The common (in a nuclear accident) short half live isotopes of Iodine, Stronium, Cesium, Plutonium, and other highly bioabsorptive alpha emitters would like a word?
Not to mention the chemical toxicity of many of them is non trivial.
Radioactive isotopes cause damage by imparting energy in the form of energetic emissions that can be measured quantitatively in units of mSv. You get 6 mSv/yr from natural and normal man-made sources. 100 mSv acutely causes a small increase in lifetime cancer risk from a baseline of 40%. 300 mSv over a year does the same. Above that, cancer risk increases with dose. Arount 2000 mSv acute you start getting acute radiation syndrome (which is what the ~40 first responders at Chernobyl died from). Human LD 50/30 with medical intervention is about 8000 mSv.
So unless someone is getting more than 300 mSv a year, it's highly unlikely that they are being harmed by the radiation.
That’s an overly reductive analysis based on generalized whole body doses from (external generally) ionizing radiation, and not relevant to absorbed isotopes and internal radiation.
Which is what we were discussing.
There is a reason one of the first things handed out during a nuclear accident is potassium iodide pills, and it’s not to protect against gamma radiation.
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The common (in a nuclear accident) short half live isotopes of Iodine, Stronium, Cesium, Plutonium, and other highly bioabsorptive alpha emitters would like a word?
Not to mention the chemical toxicity of many of them is non trivial.
Radioactive isotopes cause damage by imparting energy in the form of energetic emissions that can be measured quantitatively in units of mSv. You get 6 mSv/yr from natural and normal man-made sources. 100 mSv acutely causes a small increase in lifetime cancer risk from a baseline of 40%. 300 mSv over a year does the same. Above that, cancer risk increases with dose. Arount 2000 mSv acute you start getting acute radiation syndrome (which is what the ~40 first responders at Chernobyl died from). Human LD 50/30 with medical intervention is about 8000 mSv.
So unless someone is getting more than 300 mSv a year, it's highly unlikely that they are being harmed by the radiation.
That’s an overly reductive analysis based on generalized whole body doses from (external generally) ionizing radiation, and not relevant to absorbed isotopes and internal radiation.
Which is what we were discussing.
There is a reason one of the first things handed out during a nuclear accident is potassium iodide pills, and it’s not to protect against gamma radiation.
What is your point exactly?