About a week ago on Horizon (a bbc documentary in the UK) they featured a detailed report on the deaths that were directly attributed to the nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl. The predictions that were made at the time of the accident were based on a model that assumes all radiation doses increase the risk of cancer linearly with exposure. They estimated that somewhere between 30,000 and 100,000 people would die. So far the death toll has been 56 people. There just hasn't been an epidemic of Leukemia and Solid cancers in the area. Far from being a wasteland, the area around the reactor looks more like a wildlife preserve.
The radiation levels around Chernobyl were around 100 millisieverts, less than the naturally occurring background in some parts of the world. Airline staff who are regularly exposed to higher radiation doses haven't been shown to have increased cancer risks.
High doses of radiation are definitely extremely dangerous (as seen after the atomic blasts in Japan). Low level doses haven't been extensively studied, but studies like these of groups of people that are regularly exposed to low level radiation seem to indicate no increase in cancers or possibly a decrease in cancer rates.
Do you think we are too afraid of low level radiation or should we do everything we can to avoid it? Discuss
The radiation levels around Chernobyl were around 100 millisieverts, less than the naturally occurring background in some parts of the world. Airline staff who are regularly exposed to higher radiation doses haven't been shown to have increased cancer risks.
High doses of radiation are definitely extremely dangerous (as seen after the atomic blasts in Japan). Low level doses haven't been extensively studied, but studies like these of groups of people that are regularly exposed to low level radiation seem to indicate no increase in cancers or possibly a decrease in cancer rates.
Do you think we are too afraid of low level radiation or should we do everything we can to avoid it? Discuss
