All living and inanimate nature on our planet is exposed to radioactive radiation throughout its existence. Avoid this completely impossible.
Radioactive substances can be both inside the body and outside it - this is due primarily to the presence of a natural background, which isotopes of natural origin form. They are present in all shells of the globe: underground, in soil, in water, in the air.
Conventionally, radioactive substances can be divided into three large groups:
- Isotopes that are formed from uranium 232, thorium 232 and actinouran 235.
- Radioactive elements potassium 40, calcium 48, rubidium 87 and others not genetically related to the first group.
- Isotopes that are formed during nuclear reactions that continuously occur on Earth due to exposure to cosmic rays (for example, carbon 14 and tritium 3).
In turn, these substances are divided into natural and artificial radioactive. The long-lived isotopes that exist in the natural compounds of elements are natural. Their half-lives range from one hundred to a thousand years.
Artificial radioactivity is obtained as a result of nuclear reactions launched by man. So, during a nuclear explosion , about 250 isotopes are formed, of which 225 are radioactive. These isotopes arise as a result of fission of nuclei of the so-called "heavy" elements and subsequent products of their decay. The activity of a radioactive substance directly depends on the number of nuclei decaying over a certain period of time. The more nuclei formed, the higher the activity.
The direct danger of radioactive radiation to living organisms is borne by toxic radionuclides (Ra 226, Th 228, Pb 21, Ru 106, Na 22, Sr 89, etc.), which include unseparated nuclei of plutonium and uranium atoms - i.e. the part of nuclear fuel that has not entered the fission reaction.
Mankind was able to create more than two hundred artificial radionuclides and learned how to use atomic energy for a variety of purposes, peaceful and not so. So, the energy of a nuclear explosion is used in medicine, weapons, to search for mineral deposits and in the production of low-cost energy. Thus, the total radiation doses to the inhabitants of the Earth increase.
Most often, radioactive substances enter the human body along with food, water and air. The amount and toxicity of radionuclides in food is determined by the radiation situation that has developed in this region.
Plants absorb radiation not only from the soil, but also from natural rainfall. Most accumulated radionuclides in cabbage and beets, and least of all they are found in ordinary grass.
Cleaning and subsequent heat treatment of plants significantly reduces the amount of radiation in them. For example, when peeling potatoes and beets, up to 40% of radionuclides are removed, and during cooking - another 10-15%. When cooking meat of animals, radioactive substances also pass into a decoction (from 20% to 50%).
To reduce the content of radionuclides in dairy products, they are best converted into fat and protein concentrates.
What is the danger of radioactive radiation?
First of all, even small doses of it can trigger a chain of events in the body that will lead to genetic abnormalities or cancer. Radiation in large doses destroys cells and tissues, causing the death of the body. At the cellular level, the mechanism of cell division and its chromosomal apparatus is damaged, the processes of cell renewal and formation with subsequent tissue regeneration are blocked.
The most damaging radioactive substances act on the bone marrow, thyroid gland, sex glands and spleen - that is, on those organs that require constant renewal of cells and tissues.