What city is full of radiation?
Chernobyl, Ukraine
On April 26, 1986 one of the world's largest nuclear disasters occurred when Reactor 4 exploded, and it released radiation that was 100-times more powerful than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined.
Fukushima is the most radioactive place on Earth. A tsunami led to reactors melting at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
On the coast of the Caspian Sea, the city of Ramsar, Iran has such high natural background radiation levels that scientists have recommended that the 32,000 residents relocate. Its neighbourhood of Talesh Mahalleh, the most naturally radioactive inhabited area in the world, is under long-term study.
The Chernobyl disaster (also called the Chornobyl disaster) was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union.
About Cosmic Radiation. The Earth's atmosphere and magnetic shield protect us from cosmic radiation. Earth's magnetic shield protects us from the cosmic radiation and is strongest at the equator and weakest near the poles.
Colorado's Radiation Levels are the Highest in the World.
Most of the radiation dose we receive is from naturally occurring sources—most of this is from radon (discussed in the following part). The next largest dose is from medical radiation. The smallest dose we receive (<1 percent) is from nuclear power plant emissions and fallout from past atomic bomb detonations.
The highest known level of background radiation affecting a substantial population is in Kerala and Madras States in India where some 140,000 people receive doses which average over 15 millisievert per year from gamma radiation in addition to a similar dose from radon.
Radiation does not hurt, sting, or burn when it enters the body. You will hear clicking or buzzing throughout the treatment and there may be a smell from the machine.
Sitting on 586 square miles of desert in Washington, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is the most toxic place in America. Buried beneath the ground, in storage tanks, are 56 million gallons of radioactive waste. Many of them are leaking into the ground.
How much radiation is safe for humans?
Adult: 5,000 Millirems. The current federal occupational limit of exposure per year for an adult (the limit for a worker using radiation) is "as low as reasonably achievable; however, not to exceed 5,000 millirems" above the 300+ millirems of natural sources of radiation and any medical radiation.
The six most likely target cities in the US are as follows: New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. These countries will stay prepared to combat any type of nuclear attack shortly. The nuclear impact could destroy the city and this will lead to a disaster.
Some estimates name Maine, Oregon, Northern California, and Western Texas as some of the safest locales in the case of nuclear war, due to their lack of large urban centers and nuclear power plants.
If you are outside when the blast occurs:
Move to a shelter, basement, or other underground area, preferably located away from the direction that the wind is blowing. Remove clothing since it may be contaminated; if possible, take a shower, wash your hair, and change clothes before you enter the shelter.
The major concern about space radiation is the long term effects on astronauts. Long term effects can include cataracts, increased chance of cancer, and sterility. Some health effects can skip a generation and appear in the descendants of the exposed individual, being passed on by mutated genes.
In addition, ionizing radiation is not detectable by one's senses. It cannot be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or felt. For these reasons, simple visual inspection is insufficient to identify radioactive materials, and radiation sources can be virtually impossible to recognize without special markings.
| Radiation source | World | US |
|---|---|---|
| Terrestrial radiation from ground | 0.48 | 0.21 |
| Cosmic radiation from space | 0.39 | 0.33 |
| sub total (natural) | 2.40 | 3.10 |
| Medical | 0.60 | 3.00 |
Staying inside will reduce your exposure to radiation. Close and lock windows and doors. Take a shower or wipe exposed parts of your body with a damp cloth. Drink bottled water and eat food in sealed containers.
Gently washing with water and soap removes additional radiation particles from the skin. Decontamination prevents radioactive materials from spreading more. It also lowers the risk of internal contamination from inhalation, ingestion or open wounds.
Nearly half of that comes from natural (known as "background") sources, mostly radon in the air outdoors. The other half comes from human-made sources, with the most significant amount usually coming from medical procedures like X-rays. Trace amounts can also come from consumer products like televisions and cellphones.
Can phones detect radiation?
As the producer of one of these applications (GammaPix, available for Android and iOS, if you'll excuse the plug), allow me to intervene here. Yes, smartphones and other CMOS and CCD cameras can detect radiation.
Gamma rays can be emitted from the nucleus of an atom during radioactive decay. They are able to travel tens of yards or more in air and can easily penetrate the human body. Shielding this very penetrating type of ionizing radiation requires thick, dense material such as several inches of lead or concrete.
For patients with cancer that has spread to their bones, a single dose of radiation therapy may treat bone pain as effectively as a series of lower doses of radiation delivered over multiple days, according to the results of a clinical trial.
Pripyat was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 and had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of 27 April 1986, one day after the Chernobyl disaster. Clockwise from top-left: Pripyat central square. apartment buildings with the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement in the distance.
The Chelyabinsk region has been reported as being one of the most polluted places on Earth, having previously been a center of production of weapons-grade plutonium. Ozyorsk and the surrounding countryside have been heavily contaminated by industrial pollution from the Mayak plutonium plant since the late 1940s.