Radiation

Friday, March 20th, 2009 | project wormwood

Radiation Symbol (Source: Wikipedia)

First of all, I’m not an expert on radiation: I’m neither a physicist nor a medical worker. I’ve just read a lot about the topic and have been called a radiation geek (which I don’t think is true – I’m just an aspiring radiation geek). This entry is to answer the question: “Aren’t you worried about the radiation in Chernobyl?” that I get asked every time I tell about the trip.

What we usually call radiation are small particles that act ionizing: When they hit other particles or molecules, they can split off electrons from them. There are three kinds of ionizing rays out there: alpha, beta, and gamma. Of those, alpha and beta particles are not strong enough to pass through the human skin (unless it’s a really strong source and you’re really close). They can still be dangerous if they get into your body by ingesting or inhaling them. Gamma rays on the other hand pass through pretty much everything in their way, except thick layers of lead, and are dangerous also from the outside.

Radiation can have two main health effects:

In high doses, it can lead to acute radiation sickness (that’s what you see in the movies when the watchman who got locked in with the nuclear warhead starts to vomit, get blisters and loses his hair).
In lower doses, the particles can damage and alter the DNA of cells, which might lead to a mutation that gets passed along to new cell generations, possibly leading to cancer (doesn’t have to – the cell might be able to repair itself or just die, or the mutation doesn’t have any phenotypical effects).

The radiation we’re dealing with in the Chernobyl area is mostly of the gamma kind. Alpha and beta rays exist as well, but aren’t as dangerous unless you eat the berries, drink water from the pond, or inhale lots of dust (that’s why we’ll be wearing dust masks inside dusty abandoned buildings).

The measurement of radiation is quite complicated, and I don’t want to bore you with the details between units like Roentgen, Sievert, Bequerel, Rad or Gray (I will if you ask me). So I’ll just show you a simple table with some comparison figures:

0.01 – 0.02 millirem / hour: Normal background radiation in Europe
Air travel (10km height): 0.5 millirem / hour
Area around the chernobyl sarcophagus (considered elevated radiation): ~0.5 millirem / hour
Prypiat’s highly contaminated “Red Forest” area: 5 millirem / hour (extreme radiation pockets up to 1 000 millrem / hour)
Dental x-ray: 10 millirem / dose
CT scan: 1100 millrem / dose
Dose for +0.1% increased cancer risk: 1250 millirem
Safe dose for nuclear workers: 5000 millirem / year
Once-in-a-lifetime allowed voluntary dose for emergency situations (e.g. firefighters): 75 000 millirem
Fatal dosis: 500 000 millirem within 5 hours
Radiation during the Chernobyl accident: 5 600 millirem / second (!)

I’ve calculated that in order to increase your chance of getting cancer in your lifetime by 0.1%, you would have to stay more than 10 days in the Red Forest area (here’s a short video of what happens when you drive through there). We’ll be there only a couple of minutes, while the rest of the trip we’ll be in lower radiation areas. We’ll wear masks for dusty areas, work with gloves in case we touch anything, throw our shoes away once we’re out of the zone, and definitely won’t eat any of the berries.

So no: I’m not worried. Just cautious.

More about radiation

Tags: Chernobyl, danger, Prypiat, radiation, x-ray

2 Comments to Radiation

Splashman
March 20, 2009

Very insightful radiation chart.
So, Red Forest is a particularly dangerous zone if you stay there for too long (which you won’t). But what about the buildings you’ll explore? Are you actually going anywhere near the plant?

Timm
March 20, 2009

The most irradiated areas are those where contaminated material was buried in the ground (e.g. trees, machinery, fragments from the reactor). The red forest contained a lot of trees that were heavily affected by the initial explosion. The radiation stays in the ground, unless it is taken up by plants – moss is usually quite radioactive.

We will go into buildings (where the radiation is not that high). The danger is radiactive dust if you inhale it – which is why we will wear masks.

Yes, we will go near the plant, but the remains of the reactor are incased in the old sarcophagus (lots of lead and concrete). The radiation there is elevated, but much lower than in red forest (check the chart – it’s the same strength as a long-distance flight).