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Radioactive contamination can be due to a variety of causes. It may occur due to the release of radioactive gases, liquids or particles. For example, if a radionuclide used in nuclear medicine is spilled (accidentally or, as in the case of the Goiânia accident , through ignorance), the material could be spread by people as they walk around.
Any type of ionizing radiation can cause burns, but alpha and beta radiation can only do so if radioactive contamination or nuclear fallout is deposited on the individual's skin or clothing. Gamma and neutron radiation can travel much greater distances and penetrate the body easily, so whole-body irradiation generally causes ARS before skin ...
The Kyshtym disaster was a radiation contamination accident (after a chemical explosion that occurred within a storage tank) at Mayak, a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the Soviet Union. Estimated 200 possible cancer fatalities [33] 6 October 10, 1957: Sellafield, Cumberland, United Kingdom
Exposure to radioactive waste may cause health impacts due to ionizing radiation exposure. In humans, a dose of 1 sievert carries a 5.5% risk of developing cancer, [7] and regulatory agencies assume the risk is linearly proportional to dose even for low doses. Ionizing radiation can cause deletions in chromosomes. [8]
Exposure to radiation causes chemical changes in gases. The least susceptible to damage are noble gases, where the major concern is the nuclear transmutation with follow-up chemical reactions of the nuclear reaction products. High-intensity ionizing radiation in air can produce a visible ionized air glow of telltale
Radiation poisoning, also called "radiation sickness" or a "creeping dose", is a form of damage to organ tissue due to excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. The term is generally used to refer to acute problems caused by a large dosage of radiation in a short period, though this also has occurred with long-term exposure to low-level radiation.
Radiation in the low energy spectrum (alpha and beta radiation) with minimal penetrating power is unlikely to cause significant damage to internal organs (although if contamination is ingested, inhaled or on the skin, and thus in close proximity to tissues and organs, the effect of these 'massive' particles may be catastrophic).
This number includes 2 non-radiation related fatalities from the accident itself, 28 fatalities from radiation doses in the immediate following months and 15 fatalities due to thyroid cancer likely caused by iodine-131 contamination; it does not include 19 additional individuals initially diagnosed with acute radiation syndrome who had also ...