Since the middle of the last century, a new word has come to science - radiation. Its discovery revolutionized the minds of physicists around the world and allowed to discard some Newtonian theories and make bold assumptions about the structure of the Universe, its formation and our place in it. But this is all for specialists. The inhabitants just sigh and try to put together such scattered knowledge about this subject. Complicating the process is the fact that there are quite a few units for measuring radiation, and all of them are legal.

Terminology

The first term to get acquainted with is actually radiation. This is the name for the process of radiation by any substance of the smallest particles, such as electrons, protons, neutrons, helium atoms and others. Depending on the type of particle, the properties of the radiation differ from each other. Radiation is observed either during the decomposition of substances into simpler ones, or during their synthesis.

Radiation units are conventional concepts that indicate how much elementary particles released from the substance. At the moment, physics operates with seven different units and their combinations. This allows you to describe various processes occurring with matter.

Radioactive decay- an arbitrary change in the structure of unstable atomic nuclei by means of the release of microparticles.

Decay constant is a statistical concept that predicts the probability of destruction of an atom over a certain period of time.

Half life- this is the time period during which half of the total amount of the substance decays. For some elements, it is calculated in minutes, while for others - for years or even decades.

How is radiation measured?

Radiation units are not the only ones that are used to assess properties.In addition to them, such quantities are used as:
- activity of the radiation source;
- flux density (number of ionizing particles per unit area).

In addition, there is a difference in the description of the effects of radiation on living and inanimate objects. So, if the substance is inanimate, then the concepts are applicable to it:

Absorbed dose;
- exposure dose.

If the radiation acted on living tissue, then the following terms are used:

Equivalent dose;
- effective equivalent dose;
- dose rate.

The units of measurement of radiation are, as mentioned above, conditional numerical values ​​adopted by scientists to facilitate calculations and the construction of hypotheses and theories. Perhaps this is why there is no single generally accepted unit of measurement.

Curie

One of the units for measuring radiation is curie. It does not belong to the system (does not belong to the SI system). In Russia, it is used in nuclear physics and medicine. The activity of a substance will be equal to one curie if 3.7 billion radioactive decays occur in it in one second. That is, we can say that one curie is equal to three billion seven hundred million becquerels.

This number was obtained due to the fact that Marie Curie (who introduced this term into science) carried out her experiments on radium and took its decay rate as a basis. But over time, physicists decided that numerical value it is better to tie this unit to another - becquerel. This made it possible to avoid some errors in mathematical calculations.

In addition to curie, multiples or sub-multiples can often be found, such as:
- megacurie (equal to 3.7 by 10 to the 16th degree of becquerels);
- kilocurie (3.7 thousand billion becquerels);
- millicurie (37 million becquerels);
- microcurie (37 thousand becquerels).

Using this unit, you can express the volumetric, surface or specific activity of a substance.

Becquerel

The unit of measurement of radiation dose becquerel is a systematic unit of the International System of Units (SI). It is the simplest one, because a radiation activity of one becquerel means that only one radioactive decay occurs in the substance per second.

It got its name from the French physicist Antoine. The name was approved at the end of the last century and is still used today. Since this is a fairly small unit, decimal prefixes are used to denote activity: kilo, milli, micro and others.

Recently, together with becquerels, non-systemic units such as curie and rutherford have begun to be used. One Rutherford equals a million becquerels. In the description of volumetric or surface activity, one can find the designations becquerel per kilogram, becquerel per meter (square or cubic) and their various derivatives.

X-ray

The unit of measurement of radiation, X-ray, is also not a systematic one, although it is used everywhere to designate the exposure dose of the received gamma radiation. One X-ray is equal to the radiation dose at which one cubic centimeter of air at a standard atmospheric pressure and zero temperature carries a charge equal to 3.3 * (10 * -10). This is equal to two million pairs of ions.

Despite the fact that, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, most non-systemic units are prohibited, X-rays are used in the labeling of dosimeters. But they will soon cease to be used, since it turned out to be more practical to write down and calculate everything in grays and sieverts.

Glad

The unit of measurement of radiation, rad, is outside the SI system and is equal to the amount of radiation at which one millionth of a joule of energy is transferred to one gram of matter. That is, one rad is 0.01 joule per kilogram of matter.

The material that absorbs energy can be either living tissue or other organic and inorganic substances and substances: soil, water, air. It was introduced as an independent unit in 1953 and in Russia it has the right to be used in physics and medicine.

Gray

This is another unit of measurement for radiation levels, which is recognized by the International System of Units. It reflects the absorbed dose of radiation. A substance is considered to have received a dose of one gray if the energy transmitted with radiation is equal to one joule per kilogram.

