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Health, environmental risks and the social construction of radioactive waste
Published in Matthew Cotton, Nuclear Waste Politics, 2017
By far the most important issue that relates to the framing of nuclear risk governance is the management of the public and environmental health implications of nuclear technologies, and the radionuclides that they produce. As mentioned in Chapter 1, radioactive substances undergo a process of nuclear decay whereby the nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionising radiation. In living cells ionising radiation can produce harmful effects in living tissue. In acute and sufficiently high doses this can cause radiation sickness and even death. Ionising radiation can potentially kill cells directly, or if they don’t die, it can cause genetic damage (i.e. to the DNA molecules within cells). Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation poisoning, radiation sickness or radiation toxicity, is a set of health effects that usually present within 24 hours of exposure to high doses of radiation. These include burn effects, nausea and other gastrointestinal injury, headaches, drowsiness and dizziness, a drop in the blood cell count leading to poor wound healing and infection prevention. In low, chronic doses, the radiation doesn’t directly kill the cells, but the genetic damage can cause cell mutations, leading to the later formation of cancerous cells and tumour development (Donnelly, Nemhauser, Smith, Kazzi, Farfan, & Chang et al., 2010).
Everything you wanted to know about space radiation but were afraid to ask
Published in Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part C, 2021
Jeffery Chancellor, Craig Nowadly, Jacqueline Williams, Serena Aunon-Chancellor, Megan Chesal, Jayme Looper, Wayne Newhauser
Since the onset of crewed spaceflight, it has been presumed that exposure to space radiation increases the risks of astronauts developing cancer, experiencing central nervous system decrements, exhibiting degenerative tissue effects or developing acute radiation syndrome.1–3,20,25,37,38 The majority of epidemiologic data resulting from the astronaut cohort are from exposures incurred on missions during the Space Shuttle era, where less than 100 mSv was accumulated by an astronaut. Over the past decade, however, the nominal mission length for astronauts has increased to at least 6 months in duration with exposures of 1 mSv to 1.5 mSv per day, depending on the phase of the solar cycle, number of spacewalks performed, and level of solar activity. Even with increasing mission length and radiation exposures (e.g., Figure 4), it is noteworthy that to date no astronaut has been diagnosed with a cancer that is attributable to space radiation. Although the sample size is small, followup times for large exposures are limited, and cancer latency periods are years to decades. In addition, the neurocognitive deficits and vascular endothelial dysfunction leading to increased cardiovascular mortality have not been demonstrated compared to analog populations.