When an accident occurs at a nuclear power plant, such as from extensive damage or destruction of the reactor, one of the first elements to escape is radioactive iodine. This radioactive iodine can then irradiate and destroy thyroid cells or cause cancer.
Radioactivity enters the body through inhalation or is absorbed through the skin. Thyroid cancer, tumors, acute leukemia, eye diseases, psychological disorders and even damage to genetic makeup are just some of the worst health consequences that high radiation exposure can cause in humans. If the body is exposed to a large dose of radiation in a very short time, it leads to death within hours or days.
What is the use of iodine administration?
If iodine tablets are given, this iodine also accumulates in the thyroid gland, but a high dose of iodine prevents dangerous and contaminated iodine from settling in the body’s cells.
Our body is practically flooded with the substance. That is, if we have enough “good iodine”, there is no more room for “bad radioactive iodine” in the thyroid gland. As it cannot accumulate there, it is excreted through the kidneys.
Our body does not produce iodine. We have to ingest it for our thyroid to produce hormones that control many of our body’s functions, even our brain development.
However, it is useless to take iodine tablets as a preventive measure against nuclear accidents, as the thyroid gland only stores iodine for a certain period of time. Taking high doses of iodine unnecessarily can even be dangerous, as many people already suffer from hyperthyroidism. No one should take these pills unnecessarily.
According to the German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), taking iodine pills can be useful in case of nuclear accidents up to a distance of 100 kilometers. But it’s important to do it at the right time. Iodine blocking is said to be strongest when pills are taken just before or during contact with radioactive iodine.
cesium and strontium
Thyroid cancer is one of the diseases that occurs when there is an accident at a nuclear power plant and there is evasion of radioactivity. The radioactive isotopes of iodine 131 and iodine 133 are responsible for thyroid cancer, for example. They are emitted especially in the first few days of radiation.
Other dangerous components of radioactive emissions are radionuclides strontium 90 and cesium 137. They are deposited in bone tissue, which also leads to an increased risk of cancer. The body mistakes these substances for calcium and incorporates the harmful substances into the physiological processes of muscle and bone tissue. Bone marrow is responsible for producing new blood cells, and this process can get out of control due to ionizing radiation. The consequence can be leukemia.
damage to the genome
Radioactivity can also cause extensive damage to the genome, as occurred after atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of World War II. The children were born with terrible deformities.
And even with a disaster like the one at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986, the after effects are unmistakable. Twenty years after the accident, the cancer rate has increased by 40% in most affected regions. And, according to estimates, in Russia alone 25,000 people who worked on cleaning the reactor died.
Almost no treatment options
There is virtually no remedy or treatment against the effects of radioactivity. The deciding factor is whether it is contamination or incorporation.
In case of contamination, radioactive substances are deposited on the surface of the body. It seems trivial, but in these cases, try to wash these substances with normal water and soap suds. Incorporation, on the other hand, is much riskier, as hazardous substances enter the body directly and are very difficult to eliminate.
Intensity and exposure time are decisive
Radioactivity is measured in millisieverts. Exposure to 250 millisieverts or 0.25 sievert over a short period of time can cause illness. According to the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection, the average exposure in the environment is about 2.1 millisieverts. This value refers to one year.
At 4000 millisievert or 4 sievert, so-called acute radiation exposure begins. Mortality increases enormously. From 6 sieverts, the affected person has no chance, as this exposure directly leads to death.
