How deadly is deadly plutonium?

Question

I have heard this is some pretty bad stuff. If I were to come across some of this stuff would I just die? What if I breath it in? Any clues?

Answer 1

Very.

Answer 2

Very.

Plutonium oxide, the result of burning Pu, can be in the form of a fine powder combined in the smoke of the burning Pu. If you inhale this oxide, you will never get rid of it; it will just sit there in your lungs.

Meanwhile, the radiation it still has, even as an oxide, will continually burn away your lung tissue. The extremely long half life of Pu means the radiation will never quit in your life time. You will eventually contract incurable emphysema that will get progressively worse until you die by drowning in your own body fluids. [See source.]

This, by the way, is the essence of a dirty bomb terrorists might use. The bomb would contain Pu surrounded by conventional explosives that would turn the Pu into its oxide upon detonation. The oxide would then spread over city blocks infecting everyone who happened to be there at the time. [See source.]

Answer 3

It is about as chemically toxic as lead, if one overlooks the radio-active component.
It also has other nasty properties, like combining with water to create a compount that will spontaneouly catch fire at room temperature (see link, under the Precautions section).
It is unlikely you'll ever come in contact with plutonium.