Nuclear radiation effects
ERT term 4 With the depletion of fossil fuels and their harmful carbon dioxide emission, nuclear power is an increasing energy source. World-wide around 11.5% of energy is nuclear and in countries like France it’s 76.9% of their power source. With nuclear power being a renewable and relatively clean source of energy, nuclear power plants are being built all over the world. But despite the environmentally friendly aspects of nuclear power, when nuclear waste is not stored properly it can potentially leak and when in the environment continue to release harmful radiation for extended amounts of time. The release of radiation in nature is due to decay and varies between elements because of their different half-lives.
Nuclides (radioactive isotopes) are stable when they have enough binding energy. When elements are created separate nucleons are crushed to form a nuclide, during this process energy is lost, and this energy is binding …show more content…
Activity measures how much radiation a substance gives off and is measured in Becquerel which counts the number of particles emitted by a source per second. Radiation in relation to exposure is expressed through absorbed dose which is measured in joules of energy per kilogram of tissue in grays (Gy). The effects of the exposed amount of radiation depend on the weighting factor which varies with the type of radiation. The dose equivalent is measure in Sieverts (Sv) which is the absorbed dose × weighting factor.
Australian’s receive 1.5-2 millisieverts a year as their natural background radiation. Annually worldwide, natural background radiation is around 1.5-3.5 millisieverts. The maximum yearly dosage for radiation workers is 20-50mSv. When exposed to 1-3Sv of radiation, severe poisoning occurs, cancer risks increase and fatality is possible. At 4Sv radiation poisoning is fatal, and medical attention is needed immediately for
ERT term 4 With the depletion of fossil fuels and their harmful carbon dioxide emission, nuclear power is an increasing energy source. World-wide around 11.5% of energy is nuclear and in countries like France it’s 76.9% of their power source. With nuclear power being a renewable and relatively clean source of energy, nuclear power plants are being built all over the world. But despite the environmentally friendly aspects of nuclear power, when nuclear waste is not stored properly it can potentially leak and when in the environment continue to release harmful radiation for extended amounts of time. The release of radiation in nature is due to decay and varies between elements because of their different half-lives.
Nuclides (radioactive isotopes) are stable when they have enough binding energy. When elements are created separate nucleons are crushed to form a nuclide, during this process energy is lost, and this energy is binding …show more content…
Activity measures how much radiation a substance gives off and is measured in Becquerel which counts the number of particles emitted by a source per second. Radiation in relation to exposure is expressed through absorbed dose which is measured in joules of energy per kilogram of tissue in grays (Gy). The effects of the exposed amount of radiation depend on the weighting factor which varies with the type of radiation. The dose equivalent is measure in Sieverts (Sv) which is the absorbed dose × weighting factor.
Australian’s receive 1.5-2 millisieverts a year as their natural background radiation. Annually worldwide, natural background radiation is around 1.5-3.5 millisieverts. The maximum yearly dosage for radiation workers is 20-50mSv. When exposed to 1-3Sv of radiation, severe poisoning occurs, cancer risks increase and fatality is possible. At 4Sv radiation poisoning is fatal, and medical attention is needed immediately for