Reply #15: Existing in the upper atmosphere is OK

[MadHound]

The radiation is too weak to effect us. However coming down might be a bit of a problem. Most likely it will come down with the rain, and go into the ground. At some point it will uptake into a plant, which will be consumed by an animal, which will be consumed by us. That's when the problems start. However I would wait until the concentrations are much higher before I would begin to worry. We have much more immediate radioactive threats to deal with. Hell, Wisconsin dairy cattle are still consuming plants that uptook radioactive dust that was dispersed in the fifties during the US above ground nuclear tests.

I live in Missouri, as did my high school chemistry teacher. He clearly remembers going out to his car, taking a dust swipe a day or two after one of these tests, taking it into the lab and watching the geiger counter needle start bouncing. Now then, depending on where you live and what's been done to the landscape, that fifty year old dust, still hot, is probably only four to eight inches below my feet. Good thing that earth is a wonderful shielding material.