have enough energy to make the exposed foods radioactive.
Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usuallybyproducts of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine. Radioactive waste is hazardous to most forms of life and the environment, and is regulated by government agencies in order to protect human health and the environment. Radioactivity diminishes over time, so waste is typically isolated and stored for a period of time until it no longer poses a hazard. The period of time waste must be stored depends on the type of waste. Low-level waste with low levels of radioactivity per mass or volume (such as some common medical or industrial radioactive wastes) may need to be stored for only hours or days while high-level wastes (such as spent nuclear fuel or by-products of nuclear reprocessing) the time frames in question range from 10,000 to millions of years. Current major approaches to managing radioactive waste have been segregation and storage for short-lived wastes, near-surface disposal for low and some intermediate level wastes, and deep burial or transmutation for the high-level wastes.