China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
CBRN and the Trauma Victim
Published in Ian Greaves, Keith Porter, Jeff Garner, Trauma Care Manual, 2021
Ian Greaves, Keith Porter, Jeff Garner
A nuclear incident involves the process of splitting the atom (fission) usually either as a controlled process (power production) or nuclear weapon/detonation (chain reaction). Nuclear fission generates a vast amount of energy, mainly in the form of heat and ionizing radiation with the by-product of multiple fission products (usually beta-emitting, for example, strontium, caesium and iodine radioisotopes) and neutron-induced radioisotopes. In the case of nuclear detonation, addition features include a fireball, electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and blast wave. The result of a nuclear incident including an explosion is the potential for contaminated, blast, thermal and irradiated casualties, and a combination of these. Any concurrent significant irradiation and trauma have a synergistic effect with higher-than-expected death rates. Psychological effects should also not be underestimated.
Radiation protection in the nuclear industry
Published in Alan Martin, Sam Harbison, Karen Beach, Peter Cole, An Introduction to Radiation Protection, 2018
Alan Martin, Sam Harbison, Karen Beach, Peter Cole
It will be seen that the utilization of nuclear fission to produce energy results in the formation, within the fuel, of hundreds of different types of radioactive fission products, with half-lives varying from a fraction of a second to very many years. The inventory of fission products in the fuel builds up over the period of irradiation.
Source of Radiation Exposure in the Workplace: Nuclear, Medical and Industrial Sources
Published in Gaetano Licitra, Giovanni d'Amore, Mauro Magnoni, Physical Agents in the Environment and Workplace, 2018
This process is one of the two main processes generating radioactivity in a nuclear reactor: The main process is the nuclear fission reaction itself, with the splitting of U atoms into radioactive fission fragments, usually contained inside fuel elements' pellets (fission products). The second process is the result of neutron irradiation and capture and is called neutron activation, which leads to the creation of activation products.
Modeling principles of protective thyroid blocking
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2022
Alexis Rump, Stefan Eder, Cornelius Hermann, Andreas Lamkowski, Manabu Kinoshita, Tetsuo Yamamoto, Junya Take, Michael Abend, Nariyoshi Shinomiya, Matthias Port
Nuclear fission processes release a large number of different fission products, including radioactive iodine nuclides. Uranium-235 usually splits asymmetrically and radioioiodine(s) fall(s) in one of the favored mass number regions of the fission products (peaks between 90–100 and 130–140). The main radioactive iodine isotopes formed by fission are iodine-131 (physical half-life, T1/2 = 8.02 d), iodine-129 (T1/2 = 1.57 107 y) and iodine-132 (T1/2 = 2.3 h; from Te-132) (ICRP 2017). Among the different iodine isotopes, iodine-131 is of particular importance (Blum and Eisenbud 1967). Iodine is characterized by its high volatility compared to most other fission products. In the case of nuclear incidents, e.g. nuclear power plant accidents or the detonation of a nuclear weapon, it must be expected that radioiodine will be released and also carried over greater distances (Verger et al. 2001; Chabot 2016). Radioiodine is quickly absorbed into the organism both by inhalation and via ingestion (Geoffroy et al. 2000; Verger et al. 2001). From a practical point of view, intake through contaminated drinking water and food probably plays the decisive role (Blum and Eisenbud 1967).
A review of studies of childhood cancer and natural background radiation
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2021
Gerald M. Kendall, Mark P. Little, Richard Wakeford
Radiation protection was first developed to manage the risks of medical exposures. However, after the Second World War, military and peaceful uses of nuclear fission came to dominate the subject, as they arguably still do. Interest in natural background radiation was, perhaps surprisingly, slow to develop given that ubiquitous naturally occurring radiation predated both medical and military/industrial fission applications and that the deleterious effect of natural sources of radiation, in the form of ‘Schneeberger Lungenkrankheit’ (Schneeberger Lung Disease – lung cancer) had been known for centuries albeit not under that name. However, the recognition that natural background radiation, specifically emissions from radon decay products, was responsible was slow to come (International Commission on Radiological Protection 1993).
Why is the multiple stressor concept of relevance to radioecology?
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2019
B. Salbu, H. C. Teien, O. C. Lind, K. E. Tollefsen
Sources associated with nuclear fission such as the backend of the nuclear weapons and fuel cycles, include the simultaneous releases of a large number of different radionuclides representing spent fuel such as uranium as well as fission products, activation products and actinides. In case of a high temperature and high pressure event (e.g., nuclear detonation, reactor explosion, reactor fire), the release will also include a series of stable metals such as Zr and Nb due to interactions with cladding. Sources associated with the front end of the fuel cycles such as U mining, represent a legacy of long-lived naturally occurring radionuclides in close association with elements such as As and metals such as Cd, Ni, and Pb. Monitoring of the U.S. Superfund Waste Sites showed that radionuclides were commonly found not only together with metals, but also with contaminants such as volatile organic compounds, PAHs, and pesticides (Hinton and Aizawa 2007). Thus, one source can contribute to the release of multiple radionuclides as well as metals and organics to the environment, and assessing a limited number of stressors, one stressor at a time, may easily underestimate the risk.