Alkali metal from the Chernobyl accident. Caesium-137 undergoes high-energy beta decay and eventually becomes stable barium-137. It is a strong emitter of gamma radiation. Caesium-137 has a very low rate of neutron capture and cannot be feasibly disposed of in this way, but must be allowed to decay. Caesium-137 has been used as a tracer in hydrologic studies, analogous to the use of tritium. Small amounts of caesium-134 and caesium-137 were released into the environment during nearly all nuclear weapon tests and some nuclear accidents, most notably the Goiânia accident and the Chernobyl disaster. As of 2005, caesium-137 is the principal source
Caesium inside old stars and by the R-process in supernova explosions. The only stable caesium isotope is Cs, with 78 neutrons. Although it has a large nuclear spin (+), nuclear magnetic resonance studies can use this isotope at a resonating frequency of 11.7 MHz. The radioactive Cs has a very long half-life of about 2.3 million years, longest of all radioactive isotopes of caesium. Cs and Cs have half-lives of 30 and two years, respectively. Cs decomposes to a short-lived Ba by beta decay, and then to nonradioactive barium, while Cs transforms into Ba directly. The isotopes with mass numbers of