This unit got its name in honor of the English scientist Lewis Gray and was officially introduced into science in 1975. According to the rules, the full name of the unit is written with a small letter, but its abbreviated designation is written with a capital letter. One gray equals one hundred rad. In addition to simple units, their multiples and fractional equivalents are also used in science, such as kilogrey, megagrey, decigray, centigray, microgray and others.

Sievert

The unit of measurement for radiation sievert is used to designate the effective and equivalent radiation doses and is also included in the SI system, like gray and becquerel. Used in science since 1978. One sievert is equal to the energy absorbed by a kilogram of tissue after exposure to one warming gamma ray. The unit got its name in honor of Rolf Sievert, a scientist from Sweden.

By definition, sieverts and grays are equal, that is, the equivalent and absorbed doses are of the same size. But there is still a difference between them. When determining the equivalent dose, it is necessary to take into account not only the amount, but also other properties of the radiation, such as wavelength, amplitude and which particles represent it. Therefore, the numerical value of the absorbed dose is multiplied by the radiation quality factor.

So, for example, all other things being equal, the absorbed effect of alpha particles will be twenty times stronger than the same dose of gamma radiation. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the tissue coefficient, which shows how the organs respond to radiation. Therefore, the equivalent dose is used in radiobiology, and the effective dose is used in occupational health (to normalize the exposure to radiation).

Solar constant

There is a theory that life on our planet appeared thanks to solar radiation. The units for measuring radiation from a star are calories and watts, divided by a unit of time. This was decided because the amount of radiation from the Sun is determined by the amount of heat that objects receive, and the intensity with which it comes. Only half of a millionth part of the total amount of emitted energy reaches the Earth.

Radiation from stars spreads in space at the speed of light and will enter our atmosphere in the form of rays. The spectrum of this radiation is quite wide - from "white noise", that is, radio waves, to X-rays. The particles that also fall along with the radiation are protons, but sometimes there can be electrons (if the release of energy was large).

The radiation received from the sun is driving force all living processes on the planet. The amount of energy we receive depends on the season, the position of the star above the horizon, and the transparency of the atmosphere.

Exposure to radiation on living things

If living tissues of the same characteristics are irradiated with different types of radiation (in the same dose and intensity), then the results will differ. Therefore, to determine the consequences, only the absorbed or exposure dose is not enough, as is the case with inanimate objects. Units of penetrating radiation such as sievert reers and grays appear on the scene, which indicate the equivalent dose of radiation.

An equivalent dose is the dose absorbed by a living tissue and multiplied by a conventional (tabular) coefficient that takes into account how dangerous a particular type of radiation is. Most often, a sievert is used to measure it. One sievert equals one hundred rem. The higher the coefficient, the more dangerous the radiation is. So, for photons this is one, and for neutrons and alpha particles - twenty.

Since the accident on Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Russia and other CIS countries, special attention has been paid to the level of radiation exposure to humans. The equivalent dose from natural sources of radiation should not exceed five millisieverts per year.

The effect of radionuclides on non-living objects

Radioactive particles carry a charge of energy that they transfer to matter when they collide with it. And the more particles come into contact with a certain amount of matter on their way, the more energy it will receive. Its amount is estimated in doses.

1. Absorbed dose- this is what was received by a unit of substance. Measured in grays. This value does not take into account the fact that the impact different types radiation on matter is different.
2. Exposure dose- represents the absorbed dose, but taking into account the degree of ionization of the substance from the effects of various radioactive particles. It is measured in pendants per kilogram or roentgen.

More than 50 units of measurement are used to quantify radiation. If you study some of them, you can better understand what radiation is and what effect it has on our body. Even if you are convinced that you will never understand these X-rays, rems and rads, take some time to try to understand their meaning.

X-ray (r). This unit is named after W. Roentgen, who discovered new type rays. It was first used to express the exposure dose of X-ray or gamma radiation from X-ray equipment. However, this unit is rarely used, as it measures the amount of charged ions in the air. In most cases, the units of rem and rad are used to measure the radiation energy.

Baer. Baer is an abbreviation for X-ray Biological Equivalent. This unit is used to measure the degree of biological damage caused by ionizing radiation. Rem takes into account the relative biological efficiency of energy absorbed by living tissue. One rem is approximately equal to one X-ray (1 p = 0.88 rem) and produces the same biological effect.

Glad. Glad- abbreviation from English term Radiation absorbed dose. This unit is used to measure the radiation energy absorbed by the body. There are many units of energy measurement, including calorie, erg, joule, and watt-second. Historically, the erg was first used to measure the energy of radioactive radiation. Rad is equal to 100 ergs absorbed by one gram of tissue. For beta, gamma and X-rays, one rad is approximately equal to one rem. For alpha radiation, rad is equivalent to 10-20 rem.

