Nuking a hurricane

[kandrathe]

...But it would lower the cost of real estate in and around the gulf for approximately 5,000 to 15,000 years (depending on if you were using uranium or plutonium).
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I'm not advocating denonating fissile weapons. And certainly not for something as frivolous as preventing a hurricane. But, I think peoples perceptions of nuclear materials are a bit skewed. Danger is inversely proportional to half-life. The more an isotope emits, the more dangerous it is and the faster it decays into something else. Chernobyl was most dangerous to people due to the particulate release of Cesium
(137, half-life 30 years), Strontium (90, half-life 28 years) and Iodine(131, half-life of 8 days), which is absorbed. Many of the fast decay radionucliotides emitted by the fire became inert within 10 days.

But, if you were to hand me a lump of Uranium(238) with a half-life of 4,510,000,000 years, should I think it to be dangerous? Hardly. But, being as paranoid as the next person, I wouldn't use it as a pillow. Now, Uranium(232, half-life 69 years) is dangerous. What a difference 6 neutrons can make. :)

Check out modern Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Not wastelands. The area around Chernobyl would also be habitable if the Ukranians had the expertise, and money to clean it up. The most dangerous places are those that have absorbed the radioactivity, and release it slowly over time (such as some of the soil, trees and wooden structures). Radioactivity, detectable with a gieger counter, is a much easier problem than say chemicals like dioxin, or heavy metals like arsenic and mercury.

Nice explanation of Chernobyl fallout.

edit: oops, neutrons...