After World War II and the detonation of the first atomic bomb on the New Mexico desert floor, more than 1000 atmospheric explosions occurred in the following decades, which released a large number of radioactive isotopes in nature, as the Cesio-137 or Tenecio-99.
This, added to the fact that the steel that occurred before was carried out with another process (known as Bessemer) led to the pollution of steel subsequently built to 1945 The consequent destruction of scientific equipment made of steel.
And, although the amounts are quite small, they are enough to end them and the radiation It can generate false signals in measurement equipment and distort the results. In addition, the difficulty in detecting neutrinos, also complicate the situation, because they slide through matter but without interacting.
This is where steel manufactured before 1945 comes into play, because it is able to isolate radiation, which can help in instruments such as Geiger counters or space flights, which require measurements No interference.
To achieve this, institutions such as the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics have resorted to lead bricks (it also serves as an insulator) of an old Roman shipwreck for the Experience of neutrons Cuore (Underground cryogenic observatory of rare events).
In the case of the old lead, up to 30 euros per kilo has been paid. If the same formula for steel extracted from old ships is used, it could reach a value of 23,000 euros per ton (30 times more than the current value). Despite this, it should be noted that the new process to produce steel is cleaner than Bessemer, although all metals produced after the date indicated have small traces of radioactive isotopes.
