Radioactive lightning rods: management and spatiality in the city of rio claro-sp - risks of environmental contamination

Abstract

In the 70´s radioactive lightning rods stood as a promising alternative to the conventional lightning rods. By the 80´s since both kinds protected roughly the same area, a big drawback emerged: the esteem ionic captor mean life (approx. 30 years) is much less than the radioactive isotope mean life (approx. 430 year), raising environmental concerns. The no existence of regulatory government programs needed to monitor the containment of radioactive material and possible weather induced environmental contamination, becomes a very disturbing issue. The work presented here has the purpose to discuss and analyze the issues above mentioned and possible unfoldings. Also we discuss the dismantlement of radioactive lighting rods in the city of Rio Claro. Key-Words: radioactive lighting-rod, environmental contamination and spatial distribution.