RBE (Relative Biological Effectiveness).

RBE, or relative biological effectiveness, characterizes the various degrees of exposure to ionizing radiation on our body. Alpha radiation, for example, has RBE is 10-20 times higher than beta radiation. This factor depends on many factors, such as whether the exposure is external or internal.

LD (Lethal dose)

LD, or lethal dose, is the dose that determines the percentage of mortality after radiation exposure. For example, LD50 is the dose after which 50% of the exposed people die. LD30 \ 50 means that as a result of radiation, 50% will die within 30 days. For humans, this dose is in the range of 400-500 rem. This calculation of the lethal dose has been made assuming the population is healthy adult males. In fact, it is necessary to take into account the age composition of the population and the existing differences in health status. Therefore, the real lethal dose for a certain population group may be significantly lower.

For the measurement of small doses, derived units are used with the corresponding prefixes milli- or micro-. Milli means one thousandth and micro means one millionth of the unit used. For example, millirem (mrem) is a thousandth of a rem, and microrem (mkrem) is a millionth of a rem. The radiation dose is measured in X-rays, radas and rems. If we are interested in the radiation power, we take the radiation dose per unit of time (second, minute, hour, day, year).

Curie (Ki). Curie- a unit of direct measurement of radioactivity, that is, the activity of a given amount of a certain substance. The unit is named after Marie and Pierre Curie, who discovered radium. The activity of a source is measured by counting the number of radioactive decays per unit time. One curie equals 37 billion decays per second. By measuring the activity of different substances, we can determine which one is more radioactive. One gram of radium-226 has an activity equal to one curie, and a gram of promethium-145 has an activity equal to 940 curies, that is, promethium-145 is almost 1000 times more active than radium.

In addition to the prefixes milli- and micro-, the prefixes nano (one billionth) and pico (one trillionth) are used. One picocurie corresponds to two disintegrations per minute. All these prefixes are taken from the metric system of measures. From it, you can also take the prefixes kilo- (one thousand) and mega- (one million), if it is necessary to measure huge doses of radiation.
The international scientific community has proposed using more convenient units of measurement - gray and becquerel.

Gray (Gr) is equal to 100 rad. Perhaps in the future, gray will be used instead of glad.

Becquerel (Bq)- a unit named after the French physicist Becquerel, who discovered radioactivity. Becquerel corresponds to one radioactive decay per second and is many times less than curie. This unit has been used in Europe for about ten years.

Sievert (Sv) is a unit of a new international standard. One sievert is equal to 100 rem. However, in this book, rem, rad and curie will be used more often.
Majority National Radiation Protection Committees (NCRPs) European countries, as well as Belarus and Russia have established an admissible exposure rate for the population of no more than 1 millisievert per year. In this case, the influence of the natural background and X-ray examinations was not taken into account. However, there is a lot of evidence that a safe level of radiation exposure does not exist at all (the so-called “no-threshold concept”).

The word "radiation" is more often understood as ionizing radiation associated with radioactive decay. In this case, a person experiences the action of non-ionizing types of radiation: electromagnetic and ultraviolet.

The main sources of radiation are:

• natural radioactive substances around and inside us - 73%;
• medical procedures (fluoroscopy and others) - 13%;
• cosmic radiation - 14%.

Of course, there are technogenic sources of pollution resulting from major accidents... These are the most dangerous events for humanity, because, as in nuclear explosion, in this case iodine (J-131), cesium (Cs-137) and strontium (mainly Sr-90) can be released. Weapon-grade plutonium (Pu-241) and its decay products are no less dangerous.

Also, do not forget that over the past 40 years, the Earth's atmosphere has been very heavily contaminated with radioactive products of atomic and hydrogen bombs... Of course, at the moment, radioactive fallout falls only in connection with natural disasters, for example, during volcanic eruptions. But, on the other hand, the fission of a nuclear charge at the time of the explosion produces a radioactive isotope carbon-14 with a half-life of 5,730 years. The explosions changed the equilibrium content of carbon-14 in the atmosphere by 2.6%. At present, the average effective equivalent dose rate due to explosion products is about 1 mrem / year, which is approximately 1% of the dose rate due to the natural background radiation.

Energy is another reason for the serious accumulation of radionuclides in humans and animals. The bituminous coals used in CHP plants contain naturally occurring radioactive elements such as potassium-40, uranium-238 and thorium-232. The annual dose in the area of ​​coal-fired CHP is 0.5–5 mrem / year. By the way, nuclear power plants are characterized by significantly lower emissions.

