Four types of radioactive isotopes emitted during a nuclear accident
How Does Radiation Affect the Body? Big Think, by MICHIO KAKU APRIL 16, 2011, “……Four different types of radiation are emitted during a nuclear accident like the Fukushima meltdown: iodine, cesium, strontium, and potassium. Physicist Michio Kaku, spoke with Big Think this week about these different types of radiation and the effect each one has on the human body. Like Chernobyl, he said, the main problem has been radioactive iodine: “That’s why people have been taking potassium iodide pills—to flood the thyroid glands.” But potassium
iodide pills are not “radiation pills,” he added. They protect against just one byproduct—iodine 131—not against cesium, strontium, or the extremely dangerous plutonium.
Below are these four different radioactive isotopes, their half-lives, and the types of cancer with which they are most often associated. Continue reading
Japanese Red Cross Society radiation limits for emergency workesr
Red Cross radiation limit for relief workers too low, say critics Asahi Shimbun, By YURI OIWA June 13, 2013 The Japanese Red Cross Society has established a guideline for medical workers that sets an accumulated radiation dose limit of 1 millisievert for relief activities, although experts have said the ceiling is too low to allow workers to provide ample assistance to disaster victims.
“Radiation doses above 1 millisievert have no health effects,” said Yasushi Asari, a professor of emergency medical care at Hirosaki University. “There is no need for medical workers to use that threshold.”
Masahito Yamazawa, director-general of the Red Cross nuclear disaster preparedness task force, said during in-house discussions there were arguments for and against the 1-millisievert threshold. But the Red Cross determined that a 1-millisievert limit would still allow its workers to engage in relief activities in zones with high radiation levels because each relief mission usually lasts only up to a week, Yamazawa said.
One millisievert is the legal annual dose limit for members of the public during normal times.
Yamazawa added that allowances were also made for the fact that its medical relief squads include clerical workers.
“We have created the guideline out of a positive desire to help victims during a nuclear disaster,” Yamazawa said. “We will use it as a platform for further improvements if the need arises.”
Japanese Red Cross relief units fulfilled a total of 900 missions in communities ravaged by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. However, initially they were unprepared for a nuclear disaster, and that created a vacuum of relief squads in Fukushima Prefecture during the early stages of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Red Cross officials said they learned from that experience and decided to create the new guideline for nuclear disaster relief activities.
The guideline says relief squad members should carry dosimeters and iodine tablets at all times, and retreat to safety whenever they are in danger of being exposed to more than 1 millisievert in accumulated radiation. It also says relief workers should keep clear of zones that are off-limits to residents……
Patterns of Fukushima radiation in Northern hemisphere
Study: Fukushima fuel burn-up spread over entire northern hemisphere’s middle latitudes — First time measured in southern hemisphere http://enenews.com/study-fukushima-fuel-burn-up-dispersed-over-entire-northern-hemispheres-middle-latitudes-first-time-also-measured-in-southern-hemisphere
Title: An overview of Fukushima radionuclides measured in the northern hemisphere
Source: Science of The Total Environment
Author: P. Thakura, S. Ballard, R. Nelson
Date: August 1, 2013
Abstract
The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 resulted in the tragic accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and subsequently uncontrolled release of radioactive contaminants into the atmosphere. This review article attempts to compile and interpret data collected by various national and international monitoring networks in response to the Fukushima releases across the northern hemisphere. The majority of the releases occurred during the period March 12–22 with a maximum release phase from March 14–17, 2011. The radioactivity released was dominated by volatile fission products including isotopes of the noble gases (xenon and krypton), iodine, cesium, and tellurium. The radioactive gases and particles released in the accident were dispersed over the middle latitudes of the entire northern hemisphere and for the first time also measured in the southern Hemisphere. Isotopes of iodine and cesium were detected in air, water, milk and food samples collected across the entire northern hemisphere. Elevated levels of fission products were detected from March to May 2011 at many locations over the northern hemisphere.
