The Causes, Effects, and Examples of Accidents of Radiations - Research Paper Example

Background During the formation of earth, many of its elements, like the rest of universe were radioactive. This means that we live in a world where radiation is everywhere naturally. Heat and light because of nuclear reactions that takes place in the sun are crucial to our existence. Radioactive materials naturally occur throughout the environment and our bodies quite naturally contain radioactive materials, which include potassium-40, carbon-14, and polonium-21. Man therefore is always exposed to radiation from various sources within the environment and all life on earth has been progressing in the existence of radiation. Since X-rays and radioactivity were discovered in more than 100 years ago, scientists have found various artificial ways of producing radiation as well as radioactive materials. X-ray was first used for medical diagnosis, in six months after they were discovered in 1895. This shows that the benefit of using radiations was established early enough but there were some potential dangers that were associated with radiations especially to doctors who were exposed to them in early 1990s. Since then, there have been many developed applications of radiations as well as radioactive materials. Classification of radiations is based on its effects on matter, which is either ionizing or non-ionizing radiation (IAEA, 1995). Various kinds of radiations include alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron radiations. Alpha particles are emitted by heavy radioactive elements that include plutonium and uranium among others. Beta radiation is made up of electrons that are much lighter as compared to alpha and have longer range. Gamma radiations together with X-rays are electromagnetic waves. They are related to visible light and radiofrequency waves but have much higher energy. Neutron radiation is emitted only by spontaneous fission decay because of a few radionuclides as well as by fission resulting from small particles that include alpha particles and neutrons themselves (Cember, 1996). This paper involves a research on the causes, effects, and examples of accidents of radiations. It also focuses on protection from radiation, ionizing radiations as well as uses of radiations. Radiation is caused by instability of atoms. Atoms are made of nucleus which itself contains neutrons and protons, surrounded by a cloud of electrons. These electrons can move freely and bond with other atoms. It is worth noting that the nucleus is stable for most atoms and would not change but it is not the case for some atoms. In addition, either some atoms have too many or not enough neutrons or they cannot hold themselves together due to their large size. Any nucleus that that is unstable will decay eventually, leading to emission of small parts of nucleus, or splitting into different atoms. The effect of decay is to change the original atom into other atoms that are completely different. Such new atoms may either be stable or not. Unstable atoms are usually radioactive and in order to be stable, they give off excess mass or energy. Such emissions are referred to as radiation. These include electromagnetic radiation such as gamma and X-rays, and particulate such as alpha and beta (IAEA, 1995). The effects of radiation vary according to the duration of exposure and radiation dose. Different doses of radiation to different bodies at different rates can lead to different health effects at different times. Very high dose results to rapid death ranging from a few days to weeks. The effects include acute radiation sickness, cancer, fetal damage, and hereditary changes among others. Acute radiation sickness is because of exposure of radiation dose that exceed 2 Sv to a person for a short time. This dose results to damaging of the blood-forming organ. The first symptoms usually disappear after a few days and later the level of white blood cells become low leading to weakening of the immune system. This in turn results to serious infections. Higher doses lead to serious damage on epithelial intestinal cells, nerve and brain cells (Shleien, 1992). The irradiated cells may not die but become damaged and they transfer their damage to progenitor cells. This leads to cancer or tumors. The general risk for cancer increases with an increase in age in an exponential way except for few cases such as thyroid and leukemia among children. Due to rapid growth of fetus, it is sensitive to radiation, particularly ionizing radiation. One of the symptoms of the fetal damage is mental retardation of the child. Exposure of ionizing radiation also leads to hereditary changes. The germ that has been affected by radiation can transfer the genetic damage to the next generation through conception (Cember, 1996). Nuclear and radiation accidents consist of an event that results to significant consequences on people, the environment as well as other facilities. Such consequences include large environmental radioactivity release, and lethal effects to individuals. There are various radiation accidents throughout the world where some of them include Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, Fukushima disaster in Japan, Windscale fire in UK. Chernobyl disaster occurred in 1986 in Ukraine killing 30 people directly and damaging property worth more than$7 billion dollars. The study also estimates that more that 4,000 cancer deaths were also related to the accident because of the people who were exposed to significant levels of radiation. More than 350,000 people were resettled away from the area after the accident occurred. Fukushima disaster in Japan occurred in 1990 in a uranium reprocessing facility. The accident resulted to two direct deaths and the studies estimated that more than 1,000 cancer deaths were also related to the accident. The Windscale fire in UK occurred in 1957 where an air-cooled reactor moderated by graphite without containment structure ignited piles of plutonium leading to contamination of the surrounding farms (Sovacool, 2008). It resulted to more than 33 fatalities. Other accidents include the Panama accidents between 2000 and 2001 which resulted to 17 fatalities where patients receiving cervix and prostate cancer treatment received lethal doses of radiation, the radiotherapy accident in Costa Rica which resulted to 13 fatalities in 1996 where 114 patients received a radiation overdose from Cobalt-60 source use for radiotherapy (Sovacool, 2008), and radiotherapy accident in Spain in 1990 leading to 11 fatalities where 27 cancer patients were receiving radiotherapy (McInroy, 1995). Protection from radiation is based on three basic forms that are time, distance and shielding. Time is very essential, as the amount of time that is spent near a