Almost all inhabitants of the Earth undergo medical procedures using sources of ionizing radiation. But this is a more difficult question, which we will return to a little later.

In what units is radiation measured

Different units are used to measure the amount of radiation energy. In medicine, sievert is the main one - an effective equivalent dose received in one procedure by the whole body. It is in sieverts per unit time that the background radiation level is measured. Becquerel serves as a unit for measuring the radioactivity of water, soil, and so on, per unit volume.

Other units of measurement can be found in the table.

Radiation consequences

Exposure to radiation on a person is called radiation. Its main manifestation is acute radiation sickness, which has varying degrees of severity. Radiation sickness can manifest itself with exposure to a dose equal to 1 sievert. A dose of 0.2 sievert increases the risk of cancer, and a dose of 3 sievert threatens the life of the exposed person.

Radiation sickness manifests itself in the following symptoms: loss of strength, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting; dry, hacking cough; cardiac disorders.

In addition, radiation causes radiation burns. Very large doses lead to the death of the skin, up to damage to muscles and bones, which heals much worse than chemical or thermal burns. Along with burns, metabolic disorders, infectious complications, radiation infertility, and radiation cataracts may appear.

The effects of radiation can manifest themselves through long time- this is the so-called stochastic effect. It is expressed in the fact that the frequency of certain cancers may increase among exposed people. In theory, genetic effects are also possible, but even among 78 thousand Japanese children who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no increase in the number of hereditary diseases was found. And this is despite the fact that the effects of radiation have a stronger effect on dividing cells, therefore, radiation is much more dangerous for children than for adults.

Short-term low-dose irradiation, used for examinations and treatment of certain diseases, has an interesting effect called hormesis. This is the stimulation of any system of the body by external influences that are insufficient for the manifestation of harmful factors. This effect allows the body to mobilize strength.

Statistically, radiation can increase the level of oncology, but it is very difficult to identify the direct effect of radiation, separating it from the action of chemically harmful substances, viruses and others. It is known that after the bombing of Hiroshima, the first effects in the form of an increase in the incidence of diseases began to appear only after 10 years or more. Cancer of the thyroid gland, breast and certain parts is directly related to radiation.

The natural background radiation is about 0.1–0.2 μSv / h. It is believed that a constant background level above 1.2 μSv / h is dangerous for humans (it is necessary to distinguish between an instantly absorbed radiation dose and a constant background). Is this a lot? For comparison: the radiation level at a distance of 20 km from the Japanese nuclear power plant "Fukushima-1" at the time of the accident exceeded the norm by 1,600 times. The maximum recorded radiation level at this distance is 161 μSv / h. After the explosion, the radiation level reached several thousand microsieverts per hour.

During a 2–3-hour flight over an ecologically clean area, a person receives radiation of 20–30 µSv. The same dose of radiation threatens if a person is made 10-15 pictures in one day with a modern X-ray apparatus - a visiograph. A couple of hours in front of a cathode ray monitor or TV gives the same dose of radiation as one such picture. The annual dose from smoking, one cigarette per day, is 2.7 mSv. One fluorography - 0.6 mSv, one radiography - 1.3 mSv, one fluoroscopy - 5 mSv. Radiation from concrete walls - up to 3 mSv per year.

When irradiating the whole body and for the first group of critical organs (heart, lungs, brain, pancreas and others), regulatory documents establish the maximum dose of 50,000 μSv (5 rem) per year.

Acute radiation sickness develops at a single exposure dose of 1,000,000 μSv (25,000 digital fluorographs, 1,000 x-ray images of the spine in one day). Large doses have an even stronger effect:

• 750,000 μSv - short-term insignificant change in blood composition;
• 1,000,000 μSv - mild radiation sickness;
• 4,500,000 μSv - severe radiation sickness (50% of those exposed to death die);
• about 7,000,000 μSv - death.

Are X-ray examinations dangerous?

Most often, we encounter radiation during medical research. However, the doses that we receive in the process are so small that we should not be afraid of them. The exposure time with an old X-ray apparatus is 0.5-1.2 seconds. And with a modern visiograph, everything happens 10 times faster: in 0.05–0.3 seconds.

According to the medical requirements set out in SanPiN 2.6.1.1192-03, during preventive medical X-ray procedures, the radiation dose should not exceed 1,000 μSv per year. How much is it in the pictures? Quite a bit of:

• 500 sighting images (2–3 µSv) obtained with a radiovisiograph;
• 100 of the same images, but using good X-ray film (10-15 µSv);
• 80 digital orthopantomograms (13-17 µSv);
• 40 film orthopantomograms (25-30 µSv);
• 20 computed tomograms (45-60 µSv).

