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Smyth, representing her employer, a uranium miner, states that a “strong” “argument” claims that “some radiation” was “good for you”.

How much uranium is required to produce this “good radiation” ? And how is that “good radiation” to delivered to the people of this state? Via the milkman? The radiation emitted by uranium and its decay products have to be present within the human body to have any effect. How would a purchaser of the product know that the radiation emitted was “good”?

What are the “arguments” Smith refers to? She does not say.
How “strong” are these arguments? We don’t know, Smyth does not debate the issue, she merely states her position in relation to the “strong argument”. Smith is obviously all for the idea that “some” radiation is “good for you”. If one is not thinking, but listening as if the information were an advert for a desirable product, one might really want it……

The substances extracted by uranium mining consist of uranium and its decay products. So let’s have a look at these substances and the radiations they emit. After specifying the radiations I will look at the claimed “strong argument” regarding the alleged benefit endowed onto humanity by these radiations, via the release of the substance which emit them into the biosphere.

The substances liberated into the biosphere by uranium mining of Uranium 238.

The decay of Uranium 238 consists of the following isotopic steps:
Uranium 238
1 Thorium 234
2 Uranium 234
3 Thorium 230
4 Radium 226
5 Radon 222 (a gas)
6 Polonium 218 (solid particulate)
7 Lead 214
8 Bismuth 214
9 Polonium 214
10 Lead 210
11 Bi 210
12 Polonium 210
13 Lead 206 (Stable, not radioactive).
(Source: “NCRP Report No. 77, Exposures from the Uranium Series with Emphasis on Radon and its Daughters” March 15, 1984, National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, 7910 Woodmont Ave,
Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.)

To examine Smith’s proposal or “argument” that the “some radiation” is beneficial, “good for you”, all I have to do is define the type and energy of the radiations emitted by each of the radioactive substances that exist in the uranium 238 decay chain. And then compare the specifications to the source of the “strong argument” for “good” radiation or beneficial radiation as proposed by Toro Energy.

The Uranium 238 Decay Chain Type of Radiation, Energy of Radiation

Uranium 238 Curies/gram: 3.3 × 10^-7 (10 to the power of -7) Energy of radiation in MeV 4.2 Alpha Half life 4.5 billion years. 
(Source: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management – Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program Characteristics of Uranium and Its Compounds, pdf athttp://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CEgQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.ead.anl.gov%2Furanium%2Fpdf%2Furaniumcharacteristicsfs.pdf&ei=z2d3UdHYFMaaiQf08oHwCQ&usg=AFQjCNGceU4pKOcz8wckBEw0cFNgC44O8w&bvm=bv.45580626,d.aGc&cad=rja

1 Thorium 234 Beta energy 0.270 MeV Beta and Gamma (Source: TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR THORIUM, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease RegistryU.S. Public Health Servicehttp://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=18&ved=0CFkQFjAHOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atsdr.cdc.gov%2Ftoxprofiles%2Ftp147.pdf&ei=bGt3UcfPH–yiQfylYGoCg&usg=AFQjCNFK8MfTlIU5ojEwoS0gXl9fPgwoYw&bvm=bv.45580626,d.aGc&cad=rja)

2 Uranium 234 curies/gram 6.2 × 10^-3 Energy of radiation 4.8 MeV Alpha Half Life 248,000 years. (Source: as for uranium 238)

3 Thorium 230 Beta energy 4.6 MeV Half life 7.54×10^4 years (Source: TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR THORIUM, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease RegistryU.S. Public Health Service
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=18&ved=0CFkQFjAHOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atsdr.cdc.gov%2Ftoxprofiles%2Ftp147.pdf&ei=bGt3UcfPH–yiQfylYGoCg&usg=AFQjCNFK8MfTlIU5ojEwoS0gXl9fPgwoYw&bvm=bv.45580626,d.aGc&cad=rja)

4 Radium 226 Alpha energy 4.870 MeV, Half Life 1,600 years (Source:Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, Toxicological Profile for Radium, 3. Chemical and Physical Information http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp.asp?id=791&tid=154

5 Radon 222 (a gas) Alpha energies 4.826 MeV(0.0005%) 4.986 MeV(0.078%) 5.48948 MeV(99.920%) gamma energies 0.510 MeV(0.076%) (Source: TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR Radon, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry U.S. Public Health Service, http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp.asp?id=407&tid=71

6 Polonium 218 (solid particulate) Alpha energy 5.998MeV (Source: National Academy of
Sciences National Research Council NUCLEAR SCIENCE SERIES 3037 MASTER The Radiochemistry
of Polonium page 4. OSTI pdf link :http://www.osti.gov/bridge/purl.cover.jsp?purl=/4034029-SolPsF/

7 Lead 214 (Beta and Gamma emitter)Beta energy 0.29 MeV Gamma energy 0.25 MeV (Source: Radiation and Health – Page 74, Thormod Henriksen, David H. Maillie CRC Press, 05/09/2002)

8 Bismuth 214 (Beta and Gamma emitter) Beta Energy 0.65 MeV Gamma Energy 1.46 MeV (Source: as for Lead 214)

9 Polonium 214 Alpha energy 7.680 MeV (Source: as for Polonium 218)

10 Lead 210, Energies : Gamma: 13 keV (25%), 47 keV (4%)
Beta: 17 keV (80%), 63 keV (20%)
Electrons: 30 keV (58%), 43 keV (13%), 46 keV (4%)
Alpha: 3720 keV (<1%)
Half-Life [T½]: Physical T½:2 22.3 years
Biological T½:3 ~ 1.5 days
Effective T½: ~ 1.5 days
Specific Activity1: 76.8 Ci/g [2.84E12 Bq/g]
(Source: Nuclide Safety Data Sheet Lead – 210http://www.nchps.org)

11 Bismuth 210 Alpha energies: 4.681MeV(40%); 4.644 MeV(60%) Beta energy 1.1615 MeV (lOO%)
Gamma energy: given as “Weak”. (Source: Radiochemistry of Bismuth Kashinath S. Bhatki Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Homi Bhabha Road, Bombay 400005 and Bhabha Atomic ResearchC-entre Trornbay,Bombay 400085 (India)
Prepared for Subcommittee on Radiochemistry
National Academy of Sciences – National Research Council USA. via Los Alamos National Labs. at http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Flibrary.lanl.gov%2Fcgi-bin%2Fgetfile%3Frc000040.pdf&ei=WON3UeGFFsiKiQfvkoFY&usg=AFQjCNEMjupNgSA-NyDGPz6yyTslMqXajg&bvm=bv.45580626,d.aGc

12 Polonium 210 Alpha energy 5.304 MeV 99% Alpha 4.5 MeV (Source: As for Polonium 214)

On the basis of the information above, I have to find which particular “very strong argument” Toro Energy is referring to when it’s spokesperson states it as a basis for the claim that “some radiation is good for you”……. http://nuclearhistory.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/stuff-to-do-with-hormesis/