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SLIDE PRESENTATIONS:
Overviews of radiation safety matters are contained in the slide presentation titled:
Radiation and Health
by Dr. Alex Cannara.
and
The Deception of Iodine Pill Distribution
by Dr. Jerry Cuttler
VIDEO:
A video that puts nuclear radiation safety issues into perspective
VIDEO SERIES:
History of the LNT (Linear No Threshold) Model
TEXTBOOK:
A good reference textbook is Transport and Shielding of Ionizing Radiation.
REVIEW PAPER:
Radon, Lung Cancer and LNT Model
HISTORY:
The NRX Accident 1952
RADIATION SAFETY PERSPECTIVE:
The Linear No Threshold (LNT) model was based on a false assumption that even small amounts of absorbed ionizing radiation can cause genetic defects. The reality is that genetic information is stored in DNA molecules in a manner that provides both automatic error correction and a large amount of information redundancy. Hence the amount of absorbed ionizing radiation necessary to detectably injure a large animal is orders of magnitude greater than indicated by LNT based calculations. In fact, low doses of ionizing radiation have beneficial health effects.
Jerry Cuttler summarizes the situation by saying: Based on my analysis of a study on dogs exposure lifelong to cobalt-60 gamma radiation, the threshold dose rate for the onset of detrimental effects (reduced longevity) is about 700 mGy per year, not per lifetime. Dog Study. A radiation level below the threshold increases longevity. The optimal level is about 50 mGy per year.
The dose-rate threshold for onset of detriment is higher, about 1000 mGy per year, for short-lived dogs.
Can we abolish the 60-year-old international consensus that connects nuclear radiation to cancer?
How the LNT Model was Born and Sustained
Significance of failed historical foundation of LNT model
LNT and Cancer Risk Assessment Part 1 Radiation and Leukemia
LNT and Cancer Risk Assessment Part 2 How Unsound Science Came to be Accepted
Darlington NPP SMR Site Licence Part 1 - Jerry Cuttler
Darlington NPP SMR Site Licence Part 2 - Jerry Cuttler
What would become of nuclear risk if governments changed their regulations?
JNM Newsline Letters January 2022.
Cover Up and Cancer Risk Assessment to Promote Adoption of LNT
Nuclear Safety Shipyard Worker Study
RADIATION TYPES:
Photon radiation can be divided into two categories, ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation is very short wavelength radiation such as x-rays and gamma rays. Each photon of ionizing radiation carries enough energy that, if the photon is absorbed by a multi-atom molecule, the photon energy is sufficient to break an atomic chemical bond. Non-ionizing radiation is longer wavelengh radiation that only weakly interacts with matter and generates heat. Ionizing radiation can damage biological tissue by destroying the chemical structure of the tissue or by creating chemically agressive ions in the tissue which then overcome the immune system and then cause secondary damage. Absorption of non-ionizing radiation only causes heating of the tissue.
Examples of non-ionizing radiation are radiation associated with AC power lines, radio transmissions and microwave transmissions. Some care is required close to high power radio and microwave sources because high local heat generation can cause tissue damage.
IONIZING RADIATION:
A sievert (Sv) is a unit indicating the cumulative effect of absorbed ionizing radiation on biological tissue. Typical ionizing radiation exposures are expressed in mSv / year and hourly exposures are expressed in uSv / hour.
Through the process of evolution existing animal species have become tolerant to the level of background ionizing radiation typically found on Earth. This level is typically about 3 mSv / year in North America but can be as high as 50 mSv / year in countries such as Iran that have high levels of background radiation due to local mineral deposits that slowly decay emitting the radioactive inert gas radon.
At an ionizing radiation exposure of 100 mSv / year the effect of radiation exposure on the incidence of cancer is statistically noticeable.
In an accident situation a short term radiation exposure of 1.0 Sv will cause about 5% mortality. A short term radiation exposure of 5.0 Sv is lethal without immediate medical intervention.
NUCLEAR HAZARDS:
Hazardous nuclear emissions fall into six categories:
1. Alpha particles (energetic Helium-4 nuclei);
2. Beta particles (energetic electrons and positrons);
3. Gamma and x-ray photons;
4. Neutrons;
5. Protons (energetic hydrogen-1 nuclei);
6. Deuterons (energetic hydrogen-2 nuclei);
7. Ions (energetic nuclei of all types).
Strictly speaking out of this list of hazards only gamma and x-ray photons are radiation. The other hazards are all energetic particles that have rest mass. However, for regulatory purposes, because energetic particles cause biological tissue damage analogous to gamma and x-ray radiation the energetic particle hazards are loosely referred to as forms of "nuclear radiation".