That is, if every day throughout the year we take one X-ray on a visiograph, add a couple of CT scans and the same number of orthopantomograms to this, then even in this case we will not go beyond the permitted doses.

Who should not be irradiated

However, there are people for whom even such types of radiation are strictly prohibited. According to the standards approved in Russia (SanPiN 2.6.1.1192-03), radiation in the form of radiography can be carried out only in the second half of pregnancy, except for cases when the issue of abortion or the need for emergency or emergency care must be resolved.

Clause 7.18 of the document states: “X-ray examinations of pregnant women are carried out using all possible means and methods of protection so that the dose received by the fetus does not exceed 1 mSv in two months of undetected pregnancy. If the fetus receives a dose exceeding 100 mSv, the doctor is obliged to warn the patient about the possible consequences and recommend to terminate the pregnancy. "

Young people who are to become parents in the future need to close the abdominal region and genitals from radiation. X-ray radiation has the most negative effect on blood cells and germ cells. In children, in general, the whole body should be screened, except for the area under study, and studies should be carried out only if necessary and as prescribed by a doctor.

Sergei Nelyubin, head of the X-ray diagnostics department of the N.N. B. V. Petrovsky, candidate medical sciences, assistant professor

How to protect yourself

There are three main methods of protection against X-rays: time protection, distance protection and shielding. That is, the less you are in the X-ray range and the farther you are from the radiation source, the lower the radiation dose.

Although a safe dose of radiation exposure is calculated for a year, it is still not worth doing several X-ray examinations on the same day, for example, fluorography, etc. Well, each patient must have a radiation passport (it is embedded in the medical card): in it, the radiologist enters information about the dose received during each examination.

Radiography primarily affects the endocrine glands, lungs. The same applies to small doses of radiation in accidents and releases. active substances... Therefore, as a preventive measure, doctors recommend breathing exercises. They will help cleanse the lungs and activate the body's reserves.

To normalize the internal processes of the body and remove harmful substances, it is worth consuming more antioxidants: vitamins A, C, E (red wine, grapes). Sour cream, cottage cheese, milk, grain bread, bran, unprocessed rice, and prunes are useful.

In the event that food products inspire certain concerns, you can use the recommendations for residents of the regions affected by the Chernobyl accident.

»
With actual exposure due to an accident or in an infected area, quite a lot needs to be done. First you need to carry out decontamination: quickly and accurately remove clothes and shoes with carriers of radiation, properly dispose of it, or at least remove radioactive dust from your belongings and surrounding surfaces. It is enough to wash the body and clothes (separately) under running water using detergents.

Food supplements and anti-radiation drugs are used before or after exposure to radiation. The best known drugs are high in iodine, which helps to effectively fight the negative effects of its radioactive isotope, which is localized in the thyroid gland. To block the accumulation of radioactive cesium and prevent secondary damage, use "Potassium orotat". Calcium supplements deactivate the radioactive strontium preparation by 90%. Dimethyl sulfide is shown to protect cellular structures.

By the way, the well-known activated carbon can neutralize the effects of radiation. And the benefits of drinking vodka immediately after irradiation are not a myth at all. It really helps to remove radioactive isotopes from the body in the simplest cases.

Just do not forget: self-treatment should be carried out only if it is impossible to consult a doctor in a timely manner and only in the case of real, and not fictitious, radiation. X-ray diagnostics, watching TV or flying on an airplane do not affect the health of the average inhabitant of the Earth.

Thus:

1 Ci = 3.7 · 10 10 Bq (exactly) 1 Bq = 2.7027 · 10 −11 Ci.

The value of 1 curie was originally defined as the radioactivity of the emanation of radium (i.e., radon-222), which is in radioactive equilibrium with 1 g of 226 Ra. At present, the unit is tied to the becquerel (by definition, 1 Ci = 3.7 · 10 10 Bq) in order to avoid the error associated with determining the half-life of radium-226 and amounting to a few tenths of a percent.

The activity of cesium-137 or cobalt-60 used in radiotherapy can be about 1000 Ci, which can lead to serious health consequences, even if the exposure continues for several minutes.

In addition to curie, μCi is often used: 1 μCi = 3.7 · 10 4 decays per second = 2.22 · 10 6 decays per minute.

The human body contains approximately 0.1 μCi of naturally occurring potassium-40.

see also

Notes (edit)

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See what "Curie (unit of measurement)" is in other dictionaries:

Curie, an off-system unit of a nuclide activity in a radioactive source (isotope activity). Named after the French scientists P. Curie and M. Sklodowska Curie. Abbreviated designation: Russian ≈ curie, international ≈ Ci. Was determined ... ...

