-
: with particular attention to significant nuclides and critical pathways
’ by which the various nuclides reach man is considered to be the best .
policy to pursue.
fission process.
.
There are about 200 radionuclides formed by the
:
\
w.
.
*
-@
Fortunately for analysis, most of the radionuclides
.
Von
are of little health consequences because of their short radiolcgical
half-lives or other physical or chemical characteristics such as being
one!
highly insoluble.
It is possible to estimate the radiation doses to various
organs of the body primarily by ¢dnsidering 5 significant radionuclides that are
deposited internally, i. e., ilodine-131, strontium-90, cesium-137, carbon 14
- and tritium.
Question LA
Can the 1968 estimated total be subdivided into meaningful categories
according to half-lives?
X curies of nuclides with half-lives of less than 1 day?
X curies with half-lives between 1-10 days?
X euries with half-lives between 10-365 days?
X curies with half-lives between 1-100 years?
X euries with half-lives between 100 end one million years?
X ecuries with half-lives over a million years?
Isn't such data essential in order to meet our future needs for containment
and storage, to calculate the accumulation of uncontained nuclides, and to
comprehend the ecological consequences , if any?
Answer —
Acurie is a unit of radioactivity and is defined as the quantity of
any radioactive species in which 3.7 x 101° nuclear disintegrations occur
per second.
However, the definition says nothing about the types of radiation
given off or their biological effectiveness to cause injury to a biological
system.
Categorization by half-life is inadequate for hazards evaluation