This article focuses on the most prevalent cesium and iodine isotopes, but other secondary isotopes are also discussed. Spatial and temporal patterns and differences are contrasted. The activity ratios of 131I/137Cs and 134Cs/137Cs measured at several locations are evaluated to gain an insight into the fuel burn-up, the inventory of radionuclides in the reactor and the isotopic signature of the accident. It is important to note that all of the radiation levels detected outside of Japan have been very low and are well below any level of public and environmental hazard. Full study available here
Concern over radiation risks in CT scans for children
more research is urgently needed to determine when CT in pediatrics can lead to improved health outcomes and whether other imaging methods (or no imaging) could be as effective. For now, it is important for both the referring physician and the radiologist to consider whether the risks of CT exceed the diagnostic value it provides over other tests, based on current evidence,”
Study Examines Cancer Risk from Pediatric Radiation Exposure from CT Scans http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130610192536.htm June 10, 2013 — According to a study of seven U.S. healthcare systems, the use of computed tomography (CT) scans of the head, abdomen/pelvis, chest or spine, in children younger than age 14 more than doubled from 1996 to 2005, and this associated radiation is projected to potentially increase the risk of radiation-induced cancer in these children in the future, according to a study published Online First byJAMA Pediatrics. The use of CT in pediatrics has increased over the last two decades. The ionizing radiation doses delivered by the tests are higher than convention radiography and are in ranges that have been linked to an increased risk of cancer. Children are more sensitive to radiation-induced carcinogenesis and have many years of life left for cancer to develop, the authors write in the study background.
“The increased use of CT in pediatrics, combined with the wide variability in radiation doses, has resulted in many children receiving a high-dose examination,” the study notes.
Diana L. Miglioretti, Ph.D., of the Group Health Research Institute and University of California, Davis, and colleagues quantified trends in the use of CT in pediatrics plus the associated radiation exposure and estimated potential cancer risk using data from seven U.S. health care systems. Continue reading
Radiation and the ethics of sending astronauts to Mars
One thing is certain: there can be no more romantic idealism. No amount of wishful thinking, or crowdsourcing, or press releasing can circumvent this problem. Space radiation is dangerous, potentially deadly. Manned missions to Mars with current technology will carry significant exposure risks.
At what price ethically do we want the Red Planet?
Space radiation results should spark manned Mars mission debate, Guardian UK, Stuart Clark 5 June 13Nasa data shows radiation doses would be so high on a manned Mars mission that we must now debate the ethics of deep space exploration – or wait decades to develop safer technology
It is time for idealism about missions to Mars to end. Going there with current technology would carry a significant risk of harmful radiation exposure. Continue reading
EPA Dramatically Weakens Radiation Protection
Fukushima Radiation Risk Media Deception, Lynda Lovon 3 June 13 ………“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is publishing in the Federal Register today controversial new Protective Action Guides (PAGs) for responding to radioactive releases. EPA says it solicits public comment but is nonetheless making the PAGs immediately effective.
Good news: ionising radiation type scanners removed from airports across USA
Full-body scanners at airports replaced with less-revealing, low radiation machines http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=9125985 June 03, 2013 — Airports across the U.S. have removed the full-body scanners that used x-rays to create what looks like nude images of passengers.
The remaining 250 machines were removed about two weeks before the June 1st deadline set by Congress.Some critics said they were too revealing, while others expressed health concerns over radiation exposure.
Passengers still have to undergo full-body scans. However, the scanners now use radio waves that produce a less-detailed image.
Huge radiation health danger for astronauts going to Mars
Curiosity flew to Mars in a spacecraft that had shielding similar to what astronauts would have on the new crew vehicle being developed by NASA. The detector picked up an average of 1.8 millisieverts of radiation per day. A human being on the surface of the Earth receives only about 3 millisieverts of radiation in an entire year.
“The radiation environment in deep space is several hundred times more intense than it is on Earth, and that’s even inside a shielded spacecraft,”
“The radiation exposure on a trip to Mars would — barring a super-huge solar event — not be lethal. The concerns are mostly about cancer induction (a so-called ‘late effect’) and damage to the central nervous system,”
Space radiation would make Mars mission hazardous WP, By Joel Achenbach, May 30 Of all the hazards facing a human mission to Mars — something NASA and countless space buffs would love to see at some point — one of the hardest to solve is the radiation that saturates interplanetary space. New data, gathered by NASA’s Curiosity rover as it traveled to Mars, have confirmed that interplanetary space is a hostile medium and suggest that engineers need to find a way to speed up space travel significantly if they hope to reduce radiation exposure……
The effects of interplanetary radiation on the human body are not well understood. Until now, scientists had limited information about how much radiation penetrates a spacecraft during an interplanetary journey. But the Curiosity rover, which bristles with instruments, carried along a Radiation Assessment Detector, and it measured the incoming radiation during its 253-day trip to Mars, which began in November 2011. Continue reading
Two head CT scans double one’s risk of cancer from radiation
the risk of having soft-tissue sarcoma will be doubled under an exposure equal to radiation from two CT head scans.