BACKGROUND NUCLEAR RADIATION:
We do not live in a radiation and energetic particle free environment. We are surrounded by rocks containing small amounts of radio isotopes with half lives greater than 300 million years. We ignest food containing shall amounts of radio isotopes such as potassium-40. We breath air containing small amounts of the radio isotope C-14. We are constantly being bombarded by high energy particles from outer space known as cosmic rays. We refer to this naturally occurring nuclear radiation as "background radiation".
All life forms on Earth have evolved to tolerate background radiation. As long as the man made nuclear radiation level is small compared to the background nuclear radiation level man made nuclear radition poses no health risk. In fact medical studies have shown that small amounts of whole body nuclear radiation above the background level actually improves average human health because this limited whole body radiation stimulates the human immune system. However, we are cautious about increasing the nuclear radiation level to which human reproductive organs are exposed for fear of possibly causing birth defects due to potential damage to reproductive DNA molecules.
DNA molecules have elaborate mechanisms which generally ensure that during reproduction and tissue growth these molecules make correct copies of themselves. However, a large amount of nuclear radiation can overwhelm this copy protect mechanism causing sterility or birth defects. Hence the issue of nuclear radiation safety is taken very seriously by engineers in both the scientific and medical communities.
ALPHA PARTICLES:
Alpha particles are He-4 nulcei. Alpha particles are particularly dangerous when absorbed in the human body because their relatively high mass leads to high local tissue damage. On a per unit of energy basis alpha particles are considered to be 20X as toxic as beta particles and gamma rays. Alpha particles are emitted during natural decay of some high atomic weight radio isotopes.
BETA PARTICLES:
Beta particles are usually high energy electrons. However, in some cases beta decay refers to positron emission which can cause more tissue damage than electron emission.
GAMMA RAYS:
Gamma rays are high energy photons. High energy gamma photons can penetrate a large thickness of shielding mass and hence are much more difficult to contain than alpha or beta particles.
NEUTRONS, PROTONS, DEUTERONS, IONS:
Neutrons, high energy protons, high energy deuterons and high energy ions are all hazardous. However, significant fluxes of these particles are generally only found in outer space and in the immediate proximity of special purpose man made equipment such as nuclear reactors and particle accelerators. Large fluxes of these particles do not normally occur as a result of natural radioactive decay on Earth. Neutrons of any energy are hazardous because on absorption they cause other substances to become radio active. Quantification of these specialized particle hazards is beyond the scope of this web page.
UNITS OF RADIATION EXPOSURE:
A unit of absorbed ionizing radiation energy is a gray (Gy). One gray is defined as the amount of ionizing radiation that dissipates 1 joule / kg in a material. A short term whole body gamma radiation dose of 1 Gy is a dangerous radiation exposure with about a 5% mortality. At a whole body dose of 5 Gy the mortality rate without sophisticated medical intervention is almost 100%. The hazard decreases if the dose is spread out over a period of years. For example, life saving medical procedures may cumulatively give a patient a x-ray / gamma ray dose of up to 500 mGy per year.
Another frequently used unit of absorbed ionizing radiation energy is a rad. One rad equals 0.01 Gy.
A unit of biological radiation exposure is a sievert (Sv). This is a large amount of exposure. One Sievert is defined as the amount of ionizing radiation that causes a biological effect equal to dissipating 1 joule / kg of gamma radiation in a body. Note that 0.05 Gy of absorbed energy from alpha particles causes 1.0 Sv of biological radiation exposure.
The regulated maximum safe limit for general public exposure to non-medical ionizing radiation is 1.0 millisievert per year (1.0 mSv / year). For individually monitored nuclear workers the maximum regulated limit is 50 mSv / year subject to a maximum dose over a 5 year period of 100 mSv.
For nuclear workers the nuclear radiation dose rate is usually expressed in microsieverts per hour (uSv / hr). An ongoing workplace biological dose rate in excess of 10 uSv / hr is a matter for immediate administrative concern as it may lead to worker activity restrictions.
This web page last updated June 22, 2022
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