•Uranium isotopes are not very radioactive by themselves and do not constitute a direct radiation hazard.
•It is the fissioning process that creates the nasty radioactive fission products. These ARE dangerous and must be kept isolated from us.
•Radiation takes on a number of forms.
–Alpha and beta particles
–Neutrons are not charged and can penetrate solid walls.
–Gamma radiation, essentially very energetic
photons.
•Constructing good shielding is not an onerous task, but
it is an important
one. Like in the control systems,
safety is enhanced by
redundancy. In this case, this means layering the shielding systems, one inside the other
like a Russian doll set.