Low levels of medical radiation can cause cancer, HKU study warns http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1250953/low-levels-medical-radiation-can-cause-cancer-hku-study-warns Even low levels emitted by X-rays and CT scans can cause cancer, and people who often get whole-body checks are at risk, HKU study says, 01 June, 2013 Emily Tsang emily.tsang@scmp.com Worries have been raised about the overuse of radiation in medicine after a study shows that even low levels of radiation – such as those emitted by X-rays and CT scans – can cause cancer.
The risk of soft-tissue sarcoma is doubled if a person receives an amount of radiation equivalent to two CT head scans, University of Hong Kong researchers say. This means that people who join a growing
trend of getting frequent whole-body checks including X-rays and scans are putting themselves at risk, the researchers say, adding that authorities should also reconsider the risks of nuclear power.
“The study has highlighted that even low to moderate levels of exposure are enough to cause genetic mutation,” study leader Dino Samartzis said. Continue reading
More radiation exposure when contrast medium is used with CT scans
Radiation dose increased for every organ scanned at CT, particularly in the most vascularized tissues, wrote researchers from the University of Messina in Italy. Average doses rose by one-fifth for the liver, one-third for the spleen and pancreas, and almost three-fourths for the kidneys.
“The results are in agreement with our previous data, confirming an increase in organ radiation dose in contrast-enhanced CT compared with unenhanced CT,” wrote Dr. Ernesto Amato and colleagues (AJR, June 2013, Vol. 200:6, pp. 1288-1293)……
Investigators have also found an increase in the frequency of cellular abnormalities in patients who underwent contrast-enhanced radiographic examinations. But the actual increase in dose for any given scan — which depends on iodine uptake; the shape, volume, and position of the organ; and the emitted x-ray energy spectrum — remains unknown, the authors wrote…….
Confirming dose increases
The results were in line with the group’s previous phantom study, and they confirmed significant radiation dose increases in contrast-enhanced CT versus unenhanced CT, Amato and colleagues wrote. The data showed average dose increases of 19% for the liver, 71% for the kidneys, 33% for the spleen and pancreas, and 41% for the thyroid.
“The kidneys showed the maximum among the average dose [increases] (71%, resulting from an attenuation increment of 139 HU),” the authors wrote.”High renal enhancement is, in fact, due to both their high vascularization because they receive 20% to 25% of the cardiac output and the passage of iodine within the renal tubules. In particular, the level of contrast medium within renal tubules can be up to 50 to 100 times higher than that in the blood because of the mechanisms of tubular concentration and secretion.”
Thyroid tissue showed the second highest dose increase (41%) after contrast injection, based on an HU increase of 87%. Also, the dose increases in the thyroid depended on tissue density on unenhanced CT, the group noted. Denser thyroids showed a lower increase in attenuation and, consequently, lower increases in dose.
Because the liver and spleen are richly vascularized, Hounsfield units increased with contrast by 49 HU and 71 HU, respectively, and average dose increased by 19% and 33%……. http://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=ser&sub=def&pag=dis&ItemID=103565
Astronauts going to Mars face a radiation cancer death sentence
Radiation on trip to Mars near life limit HERALD SUN, AAP MAY 31, 2013 ASTRONAUTS who travel on future missions to Mars would likely be exposed to their lifetime limit of radiation during the trip, not to mention time spent on the Red Planet, scientists say.
The measurements were made aboard the Mars Science Laboratory, an unmanned NASA rover and mobile lab that set off for Mars in 2011 before landing 253 days later in August 2012, said the report in the US journal Science.
“In terms of accumulated dose, it’s like getting a whole-body CT scan once every five or six days,” said Cary Zeitlin, a principal scientist in Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Space Science and Engineering Division.
“Radiation exposure at the level we measured is right at the edge, or possibly over the edge of what is considered acceptable in terms of career exposure limits defined by NASA and other space agencies.”
Zeitlin said more study is needed to determine the actual health risks — including the likelihood of developing cancer — associated with exposure to cosmic radiation before any human trip to Mars can take place.
The US space agency has said it is aiming for the first-ever astronaut mission to Mars some time in the 2030s…….. HTTP://WWW.HERALDSUN.COM.AU/NEWS/BREAKING-NEWS/RADIATION-ON-TRIP-TO-MARS-NEAR-LIFE-LIMIT/STORY-FNI0XQLL-1226654163809
Fukushima’s radioactive contamination spreads in marine life
Japan Radiation Widely Contaminates Pacific Marine Life http://www.earthweek.com/2013/ew130524/ew130524b.html 24 May 13, Traces of radioactive cesium from Japan’s crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have been found in water and plankton collected
from all 10 points monitored across a vast stretch of the western Pacific.
The isotopes cesium-134 and cesium-137 were found in the tiny plantlike creatures from the coast of Japan’s Hokkaido Island to Guam.
