Radioactive contamination

Radioactive contamination or radiological contamination is the contamination of the environment with radioactive materials, where these materials are not present. Many radioactive substances have very long half lives; this means that if they are present in the envioroment, they can be dangerous for a very long time. Many nuclear power plants produce such substances; usually they are processed to radioactive waste. There is little danger that comes from radioactive waste,if it is stored safely.

Causes

  • Incidents in nuclear power plants
  • Nuclear medicine uses radiation for the treatment of illnesses. Sometimes, there are accidents.
  • Explosions in nuclear facilities (and atomic bombs) cause nuclear fallouts: This means that nuclear particles are scattered using normal atmospheric phenomena, such as the weather
  • Nuclear reprocessing can contaminate water

Accidents

Year Type Incident ARS deaths ARS survivors Location
1945 criticality Harry K. Daghlian 1 0 Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States
1946 criticality Pajarito accident (Louis Slotin) 1 2 Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States
1957 alleged crime Nikolay Khokhlov assassination attempt[4] 0 1 Frankfurt, West Germany
1958 criticality Cecil Kelley criticality accident 1 0 Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States
1961 reactor Soviet submarine K-19[5] 8 many North Atlantic, near Southern Greenland
1961 criticality SL-1 experimental reactor explosion 2 0 NRTS, near Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States
1962 orphan source radiation accident in Mexico City 4 ? Mexico City, Mexico
1968 reactor Soviet submarine K-27[6] 9 40 near Gremikha Bay, Russia
1985 reactor Soviet submarine K-431[7] 10 49 Chazhma Bay naval facility near Vladivostok, USSR
1985 radiotherapy Therac-25 radiation overdose accidents 3 3
1984 orphan source radiation accident in Morocco[8] 8 3 Mohammedia, Morocco
1986 reactor Chernobyl disaster 28 206 - 209 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukrainian SSR
1987 orphan source Goiânia accident[9] 4 ? Goiânia, Brazil
1990 radiotherapy radiotherapy accident in Zaragoza[10] 11 ? Zaragoza, Spain
1996 radiotherapy radiotherapy accident in Costa Rica[11] 7 to 20 46 San José, Costa Rica
1999 criticality Tokaimura nuclear accident 2 ? Tōkai, Ibaraki, Japan
2000 orphan source Samut Prakan radiation accident[12] 3 7 Samut Prakan Province, Thailand
2000 radiotherapy Instituto Oncologico Nacional accident[13][14] 3 to 7 ? Panama City, Panama
2006 crime Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko[4][15][16][17][18] 1 0 London, United Kingdom
2010 orphan source Mayapuri radiological accident[12] 1 7 Mayapuri, India

References

  1. ↑ Richard Schiffman (12 March 2013). "Two years on, America hasn't learned lessons of Fukushima nuclear disaster". The Guardian.
  2. ↑ Martin Fackler (June 1, 2011). "Report Finds Japan Underestimated Tsunami Danger". New York Times.
  3. ↑ Togzhan Kassenova (28 September 2009). "The lasting toll of Semipalatinsk's nuclear testing". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Goldfarb, Alex; Litvinenko, Marina (2007). Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB. Simon & Schuster UK. ISBN 978-1-4711-0301-8.
  5. ↑ Johnston, Wm. Robert. "K-19 submarine reactor accident, 1961". Database of radiological incidents and related events. Johnston's Archive. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  6. ↑ Johnston, Wm. Robert. "K-27 submarine reactor accident, 1968". Database of radiological incidents and related events. Johnston's Archive. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  7. ↑ Johnston, Wm. Robert. "K-431 submarine reactor accident, 1985". Database of radiological incidents and related events. Johnston's Archive. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  8. ↑ "Lost Iridium-192 Source".
  9. ↑ The Radiological Accident in Goiania p. 2.
  10. ↑ Strengthening the Safety of Radiation Sources Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine p. 15.
  11. ↑ Gusev, Igor; Guskova, Angelina; Mettler, Fred A. (12 December 2010). Medical Management of Radiation Accidents, Second Edition. CRC Press. pp. 299–303. ISBN 978-1-4200-3719-7.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Bagla, Pallava (7 May 2010). "Radiation Accident a 'Wake-Up Call' For India's Scientific Community". Science. 328 (5979): 679. Bibcode:2010Sci...328..679B. doi:10.1126/science.328.5979.679-a. PMID 20448162.
  13. ↑ International Atomic Energy Agency. "Investigation of an accidental Exposure of radiotherapy patients in Panama" (PDF).
  14. ↑ Johnston, Robert (September 23, 2007). "Deadliest radiation accidents and other events causing radiation casualties". Database of Radiological Incidents and Related Events.
  15. ↑ Patterson AJ (2007). "Ushering in the era of nuclear terrorism". Critical Care Medicine. 35 (3): 953–4. doi:10.1097/01.CCM.0000257229.97208.76. PMID 17421087.
  16. ↑ Acton JM, Rogers MB, Zimmerman PD; Brooke Rogers; Zimmerman (September 2007). "Beyond the Dirty Bomb: Re-thinking Radiological Terror". Survival. 49 (3): 151–168. doi:10.1080/00396330701564760. S2CID 154617638.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ Sixsmith, Martin (2007). The Litvinenko File: The Life and Death of a Russian Spy. True Crime. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-312-37668-0.
  18. ↑ Bremer Mærli, Morten. "Radiological Terrorism: "Soft Killers"". Bellona Foundation. Archived from the original on 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2014-11-15.
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