radiation source will significantly affect the exposure received. The further you are from the source of radiation, the less exposure you will receive. A shield is very important as it limits the radiation exposure. When working with radiation, it is crucial to know where the radiation exists as well as how much is present. There are various instruments that are used for detection of the presence of radiation as well as telling us the amount of radiation present by electronically counting radioactive particles interfering with the counter. One of such instrument is the Geiger counter that is very crucial even in measuring low radioactivity levels (IAEA, 1994). However, it is also important to know the kind of radiation in order to understand the type of protection. These include alpha particle, beta particles, gamma and X-rays as well as neutrons. The effects of health of alpha particles occur only when it is ingested or inhaled or when it enters into the body through a cut skin. More serious and dangerous cases include ingesting a radioactive material into the body, or the alpha particle that are emitted in the body, for instance, in the bone marrow. Alpha particles are easily shielded using human skin or a piece of paper. The penetration of beta particles into the human body is through ingestion or inhalation but it can reach the basal skin if it has high amount of energy. Most beta particles are stopped using a six millimeters thick aluminum. Gamma rays are very dangerous due to their great ability to penetrate. They deliver significant doses without inhalation or ingestion into body organs. They can be protected from using several millimeters f lead or steel. Since neutrons are electrically neutral, they can have great penetration ability and when they interact with a tissue or matter, they lead to emission of beta and gamma radiation. As a result, in order to reduce exposure, they require heavy shielding (Crick, 1996). All radiations are referred to as carriers of energy. When a radiation interacts with matter, some of energy is then transferred to the molecules and atoms of that matter. If such radiation contains enough energy, it has the ability of stripping electrons from atoms. This is referred to as ionization, a phenomenon called ionization radiation. Ionizing radiation enters in a human body through different ways. It originates from natural processes, for instance, the decay of uranium as well as from artificial procedures such as medical diagnosis using X-rays. The sources of ionizing radiation can be either natural or artificial. Natural sources include gamma rays from the earth, radionuclide from foods, and radon decay products, which come from the air. Artificial sources include radioactive waste discharged from nuclear industry, medical X-rays, industrial gamma rays among others. Each source of ionization radiation has two main characteristics; the dose that the radiation delivers to human, and the ease in which a human being can do something in order to affect such doses (IAEA, 1994). For the benefit of mankind, radiation is used in medicine, industry, academics and in generation of electricity. It is also used in agriculture, space exploration, archaeology (carbon dating), geology among others. Radiation has two different uses in medicine; for diagnosis and therapy. The uses are intended to benefit the patients and any use of radiation must ensure that benefits outweigh the risk. Radiation material is used in schools, higher institutions, and scientific institutions in experimental research, course work, and laboratory demonstrations as well as a variety of health physics (Cember, 1996). Archeologists also use the substances that are radioactive in order to determine the age of fossils as well as other objects through carbon dating. There are various uses of radiation in the industry. In irradiation, medical equipment, foods and other substances are exposed to radiation in order to kill microorganisms without harming the substance that is being disinfected and without making the substance radioactive. Radiation is very important in removal of toxic pollutants, which include exhaust gases from power stations that are coal-fired. In agricultural industry, radiation in employed in improving the production and packaging of food. In engineering, measurement of the thickness of paper products is made using gauges with radioactive substances. In addition, radiation in form of X-ray referred to as radiography is also used in checking defects in metallic castings. Another important use of radiation is generation of electricity in nuclear power plants. Generation of electricity is through nuclear fission, which leads to splitting of the atom. Nuclear power plants are developing at a higher rate (IAEA, 2004). Conclusion Radioactive materials naturally occur throughout the environment and our bodies quite naturally contain radioactive materials. Since X-rays and radioactivity were discovered in 1895, scientists have found various artificial ways of producing radiation as well as radioactive materials. As unstable atoms, which give out excess energy, the process is referred to as radiation. Their effects of radiation vary according to the duration of exposure and radiation dose. Nuclear and radiation accidents which consist of an event which results to significant consequences on people, the environment as well as other facilities have been occurring since radiation was discovered. Protection from radiation is based on three basic forms; time, distance and shielding. If a radiation contains enough energy, it has the ability to strip electrons from atoms, a phenomena referred to as ionization radiation. Uses of radiation include medicine, industry, academics and in nuclear plants for generation of electricity. It is also used in agriculture, space exploration, carbon dating, and in geology among others . References Cember, H. 1996. Introduction to Health Physics. (3rd Edition) New York: McGraw-Hill Crick, M. (1996). Nuclear and radiation safety: Guidance for emergency response. IAEA Bulletin. 38(1), 23. IAEA (1995). The principles of radioactive waste management, safety series, no. 111, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna. IAEA (2004). Radiation, people, and environment. IAEA, Austria, 1-79 IAEA. (1994). Safety Series No. 109, Intervention criteria in a nuclear or radiation emergency. STI/PUB/900. IAEA, Vienna, 117. McInroy, J. F. (1995). A true measure of plutonium exposure: the human tissue analysis program at Los Alamos, Los Alamos Science 23, 35–255 Shleien, B. 1992. The Health Physics and Radiological Health Handbook. Silver Spring, MD: Scinta Inc. Sovacool, B. K. (2008). The costs of failure: A preliminary assessment of major energy accidents, 1907–2007, Energy Policy 36, 1806. Read More