The samples were taken early last year, less than a year after the tsunami that overwhelmed the plant, but the findings were just
announced at a meeting of the Japan Geoscience Union.
Cesium-134 has a half-life of two years while it takes 30 years for cesium-137 to decay by half. Scientists say the isotopes were being dispersed across the Pacific in plankton, and were accumulating up the food chain as the tiny creatures were eaten by larger marine life.
Further studies are being conducted to see how much cesium was building up in fish and possibly marine mammals.
Radiation was flushed into the Pacific after three meltdowns occurred at the Fukushima nuclear plant. More than two years after the March 2011 disaster, plant operators are struggling to contain the 400 tons of radioactive water poured over the melted cores of reactors 1, 2 and 3 to prevent the fuel from melting and burning again.
How much radiation are passengers exposed to during a flight?
The plane truth about flying revealed BY:BY KATE SCHNEIDER, The Australian, May 24, 2013“…….How much radiation are passengers exposed to during a flight?People travelling in aircraft may be exposed to more ionising radiation than they would be exposed to on the ground. That’s because when you’re flying between 7000 and 12,000 metres (the typical cruising altitude of a commercial aircraft), the Earth’s atmosphere provides less protection from cosmic radiation.
To put this into perspective, during a seven-hour flight from New York to London travellers receive about the same dose of radiation as a chest X-ray; and from New York to Tokyo, two chest X-rays, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration.Passengers receive the same dose of radiation as a chest X-ray on a flight from New York to Tokyo. ….. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/news/the-plane-truth-about-flying-revealed/story-e6frg8ro-1226649790296
Radiation exposure is of growing concern in medicine.
Intermountain Healthcare alerts patients to cumulative radiation exposure The cancer risk from a single CT scan or chest X-ray is low, but radiation exposure is of growing concern in medicine. By Kirsten Stewart The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 May 13, Roughly 25 patients a day are wheeled into Intermountain Medical Center’s “cath lab” for CT scans to look for calcium buildup in their coronary arteries.
Coronary artery scans — the newest addition to radiologists’ growing arsenal of diagnostic tools — can aid doctors in diagnosing heart problems early. But they expose patients to 50 to 150 times the radiation of a chest X-ray, raising their risk for developing cancer later in life. “We want to make sure patients are getting tests only for the right reasons,” said cardiologist Donald Lappe at a new conference Wednesday touting a 9-month-old initiative aimed at ensuring just that.
Since August 2012 Intermountain Heathcare’s 168 clinics and 22 hospitals have been tracking patients’ cumulative radiation exposure from high-dose tests: CT scans, nuclear medicine scans and interventional radiology exams. Later the hospital chain hopes to also track x-rays, mammograms and other screens.
Generally the cancer risk from a single test is low, but radiation exposure is of growing concern in medicine.
The U.S. population’s exposure to ionizing radiation has nearly doubled over the past two decades, largely due to medical tests, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which requires all hospitals to disclose radiation doses to patients upon request…….http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56343948-78/radiation-exposure-patients-risk.html.csp
Radiation therapy may be unnecessary for older breast cancer patients
Can Older Early-Stage Breast Cancer Patients Skip Radiation? Medscape Today, Kate Johnson May 22, 2013 There is no benefit in adding radiation to tamoxifen therapy in women aged 70 years or older after lumpectomy for early-stage breast cancer, according to extended, long-term results of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 9343 trial.
“Irradiation adds no significant benefit in terms of survival, time to distant metastasis, or ultimate breast preservation,” noted author Kevin Hughes, MD, from Harvard Medical School, and colleagues in an article published online ahead of print in theJournal of Clinical Oncology.
Median follow-up for the trial is now 12.6 years, and the 10-year results back up the trial’s previous 5-year data.
As previously reported by Medscape Medical News, those results prompted the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) to adjust its treatment guidelines, so that it no longer recommends radiation therapy after lumpectomy in older women with estrogen receptor (ER)–positive early breast cancer who are receiving endocrine therapy.
However, despite this, the authors note that their initial findings had “little impact” on clinical practice, “with the use of irradiation only slightly diminishing in this population.”…. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/804584
1 This Month
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
29 Jan. Thursday 7-8 p.m. Webinar – World’s Largest Nuclear Station in Port Hope, ON?
31st January – Challenging the War Machine – a DECLASSIFIED UK SUMMIT
Website of the Week
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
-
Archives
- January 2026 (271)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (258)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
- June 2025 (348)
- May 2025 (261)
- April 2025 (305)
- March 2025 (319)
- February 2025 (234)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 