when you need them and how to protect yourself- breaking latest news

When it comes to

nuclear radiation and health effects, it must first of all be borne in mind that everything depends on the amount of radiation absorbed, on the proximity to the radioactive source and on how long one remained in its vicinity. The worst risks? A death within a few hours, as the accidents in those who accidentally touched radioactive sources have shown; a acute radiation syndrome, which can even be fatal in a few days or weeks; or, in the short-medium term, ie over a few weeks or months, the greatest danger is to develop
blood cancers
, such as lymphomas and leukemias, because the bone marrow is particularly predisposed to absorb radiation and can be severely damaged or destroyed. Finally, even after 20-25 years, we can meet a
thyroid cancer
another very sensitive organ, and to several other types of cancer.

Evidence, unfortunately, is not lacking. The increase in the number of cancers among the survivors of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as among those exposed to the radiation following the nuclear accidents at Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 confirm that ionizing radiation is carcinogenic to humans. . The International Agency for Research on Cancer of Lyon (IARC) has in fact for a long time already included ionizing radiation among the carcinogenic substances for humans, including in its list both natural radiation (all living beings are subject to to a natural background terrestrial radioactivity, in addition to ultraviolet radiation), and medical procedures (such as those of radiology, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine, the benefits of which outweigh the dangers).

The consequences for one’s health
nuclear bomb they are all the more dramatic the closer you get to the explosion. In addition to the inevitable immediate deaths caused by the blast, the harmful effects on people’s health would follow for decades. As was shown by the bombs in Japan during the Second World War, however, already within 50 or 100 kilometers of distance from the detonation the radiation doses lose intensity and the damage decreases. It should also be borne in mind that, paradoxically, the explosion of a nuclear device would have fewer effects than that of a nuclear power plant because the doses of radiation that would be dispersed into the surrounding environment would be lower.

There are many variables to consider when estimating the consequences of an accident at a nuclear power plant. First of all, once again, proximity: the highest price is paid (as seen in the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents) by the workers and all those who are on the spot or in the immediate vicinity. For those who live many kilometers away (100 and beyond) the effects are completely different. We must then evaluate rains and windsto calculate how much the toxic cloud it can travel and expand and how far it infiltrates the ground. And then, again, it depends on the type of damage (an explosion has worse consequences than leaks or radiation losses) and on the materials used in the reactors (uranium, plutonium, cesium, etc., which lead to different outcomes).

The most relevant doses of radiation reach the people who they inhale radiation; the fallout on the ground follows, when the cloud settles and the ground absorbs them; finally the danger comes from the ingestion of water or food from contaminated soils (the pollution of aquifers and soils lasts for decades). Exposure to large amounts of radiation (even for a short period of time) can cause the acute radiation sickness, initially manifesting as nausea and vomiting, headache and diarrhea. Symptoms appear a few minutes to a few days later and can last a few hours to several months. Often they seem to improve, then flare up and may later be accompanied by loss of appetite, fatigue, fever, infections (caused by the reduction of white blood cells because the bone marrow is damaged) or internal bleeding and, in severe cases, seizures and coma. The severity of the situation (which can lead to death) always depends on how close you are to the explosion and the dose of radiation absorbed. The possible long-term consequences, i.e. the increased risk of developing cancers in the following months or years, depend on these same factors. The lower the radiation dose the more likely the person will recover from acute radiation sickness, but it can take years. Above all, they are most vulnerable children, adolescents and pregnant women.

First of all, there is a national emergency plan, with a well-defined protocol, which also provides for the monitoring of toxic clouds and coordination between the various European countries. Based on the distance from the nuclear explosion site and the guidelines contained in the protocol, the competent authorities decide what to do. The measures include staying at home, to avoid inhaling toxic substances, and possibly eliminating some foods. Using masks can be useful in case of some toxic substances: it all depends on the materials used in the reactors or in the bomb.

Potassium iodide tablets can be helpful solely to protect the thyroid from future tumor development. First of all, we must remember that thyroid carcinomas are in the vast majority of cases good and not very aggressive tumors: in fact, in Italy, five years after diagnosis, almost 98% of the patients live. The intake of potassium iodide tablets serves to fill the thyroid gland, where otherwise the radioactive iodine (Iodine-131) released into the air by a nuclear explosion tends to concentrate: in practice, if the saturated thyroid does not absorb the substance harmful. The pads are indicated s
only in case of explosions in very close plants (in an area of ​​50 or 100 kilometers), they must be taken before or immediately after the arrival of the cloud and daily for a limited time, practically as long as the toxic cloud lasts. A therapy that only makes sense for close people and very limited periods, bearing in mind that (like all drugs) these pills can also have side effects: thyroid dysfunction (such as hyperthyroidism and iodine-induced hypothyroidism), gastrointestinal effects (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, gastralgia), allergic reactions (cutaneous angioedema, arthralgia, lymphadenopathy, urticaria).