The whole Earth is radioactive; radioactive chemicals from the earth’s crust, cosmic rays, radon from food and drink, even from human tissues themselves… Radioactivity surrounds us. This does not mean, however, that this radioactivity is dangerous to health, as long as it does not exceed certain levels.
Despite the fear of nuclear power plants, today the industry ensures safe handling of radioactive sources. To ensure that the radiation levels to which plant workers are exposed, and the population around them, remain safe, it is essential to control three variables: distance, shielding and exposure time.
According to an epidemiological report carried out by Foro Nuclear, the effects of ionizing radiation on people’s health are representative when people are exposed to high doses of radiation and / or high dose rates, but the same does not happen when the rate of radiation exposure is very low or when the total dose received is too low.
The report also includes the conclusions of several studies of nuclear environments, which have been carried out since 1940, and among all of them, no increase in cancer mortality is recorded in any of the areas studied, except for one: the Chernobyl area. , which registered a substantial increase in thyroid cancer among the childhood population.
Despite the fact that in the 21st century the improvement of the safety of nuclear power plants has minimized the risk of another nuclear disaster with as much impact as that of 1986 in present-day Ukraine, nuclear waste and its management continue to constitute a serious ecological problem. It is especially the pollution of the waters: oceans, lakes, rivers … where for years the industry dumped drums of this waste. Today, this practice is prohibited and persecuted.
Many scientists see nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels and point out its important role in the energy transition and in minimizing the effects of climate change; for others, the risk of waste management and other risks associated with the use of this energy source pose too great a problem to be compensated for by its use.
With sufficient incidence, ionizing radiation can alter the tissue of humans and animals (causing alterations such as cancer or even death) and alter ecosystems; but the levels to which the human being is usually exposed are, in general, innocuous for health. Of course, in some corners of the planet, radiation is greater than in others. How dangerous is it? We review some of the “most radioactive” places on Earth.