This term has other meanings, see Becquerel. Becquerel (symbol: Bq, Bq) unit of measurement of the activity of a radioactive source in The international system units (SI). One becquerel is defined as the activity of a source, in ... ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Rutherford. Rutherford (symbol: Рд, Rd) is an obsolete off-system unit for measuring the activity of a radioactive source. 1 Рд is defined as 106 decay events per second. So ... ... Wikipedia

- (fr. Curie) French surname. Famous carriers Pierre Curie (1859 1906) French physicist; laureate Nobel Prize in physics. Maria Sklodowska Curie (1867 1934) French physicist and chemist, Nobel laureate in physics and chemistry; ... ... Wikipedia

A unit of measurement of natural or artificial radioactivity; is determined (GOST 8848 63) by such an amount of any radioactive substance, and which takes place 3,700 1010 decays and a second (radioactivity of 1 g of radium). They often use ... ... Geological encyclopedia

curie- unsl., cf. Curie. By the name of fr. physicists P. Curie and M. Sklodowska Curie. specialist. A unit of measurement for radioactivity. BAS 1. The highest activity 0, 67. 10 9 curies (liter, gave a source flowing from shale. Nature 1925 1 3 107. However, at nuclear power plants happen ... ... Historical Dictionary gallicisms of the Russian language

Curie- (1) the point is the temperature, upon reaching which the heated ones (see) lose their magnetization and become (see), and (see), losing spontaneous polarization, ordinary (see); (2) non-systemic unit of measurement of natural million artificial ... ... Big Polytechnic Encyclopedia

Curie Maria (1867 1934), a native of Poland, specialized in the field of RADIOACTIVITY. Marie Curie's husband, Pierre Curie, was engaged in electrical and magnetic properties crystals, he also formulated the dependence of magnetization on ... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

I Curie Irene (1897 1956), French physicist; see Joliot Curie I. II Curie Pierre (15.5.1859, Paris, 19.4.1906, ibid.), French physicist, member of the French Academy of Sciences (1905). After graduating from the University of Paris (1877) ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Quantities considered by definition equal to one when measuring other quantities of the same kind. The standard of the unit of measurement is its physical implementation. So, the standard of the meter unit is a rod 1 m long. In principle, one can imagine ... ... Collier's Encyclopedia

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1 kilocurie [kCi] = 3.7E + 16 milliebecquerel [mBq]

Initial value

Converted value

becquerel petabecquerel terabecquerel gigabecquerel megabecquerel kilobecquerel milliebecquerel curie kilocurie millicurie microcurie nanoccurie picocurie rutherford inverse second decay per second decay per minute

Power in diopters and lens magnification

More on radioactive decay

General information

Radioactive decay is the process during which an atom emits radioactive particles. There are several types of radioactive decay: alpha, beta and gamma decay, according to the name of the particles that are released during this decay. During radioactive decay, particles take energy from the nucleus of an atom. Sometimes at the same time the core changes its state or turns into another core.

Types of radioactive decay

Alpha decay

The alpha particles that are released during alpha decay are made up of two neutrons and two protons. Compared to other particles, most of the alpha particles produced during radioactive decay have very low degree penetration. They do not penetrate even thin barriers such as paper, leather, and air. If they nevertheless enter the human or animal body, then the health risk is enormous, much greater than from beta and gamma particles. One of the recent high-profile cases of radiation poisoning is associated precisely with the alpha particles released during the radioactive decay of polonium-210. Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian FSB officer, was poisoned in 2006 when polonium-210 was added to his food during a business lunch without his knowledge. He died 23 days after the poisoning. This case received a lot of publicity, not only because Litvinenko was politically objectionable. To the Russian government but also because the murder took place not in Russia, but in Great Britain, where Litvinenko received political asylum.

Beta decay

Beta particles released during beta decay are positrons or electrons. Their penetrating power is higher than that of alpha particles, but they cannot penetrate the aluminum layer, as well as some other materials. With sufficiently strong radiation, beta particles penetrate the skin into the body, and therefore are hazardous to health. Despite this danger, or rather precisely because of it, their ability to destroy the cells of living organisms is used to treat cancer, during radiotherapy. In this case, radiation directed to the cancer-affected areas destroys the cancer cells.

During beta decay, an interesting phenomenon sometimes occurs - an unusual beautiful blue glow, called the Vavilov-Chernikov effect. For this, the particles must move with high speed... In the example below about radiation exposure in Goiânia, those who found radioactive cesium-137 observed this very phenomenon. Because of this glow, people thought that cesium-137 had magical properties, and bragged about this curiosity to friends.

