How much radioactive radiation is harmful?

Radioactive particles reach Europe: how much radiation is harmful?

27/03/2011

According to information from the Austrian Federal Environment Agency, radioactive particles from Japan have also reached Europe. In Germany, more and more people are asking themselves which radiation exposure is likely to have negative health consequences.

Due to the meltdown in at least one Japanese nuclear power plant, radioactive particles escape that also reach Europe with the wind. Thus, a minimally increased radioactivity has already been registered in Iceland, reports the German Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG). However, the values ​​measured in Reykjavik are only slightly above the detection limit and the limit value of a maximum of one millisievert (mSv), which is valid in Germany, is significantly undercut, explained the ZAMG.

Background radiation leads to natural radiation exposure
In general, every human being is exposed to a certain amount of radiation by natural radioactive substances in the air, water and soil, the ZAMG experts emphasized. Every German is burdened by the natural background radiation with around 2 Millisievert annually. Moreover, according to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, medical examinations such as X-rays cause an average irradiation of around 2 millisieverts per inhabitant in this country. Other factors - such as a residence near a nuclear power plant - can trigger further radiation exposure. In the past, however, the radiation generated near the German nuclear power plants averaged less than 0.01 mSv and is therefore harmless to health, according to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection. For persons who are dealing with radioactivity for professional reasons, such as employees of a nuclear power plant, according to the Radiation Protection Ordinance, a limit of no more than 20 mSv per year, in justified exceptional cases of 50 mSv.

Unit of measurement for radioactive radiation exposure
To measure the radiation exposure, the Sievert unit of measurement is used internationally, taking into account not only the energy absorbed by the body but also the energy delivered to the body cells. Because the various forms of radioactive radiation - alpha, beta or gamma radiation - act very different, which is reflected in corresponding Sievert statements. Sievert clearly illustrate the biological effect of radioactive radiation on humans, animals or plants, where a Sievert is already a very large radiation dose, which can lead to significant health damage. According to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, changes in the blood count, nausea and vomiting, hair loss, fever and damage to the genetic material are possible consequences in the range of one to six Sieverts. A radiation dose of seven Sievert is already considered fatal if no medical countermeasures are taken. A radiation exposure of over 20 Sievert inevitably leads to the death of those affected within two days. However, the current measurements (less than a thousandth of the allowed limit of one millisievert) are far from the proven harmful radiation doses. Unfortunately, according to the experts, absolute safety in radiation protection unfortunately can not exist. Because just as a cigarette can cause lung cancer in the worst case, negative health consequences are conceivable even with minimal radiation exposure.

Health risks of minimal radiation exposure can not be ruled out
This was again and again emphasized by opponents of nuclear power in Germany, where they could base their statements on various scientific studies, according to which, for example, in places of residence near nuclear power plants, the number of childhood leukemia cases were significantly increased. For example, the researchers of the German Cancer Registry have presented a study, which came to the conclusion that children under the age of four years are subject to a higher risk of leukemia the closer they live to a nuclear power plant. With a total of 37 children suffering from leukemia within a radius of five kilometers around the German nuclear power plants in the period from 1980 to 2003, the number of illnesses was well above the statistical average of 17 cases, the experts of the German Cancer Registry said. Recently, the Epidemiological Cancer Registry of Lower Saxony (EKN) also noted a disproportionately high number of leukemia in men and thyroid cancer in women in the environment of the ailing nuclear waste disposal site Asse. However, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection has always denied a connection with possible radiation exposure in the nuclear power plants as well as in the Asase atomic waste storage facility.

Workers in the Japanese nuclear power plants exposed to massive risks
According to the experts, a particular threat does not come from the current radiation exposure from the nuclear meltdown in the Japanese nuclear power plant to the population in Europe. The values ​​measured so far are well below the levels of exposure to which residents of a nuclear power plant are daily exposed, according to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection. Moreover, the health effects of radioactive radiation depend on the duration, type and intensity of the radiation. So far, due to the distance to the Japanese nuclear power plant in Fukushima and the dilution effects in this country no health risk from the released radioactive radiation. However, the Japanese population is exposed to significantly higher radiation doses, and workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, in particular, are expected to suffer from health problems. According to official figures, several workers were exposed to a radiation exposure of at least 170 millisieverts during their repair work at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

In order to give the rescue work in the affected Japanese nuclear power plants a legal basis, the Japanese government had increased the limit for the maximum allowable radiation exposure of workers in nuclear power plants from 100 mSv to now 250 mSv per year in the course of the current nuclear disaster. The operating company of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Tepco, had in turn stipulated that one worker should not receive more than 150 millisieverts of radioactive radiation per emergency, but this value was above the former limit of 100 millisievert for workers in nuclear power plants. The health risks for local helpers appear to rank second for both the government and the operator, given the scale of the current nuclear disaster. (Fp)

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Picture: Gerd Altmann, Pixelio