Environmental radioactivity

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Environmental radioactivity is part of the overall background radiation and is produced by radioactive materials in the human environment. While some radioisotopes, such as strontium-90 (⁹⁰Sr) and technetium-99 (⁹⁹Tc), are only found on Earth as a result of human activity, and some, like potassium-40 (⁴⁰K), are only present due to natural processes, a few isotopes, e.g. tritium (³H), result from both natural processes and human activities. The concentration and location of some natural isotopes, particularly uranium-238 (²³⁸U), can be affected by human activity, such as nuclear weapons testing, which caused a global fallout, with up to 2.4 million deaths by 2020.