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Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirable (from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) definition).
It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons reprocessing. [1] The storage and disposal of radioactive waste is regulated by government agencies in order to protect human health and the environment.
Also, after a nuclear war or serious accident, the removal of top few cm of soil and its burial in a shallow trench will reduce the long term gamma dose to humans due to 137 Cs as the gamma photons will be attenuated by their passage through the soil. The more remote the trench is from humans and the deeper the trench is the better the degree ...
Michael Esposito — a retired scientist who studied the health effects of radiation and served on a DTSC community advisory group for the Richmond sites affected by Stauffer's waste — said the ...
These records made clear that since the 1940s, the Atomic Energy Commission had been sponsoring tests on the effects of radiation on the human body. American citizens who had checked into hospitals for a variety of ailments were secretly injected, without their knowledge, with varying amounts of plutonium and other radioactive materials.
Corroded and leaking 55-gallon drum, for storing radioactive waste at the Rocky Flats Plant, tipped on its side so the bottom is showing. The Hanford site represents two-thirds of USA's high-level radioactive waste by volume. Nuclear reactors line the riverbank at the Hanford Site along the Columbia River in January 1960.
This waste is produced by nuclear power plants and weapons facilities, and is a serious human health and environmental issue. There are plans to permanently dispose of high-level waste in deep geological repositories, but none of these are operational. Corrosion of aging temporary containers has caused some waste to leak into the environment. [20]
Radium, like radon, is radioactive and is found in small quantities in nature and is hazardous to life if radiation exceeds 20-50 mSv/year. Radium is a decay product of uranium and thorium. [2] Radium may also be released into the environment by human activity: for example, in improperly discarded products painted with radioluminescent paint.