Nuclear battery...lasts 50 years..allegedly

[WouldBe]

If the name of the company (Betavolt) is any indication, then decay mode of the isotopes used is beta radiation, AKA fast-travelling electrons. Those can be blocked by a thin layer of aluminium. My phone chassis is made of aluminium. I think they would be fine, at least in terms of radiation exposure.

Chassis may be made of aluminium but the screen isn't.

 

[NoXion]

Chassis may be made of aluminium but the screen isn't.

If the multiple layers of plastic and other stuff isn't good enough by itself, then put a foil layer behind the screen. Job done.

 

[WouldBe]

Article claims that the isotopes used decay into a stable isotope of copper. Besides that, the radioactive half-life of a substance is inversely correlated with its radioactive intensity. Which makes sense if you think about it; stuff isn't going to remain fiercely hot for tens of thousands of years, where's the energy for that gonna come from?

Unstable isotopes.

 

[NoXion]

Unstable isotopes.

Way to miss the point. Of course the energy comes from the unstable isotope. But the level of instability varies according to each. And there's only so much energy in a given amount of substance. How fast that energy comes out is what matters.

 

[PTK]

If it was an alpha emitter, then that gas would have been helium, which is totally harmless. Worst case is that it was radon gas, but unless you were regularly huffing the contents of that bag then you would have been fine. Plenty of people live in whole regions where the local geology emits radon gas.

Radon gas is dangerous to health, which is why in a couple of places in Britain special measures are taken to stop it accumulating in homes.

 

[WouldBe]

If the multiple layers of plastic and other stuff isn't good enough by itself, then put a foil layer behind the screen. Job done.

But would they?

When I was doing physics O'level we were doing an experiment in radiation measuring the radiation levels of various sealed samples. At one point the Geiger counter went berserk. It turned out to be the luminous uranium paint on my watch that wasn't stopped by the glass watch face or the steel back plate even though alpha particles are supposed to be stopped by a piece of paper.

 

[NoXion]

Radon gas is dangerous to health, which is why in a couple of places in Britain special measures are taken to stop it accumulating in homes.

Yes, a basement that's full of radon gas does present a slightly increased risk of cancer when you live in the place for decades and so regularly breathe the air in there. But throwing away a small lump of rock that's being kept in a sealed container because it might be emitting radon gas is a massive overreaction relative to the supposed risks posed. Like I said, unless you're regularly huffing the contents of said container there's no point in worrying.

But would they?

When I was doing physics O'level we were doing an experiment in radiation measuring the radiation levels of various sealed samples. At one point the Geiger counter went berserk. It turned out to be the luminous uranium paint on my watch that wasn't stopped by the glass watch face or the steel back plate even though alpha particles are supposed to be stopped by a piece of paper.

Without knowing exactly what made up the luminous paint it's hard to say for certain, but it might not have been just alpha particles being emitted. Gamma radiation is highly penetrating and would easily go through the casing of a watch to be picked up by a Geiger counter. Also "went berserk" is not a quantitive assessment of how much more radiation was being emitted relative to background levels.

Like in chemistry, it's the dosage that makes the poison. If you're worried about cancer then by far the leading causes of it are lifestyle factors such as smoking. Fearmongering about radiation isn't going to help.