Rhodium-103
| Rh | Rh |
While less rhodium than ruthenium and palladium is formed (around 3.6% yield), the mixture of fission products still contains a significant amount of this metal. Due to the high prices of ruthenium, rhodium and palladium some work has been done on the separation of these metals to enable them to be used at a later date. Because of the possibility of the metals being contaminated by radioactive isotopes, metals are not suitable for making consumer products such as jewellery but this source of the metals could be used for catalysts in industrial plants such as petrochemical plants.
Potential Applications of Fission Platinoids in Industry, Zdenek Kolarik, Platinum Metals Review, 2005, 49, April (2).
A dire example of people being exposed to radiation from contaminated jewellery occurred in the USA where it is thought that the gold seeds which were used to contain radon were recycled into jewellery. The gold did contain radioactive decay products of 222Rn. Further details can be found at and .
Read more about this topic: Fission Products (by Element)