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The hazards to people and the environment from radioactive contamination depend on the nature of the radioactive contaminant, the level of contamination, and the extent of the spread of contamination. Low levels of radioactive contamination pose little risk, but can still be detected by radiation instrumentation.
After release into the environment, radioactive materials can reach humans in a range of different routes, and the chemistry of the element usually dictates the most likely route. Airborne radioactive material can have an effect on humans via a range of routes.
Terrorists could target nuclear power plants in an attempt to release radioactive contamination into the environment and community. Nuclear reactors become preferred targets during military conflict and have been repeatedly attacked by military air strikes: [137] In September 1980, Iran bombed the incomplete Osirak reactor complex in Iraq.
By the 1950s, scientists understood much more about the effects of radiation. Emergency Radiation Team members from Hanford use equipment for measuring levels of radioactive contamination in 1958 ...
Nuclear radiation is harmful to the environment over immediate (seconds or fractions thereof) as well as long-term (years or centuries) timescales, and it affects the environment on both microscopic and macroscopic (population) levels. Degrees of these effects are dependent on external factors, especially in the case of humans.
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.
A major radioactive contamination threat to the Columbia River should be removed at the Hanford nuclear site before the end of summer. Hanford workers have started to pump contaminated water from ...
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, gave the plan a green light in July, saying it met international standards and the impact on people and the environment ...