What is Americium?
CAS#: 007440-35-9
Americium is a man-made radioactive chemical. Americium has
no naturally occurring or stable isotopes. Two important isotopes
of americium are americium 241 (241Am) (read as americium two-forty-one)
and 243Am. Both isotopes have the same chemical behavior in
the environment and the same chemical effects on your body.
241Americium is used in ionization smoke detectors. There
is no broad commercial use for 243Am.
Nuclear reactors, nuclear explosions, or the radioactive
transformation of plutonium can produce both 241Am and 243Am.
These isotopes transform by giving off alpha radiation and turning
into radionuclides of other elements. The half-life of a radioactive
material is the time it takes for half of the material to give
off its radiation. The half-life of 241Am is 432 years and that
of 243Am is 7,370 years.
Related Resources for Americium
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CERCLA Priority List of Hazardous Substances
Prioritization of substances based on a combination of their
frequency, toxicity, and potential for human exposure at
National Priorities List (NPL) sites.
- Minimal Risk Levels (MRL)
The MRL is an estimate of the daily human exposure to a hazardous substance that is likely to be without appreciable risk of adverse, non-cancer health effects over a specified duration of exposure. The information in this MRL serves as a screening tool to help public health professionals decide where to look more closely to evaluate possible risk of adverse health effects from human exposure.
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Public Health Statement
Summary about a hazardous substance taken from Chapter One
of its respective ATSDR Toxicological Profile.
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ToxFAQ
Fact sheet that answers the most frequently asked questions
about a contaminant and its health effects.
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Toxicological Profile
Succinctly characterizes the toxicologic and adverse health
effects information for a hazardous substance.