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X-ra- By William C Patrick There Is no new thing under the sun This line from the Old Testament has been quoted innumerable times and applied to many situations It is applicable to what many consider a new and rather ominous force in the world—nuclear radiation Actually there is nothing new about this radiation It has existed as long as man has been on the earth The Neanderthal man was subjected to nuclear radiation so were the ancient Ilebrews Greeks Romans and every other human being right down to the present time What is new—Or relatively so—is man's ability- to produce nuclear radiation So people in this day and age may be subjected to more radiation than they were in ancient times There are several types of radiation Light and heat are radiations so are radio waves In this article we will use the word radiation to apply only tn nuclear radiation—that resulting from the splitting or disintegration of atoms of radioactive substances Considered °minims Forest Radiation should hardly be considered an ominous force Neither should it be regarded lightly Human tissues are able to recover from small- doses but big doses can be harmful or even killing This comparison might be given: Touching a warm dinner plate set before you at the table is not dangerous but touching a redbot stove can cause painful lujury Now you may 'ask how it was that the Neanderthal man was subjected to radiation Alter all the atomic bomb 4s only eight years old and even Xray and radiurq have lib en known for less than 60 years Actually man has always lived in What the Atomic Energy Commis- sion's 13th Semiannual Report to Congress calls a "sea of nuclear radiation" This sea originates from three sources: Cosmic rays that constantly bombard the earth from above radiation from small amounts of radioactive substance in the earth and its atmosphere and small amounts of radioactive materials—radiopotassium radiocarbon and radium—normally present in the human body Radiation From Above The radiation from above in the form of cosmic rays and that from the ground and air in the form of alpha and beta particles and gamma rays constitute what scientists call "background radiation" This goes on all the time there is no escaping it But don't worry As far as sci elitists can tell it has never harmed anyone seriously The only way It can be detected is through the delicate electronic instruments devised within recent years to measure radiation Mankind knew nothing about nuclear radiation until 1898 when a French scientist Becquerel noted that a photographic film placed near pieces of uranium ore showed darkening after development even - - 004 - ' ' t 6M though it had not been exposed to Tight About the same time a Cerman physicist Roentgen discovered tht and Pierre and Marie Curie discovered radium After it was found that some malignant cells are more susceptible to radiation than normal cells a new era in the treatment of cancer was ushered in Thousands of cancer deaths have been prevented through use of radiation But radiation as a medical tool can be a sword In proper dosages it will destroy some early cancer In excessive doses particularly if repeated it can be lethal radiations" explain S the A E C report "are of two general types: (a) bits of nuclear matter—neutrons and alpha and beta particles (b) electro-magneti- c waves of the same general t ype as light heat and s are radio waves but of very short length—the gamma rays similar to gamma rays but they come from the outer parts of atoms not the nuclei)" Once Sounded Strange These words which once sounded so strange are now beginning to have a familiar ring to the average person The a‘erage man in Utah and the West particularly has been made more conscious of nuclear radiation by the atomic tests conducted at the A E C's Nevada proving ground And he may have become rather alarmed when it was reported on two Occasions within the past Year that he was receiving a mild shower of radioactive dust following tests at the Nevada site When an atomic weapon explodes—as at the Nevada 'proving ground—large quantities of radioactive materials are formed which rise to high altitudes as a cloud of radioactive dust The strong winds at these altitudes can blow the cloud over large distances This dust slowly falling to the ground is called fall-ou- t The great majority of the radiation from fall-ou- t is gamma and beta rays Exposure is thus to external radiation (radioactive dust on the ground) and also to internal radiation (some dust might be Inhaled) Radiation as it strikes human tissues is measured in terms of what are called roentgens somewhat in the same manner that temperattu4 is measured in degrees on a thermometer For the measurement of mild radiation the roentgen is broken down into even smaller units or milliroentgens The tnilliroentgen (designated mr) is one of a roentgen Over Parts of Utah On March 24 there was radiation in Salt Lake Valley and other parts of Utah due to fall-ou- t from the atomic blast that morning in Nevada Measurements made at the University of Utah's Radlobiology Laboratory showed that the maximum radiation to which a Salt Lake citizen would be subrected on that day was two milliroentgens per hour' However this radiation level occurred immediately after the cloud X-ra- y st one-tent- ' two-edge- d THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE passed over Salt Lake City The radiation level dies away quite rapidly so that two days afterwards the level was down to about 15 mrIhr Using information of this kind one can show that the total for the week was about 50 mr or less than a person would get in a routine chest Actually very few would even get this much since the radiation level indoors is considerably less than outdoors Three scientists of the Radiobiology Laboratory join in saying that the chance of any Utah resident receiving a harmful dose of radiation levels is exceedingly small They are Clarence N from such fall-ou- t Stover analytical chemist