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Wednesday, April 6, 2011
How does nuclear radiation do its damage?
Molika Ashford (popsci.com)
Boy is screened for radiation in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, on March 16, 2011 (Tayama Tatsuyuki/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images).
Ionizing radiation -- the kind that minerals, atom bombs, and nuclear reactors emit -- does one main thing to the human body: It weakens and breaks up DNA, either damaging cells enough to kill them or causing them to mutate in ways that may eventually lead to cancer.
After the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, four nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant are now damaged and releasing radiation. Workers trying to keep the reactors from getting worse are themselves being exposed, while the Japanese government has called for anyone within 20 kms of the plant to evacuate.
Nuclear radiation, unlike the radiation from a light bulb or a microwave, is energetic enough to ionize atoms by knocking off their electrons. This ionizing radiation can damage DNA molecules directly by breaking the bonds between atoms. Or it can ionize water molecules and form free radicals, which are highly reactive and disrupt the bonds of surrounding molecules, including DNA. More
Radiation at the shoreline of the Fukushima facility has measured several million times the legal limit, just four weeks after the earthquake and tsunami and days after workers…
The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility in Japan has set off a debate in the international community about the future of nuclear energy.
In Japan, the Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun releasing more than 11,000 tons of radioactive water into the ocean while it attempts to find the source of radioactive leaks at the crippled…
Displaced residents of areas near Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been told their evacuation may last for months, leaving thousands in temporary shelters…
The crisis in Japan has refueled the rigorous global debate about the viability of nuclear power. Japan remains in a "state of maximum alert" as the experts scramble to contain radiation that is…
Japan has announced plans to decommission four reactors at the earthquake-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. Emergency crews have failed to control reactors Units 1 to 4 since they were…
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