Gamma decay

The penetration rate of gamma rays generated during gamma decay is much higher than that of beta rays. To prevent them from entering the body, protective equipment is made from a thick layer of lead, concrete, or other materials. The definition of gamma rays has changed over the years, but they are now defined as rays emitted by the nucleus of an atom, excluding the rays emitted by astronomical phenomena. Gamma rays differ from X-rays in that X-rays emitted by electrons outside the nucleus.

Half life

The half-life of a radioactive particle is the time it takes for the total amount of radioactive material to be halved. This value is measured in the same units as time, that is, in seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, and so on, depending on how long the half-life is for the particle being measured. For example, the half-lives of iodine-131 and cesium-137, the two most common radioactive substances in the Chernobyl area after the accident, are 8 days and 30 years, respectively. The time it takes for a radioactive substance to completely decay depends on the half-life and on the total amount of the substance.

The Chernobyl accident

The 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in what is now Ukraine is notorious for its emissions a large number radioactive substances into the atmosphere and the associated environmental pollution in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and European countries. Emissions of radioactive isotopes included iodine-131, cesium-137, strontium-90, and plutonium-241. All of these substances undergo beta decay and can easily enter the body if a person is not protected by special clothing, which increases the likelihood of cancer and damage to cells and tissues.

The half-life of iodine-131 is the shortest compared to other radioactive substances in Chernobyl - only 8 days. Therefore, he posed the greatest health hazard immediately after the accident. As a result of an accident in environment horrible about 1760 petabecquerels. One petabecquerel is equal to ten to the 15th power of becquerel. Due to the short half-life, there is now almost no radioactive iodine-131 left in the territory contaminated during the accident.

Iodine-131 is easily absorbed into the body, especially the thyroid gland, and increases the risk of cancer. There is a high likelihood of infection through irradiated milk and green leafy vegetables such as lettuce and cabbage. This infection is especially likely for children. After the Chernobyl accident, the Soviet government did not immediately inform the public about the release of radiation, the associated dangers and how to prevent exposure. In addition to the people evacuated from the exclusion zone, and those who knew about the accident because they were directly connected with it at work, residents of nearby areas did not suspect about the accident before it was announced in the media. This happened only a week later, and by that time many adults and children, unknowingly, had received a dose of radiation through milk and other foodstuffs. As a result, the incidence of thyroid cancer in infected areas has increased significantly, especially among children.

Other substances

The areas around the nuclear power plant are still contaminated with cesium-137, strontium-90 and plutonium-241 due to their more long period half-lives at 30, 29 and 14 years, respectively. A total of 85, 10, and 6 petabecquerels of each radioisotope were emitted, respectively. Iodine-131 accounted for only 10-15% of the total amount of radioactive substances. Cesium-137 and strontium-90 were much more - they accounted for almost 2/3 of all emissions, and will pass yet about 300 years until these substances finally decay.

At the moment, the greatest danger to people working and visiting the 30-kilometer exclusion zone in Chernobyl is cesium-137. Most of the radioisotopes in the contaminated area around the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture are also cesium-137. It easily enters the body, as it is similar in structure to potassium, which the body needs for normal life. It usually collects in muscle tissue and breaks it down. This is especially detrimental to one of the most important organs of muscle tissue - the heart. Recently, in areas contaminated with radiation after the Chernobyl accident, the number of heart diseases has increased, especially among children. Cesium-137 also causes cancer.

In total, according to the Soviet government, from 50 to 100 million curies (2 to 4 million terabekels) of radioactive substances were thrown out. Based on statistics on cancer and other diseases, scientists in many countries suggest that in reality these figures should be 10 times higher.

Liquidation works

According to the World Health Organization, the Soviet government called in 600,000 people to clean up the aftermath of the accident. These people were called liquidators. Both regular military personnel and reserve servicemen were called up. Some of them were specialists in the field of chemistry and physics, but many did not have the knowledge and training in working with radioactive substances. Firefighters were among the first liquidators; many of them received high doses of radiation and died shortly after the accident. Many liquidators were sent on dangerous jobs, such as clearing the roof of radioactive debris that got there during the reactor explosion. The robots that were supposed to carry out the cleaning could not withstand the radiation, so people worked instead of them, “biorobots,” as some liquidators called themselves in their memoirs. They removed from the roofs, among other things, the fragments of radioactive graphite rods that were inside the reactor and thrown out during the explosion.

One of the most important tasks was to prevent radioactive particles from rising into the air, so most of the liquidation work was aimed at cleaning and burying radioactive debris - concrete, reinforcement, and so on - as well as irradiated soil and other items. At the very beginning of the work, the liquidators were also engaged in the burial of irradiated food products in evacuated villages and destroyed domestic animals. Work to eliminate the consequences of the accident is still in progress.

