97
Larger doses will, in addition to those symptoms above, cause
hemorrhaging, sterility and skin to peel off; an untreated dose of more than
3.5 Sv will be fatal, and death is expected even with treatment for doses of
more than 6 Sv. The radiation level decreases with the square of the
distance from its source, so someone twice as far away from an external
source will receive a quarter of the radiation.
Receiving a high dose in a shorter time usually causes more acute
damage, as greater doses kill more cells, while the body can have had time
to repair some damage with more time having elapsed between doses.
However, radioactive material that is spread to a wider area can cause
longer-term health effects via prolonged exposure, particularly if they enter
the food chain or are inhaled or ingested directly. Taking radioactive
materials into the body also presents the greatest danger from atoms that
undergo alpha-decay, as alpha particles are not very penetrative and are
easily absorbed by a few centimeters of air.
Radioactive isotopes of iodine, which undergo beta-decay, can build up
in the thyroid gland and can cause thyroid cancer. Attempts to prevent this
involve distributing pills that include nonradioactive iodine-127 and which
flood the thyroid, preventing uptake of radioactive iodine. For one-off
doses, such as those from medical scans, the risk of later developing cancer
is estimated at around 1 in 20 000 per mSv received. Absorbing an
accumulated dose of 1 Sv over a longer period of time is estimated to
eventually cause cancer in 5% of people. However, there is disagreement
over whether very small doses comparable to the level of background
radiation actually contribute to health effects.
(Adopted from
www.iop.org
)
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