and research administrator of the laboratory Dr Thomas J Parm ley nuclear physicist and director of the Radiological Services of the Utah Civil Defense and Dr Marvin A Van and nuclear physicist Di lia who is both of They said that Salt Lake City received less than what has been agreed on by two independent commissions one American and one international as well as the A E C as the maximum permissible weekly level for exposure to external radiation Utah Residents Safe These commissions have concluded on the basis of more than a and radiohalf century of experience over the world with activity i that an individual could stand 300 mr per week of total body radiation from external sources for the rest of his life or about 15000 mr per year without being harmed If their conclusions are correct Salt Lakers could take more than 10 times as much radiation March-2- 4 each week for the as they received the week rest of their lives with no deIteginning effect maximum outdoor level was 25 mr In St George where t the total for the first week was per hour soon after the atomIt about 264 mr well within th safe limit according to the university occurred in St George only four hours scientists Since the fall-ou- t after the detonation the radiation 'Orel decreased even more rapidly occurred 12 hours after than in Salt Lake City where the fall-ou- t detonation Consequently the total for the second week at St George was about 30 mr Actually since the radiation levels indoors are considerably lower than Outdoors a St George resident would receive less than even this amount The individual living in amodern society receives radiation from several sources First of all the "background radiation"—the kind he cannot avoid—supplies between 80 and 800 mr per year A routine will give him on a limited area of the body between 50 chest will deliver about 1000 and 300 mr A routine gastro-intestinmr per exposure and a fluoroscopic examination between 10000 and or radium is used to destroy 20000 mr per minute When cancer the amount of radiation delivered to a small portion of the body might be as much as 4000000 mr This intensity of radiation over the entire body would cause death to the individual ' Small Dose of Radiation "The body may safely receive a small dose of radiation" the A E C report says "because the effects are repaired virtually as rapidly as they are produced A large lumber of small doses may be given over a period of time as the body is able to repair itself between doss Over a period of many years a human being may safely receive a total amount of radiation which would cause a fatal illness if administered to his whole body within a period of a few minutes "The body's ability to repair radiation damage has been taken s y X-ra- y y - Sunday April 26 1953 h Into account in the establishment of maximum permissible radiation doses by two scientific bodies—the National Committee on Radiation Protection and the International Commission on Radiological Protection The maximum permissible levels recommended by these groups include safety factors that is they are considerably lower than the radiation level which causes any observable bodily change" Your body just like the body of a Neanderthal man has radioactivity in it—radiopotassium radiocarbon and radium Other radioactivity such as from fallout can be introduced into the body by inhalation by eating contaminated food or by drinking contaminated liquids For internal radiation another unit of measurement is used—the curie which is that quantity of radioactive material in which 37000000- 000 disintegrations per second occur Curies of different materials vary greatly in weight eg a curie of radium weighs only one gram but a curie of uranium weighs 2900000 grams The curie refers to the strength of a radioactive source itself whereas the mt refers to the radiation received from the source Highest Recorded Concentration For inhaled radioactivity an advisory panel of experts recommend S Atomic Energy Commission that apermissible to the ot of a curie) per cubic meter of air be one microcurie established The highest recorded concentration of airborne activity over Utah (after the May 7 1952 detonation) was 002 microcuries per of the permissible level As pointed cubic meter of air or out before this activity decreases rapidly with time Water containing about five microcuries per quart could be used safely for any period of time according to the advisory panel of experts The highest concentration of radioactivity in water (measured less than 100 miles from the point of detonation) was only one of a microcurie which is well within the recommended limit The discussion so far has been concerned with radiation as it may affect the individual himself "However" the A E C report continues "radiation also can affect the germ cells in animals and plants and thus affect the characterktics passed on from one generation to the next Eventually May Appear "Mutations or changes in the units of heredity in the germ cells which eventually May appear as new or different characteristics in offspring occur spontaneously under natural' conditions in all kinds of animals and plants Background radiation is a very minor factor in the natural mutation rate "It is important to recognize that radiation does not cause any mutations which are not produced naturally in other ways Radiation however increases the frequencx of mutations above the normal rateand the increase seems to be in direct proportion to the dosage Since most mutations are disadvantageous large increases are considered undesirable Studies have been made on the increase in the naturally occurring mutation rate of certain plants and animals as a result of exposure to radiation If these data can be applied to human germ cells it may be calculated that the natural rate of human mutation would be doubled by exposing the germ cells to about 300 roentgens (300000 mr) This is e very much higher than the exposure level measured' in Utah aa a result of fall-ou- t one-fiftiet- life-tim- M7 |