rickusn

Is Atomic Radiation as Dangerous as We Thought?

Nuclear Exaggeration: Is Atomic Radiation as Dangerous as We Thought? - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Now having served in a nuclear submarine I glow in the dark.

LOL Just kidding!!!! about glowing in the dark.

Ive never been overly concerned with radiation as we are irradiated everyday by the Sun.

In any event this is an interesting article.

gunnut

HA! The tree-hugging environmental hippie socialists strike again. A perfectly feasible scientific breakthrough to generate clean power was delayed by decades due to hysteria.

I blame global warming on hippies.

__________________
"Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

dalem

I blame everything on hippies.

-dale

Blademaster

Still I wouldn't want to live in any radiation emanating field that is emitting rads 100 times the rads given out by sun rays. For one thing, thyroids are very suscetiple to radiation and thyroid glands are what's responsible for the production of hormones and enzymes. Remove your thyroid and your quality of life goes waaaaaaaay down.

Patch

Thanks for the article, Rickusn- it is very interesting. I always find it disheartening that such a valuable technology was hamstrung by 'green' groups grabbing the PR initiative, scaremongering, and downright lies. I believe that Pripyat is now one of the most important nature reserves in the Ukraine, as the complete absence of humans allows wildlife to thrive- so much for the blasted death zone of public perception.

cape_royds

I remember reading an article in a pediatrics journal back in the late 1990's, which reported that the Chernobyl disaster did not produce effects as bad as had been anticipated (nevertheless, there was more than a tenfold increase in thyroid illnesses among children).

On the one hand, a revised public opinion about the hazards of nuclear energy would be a good thing, since it would lead to the increased use of nuclear power plants, especially with fast breeders and a closed fuel cycle. Up to the present, these technologies have been under-utilized.

On the other hand, the erosion of the longstanding global popular cultural taboo against things nuclear will make the employment of nuclear weapons much more acceptable, all the more so, with the perceptual shift that will occur with the gradual passing away of the Cold War generations.

RustyBattleship

When we first started encountering radioactive materials, we didn't think much of any danger to them.

X-rays by radioactive materials were a boon to medicine and science. But even Madam Curie fell victim to her own invention. However we still didn't think it was all that bad and continued to install X-ray machines in shoe stores so Mom could see that Junior's new shoes were fitting right.

Radium dial watches were great, until we found out the women who painted the numbers often licked the brush tips with their tongues to get a sharp point. Then many of them came down with radiation sickness and some even died.

Severity of radiation contamination and poisoining was quite a shocker when we started setting off our first atomic bombs. The Japanese victims of WW II were an eye opener but even then our desert tests provided little protection to the soldiers and engineers conducting the experiments. The only soldiers that were not over-exposed during military deployment tests were tank crews that had 2 to 4 inches of steel armor (equivilant to 1 to 2 inches of lead) shielding them.

Then radiation was produced electronically. Modern X-ray machines in medical facilities are electronic and do not use a radioactive element. But they still put a lead lined bib on me when X-raying my teeth and the technicians have to wear protective aprons also because of their frequent exposures.

But we know a lot more about it today than we did then. We also know a lot more about how to build protective systems around it such as in Nuclear Power plants. It is a shame that the so-called "Green" people are so much against nuclear plants that would actually save trillions of tons of coal and fuel oil if allowed to be built without interference.

Perhaps that's why they are called "Pseudo-Intellectuals". They're smart, but not smart enough and are too narrow minded in their own agenda to allow ALL the facts to be used.

__________________
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ArmchairGeneral

Not exactly. The thyroid is not especially susceptible to radiation, it's just that it sucks up iodine like a sponge. One of the radioactive byproducts of fission is a radioactive isotope of iodine, so the thyroid tends to absorb it, leading to thyroid cancer. That's why potassium iodide tablets are issued as a protective measure in fallout areas. Dilute the radioiodine in the body to safer amounts.

__________________
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-Theodore Dalrymple

ArmchairGeneral

Interesting article. Doesn't surprise me too much, though. For one thing, the vast majority of mutations have little or no phenotypic effects. Also, the biological mechanisms for preventing and repairing mutations are incredibly effective. And, of course, the evils of radiation have been impressed on our minds extremely firmly, so there is a natural tendency to exaggerate.