What is radium used for today?

Radium is present in all uranium ores, and could be extracted as a by-product of uranium refining. Uranium ores from DR Congo and Canada are richest in radium. Today radium is extracted from spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors. Annual production of this element is fewer than 100 grams per year. read more

Radium is used to produce radon, a radioactive gas used to treat some types of cancer. A single gram of radium-226 will produce 0.000l milliliters of radon a day. Radium is about one million times more active than uranium. The lab notebooks used by the Curies are too highly contaminated to be safely handled today. read more