How does uranium not contaminate nature with radioactivity if its naturally occuring?

Question

How does uranium not contaminate nature with radioactivity if its naturally occuring?

In: Other

Answer 1

It does. Slowly turns into lead.

But in its unrefined ore form it’s actually not too bad, as long as you don’t, idk, *eat it*. Sunlight is actually more radioactive and we’re (mostly) fine…

However, when you shove it in a nuclear reactor the uranium breaks down into smaller elements, like krypton or iodine… in a form with too many or too few neutrons, which makes the elements unstable and want to decay. THIS is the source of radioactivity in Chernobyl – radioactive waste breaking down and releasing radiation into the environment.