Liquidators

Most of the liquidators were called up for liquidation work from the reserve, and none of them had the right to refuse. Military service was compulsory in the Soviet Union, and everyone who served or graduated from some educational institutions became reserve soldiers. Each of them could be called up again at any time, regardless of their job, and this is exactly what happened after the Chernobyl accident. In Chernobyl, men over 30 were mainly conscripted. Some managed to avoid conscription if their health did not allow them or they could get a certificate stating that they could not work as liquidators for health reasons. The alternative was jail time for draft evasion. Not everyone worked forcibly, and there were those who volunteered for these jobs, realizing, despite the risk, that someone had to do this work. Many hoped that nothing would happen to them.

Some liquidators described the conditions in which they had to work in their memoirs. They often contain descriptions of security violations. In his film “Chernobyl. Chronicle of difficult weeks ”director Vladimir Shevchenko showed the liquidators who worked in highly contaminated areas. Some of them did not wear respirators, ignoring safety rules, as respirators were difficult to breathe and work with. One of the liquidators described in his memoirs how dosimeters were taken at his site. According to the rules, each liquidator was supposed to wear a dosimeter while working in order to record the total amount of radiation received. Despite the rules, this information was not recorded by those who followed the testimony. Instead, an approximate dose was recorded for each worker based on previous measurements at the site where he worked that day. Sometimes even these doses were underestimated in order to prolong the duration of a person's stay on the site. Some liquidators also say that even in "clean" residential areas, the radiation background was overestimated, since some workers returned from work in dirty uniforms, or did not have any special work uniforms at all. Also, sometimes irradiated building materials were used to equip the living area. The workers themselves brought televisions from contaminated houses, thereby increasing the radiation background in the residential area.

Sarcophagus

Soon after the accident, a concrete dome was built over the exploded reactor to prevent radioactive debris from rising into the air and contaminating the surrounding area. This dome was called a sarcophagus - as a reminder of the deadly substances buried under it.

Now the body of the sarcophagus is dilapidated and began to collapse in some places. In the winter of 2013, part of the building collapsed. The unreliability of this structure was known for a long time, so recently, even before the winter of 2013, the construction of a new dome began. During the collapse, construction work was temporarily suspended, but resumed a week later. At the moment, the new dome is planned to be completed by 2015. If the sarcophagus is left as it is, without a new dome, then it will eventually completely collapse, and as a result, another release of radioactive particles into the atmosphere will occur.

Chernobyl Tourism

In the mid-90s, thanks to the work to eliminate the consequences of the disaster, it was possible to significantly reduce the radiation background in the territory of the 30-kilometer exclusion zone. Since then, tourists have appeared in the zone. Until recently, people in the exclusion zone were taken by unofficial "guides", popularly called "stalkers". Most often these are local residents who have returned home. They showed people the safest trails and told about local attractions. Someone took people for the sake of money, and someone - for free, out of a desire to show as many people as possible the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. Some introduced tourists and journalists to local residents, "self-settlers" who returned home despite the increased background radiation.

Since 1995, the news agency on the problems at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant Chernobylinterinform began to organize official excursions to the exclusion zone. Until 2010, entry to the zone was strictly limited, but since then, the Ukrainian government has allowed entry to the territory for everyone traveling as part of an official tour. In 2011, the area was closed again for six months, and now access is more limited than before, but excursions continue. Prices for the 2013 excursion start at $ 150 per person and depend on the number of people in the group and the duration of the excursion.

Radiation accidents and problems

Since the time that scientists began to study radiation, over its hundred-year history, many accidents and problems associated with it have occurred around the world. In addition to accidents at nuclear power plants, most of these incidents are associated with violation of safety rules for storage, disposal and handling of radioactive substances. At the same time, people who were exposed to irradiated or emitting objects often did not know that they were radioactive. Some of these incidents occurred because cesium-137 and other radioisotopes ended up in scrap metal. Often this was due to the fact that parts of the radiotherapy devices were not disposed of according to the instructions and ended up in landfill.

Two such incidents occurred at a recycling plant in Spain and at a steel mill in China. Other similar situations happen when working with radioactive substances improperly due to the fact that people who work with them do not know about the danger. Sometimes the cause of the radiation pollution is unknown, as, for example, in Russia, where radioactive banknotes were found from 1994 to 1996.

Over the past hundred years, there have been many accidents and incidents related to radiation. Below are just some of the most famous cases. Most of them are the result of inadequate rules and laws on the safety of working with radioactive substances, or non-compliance with such rules. The problems described here exist in both developing and developed countries.

"Radium girls"

In the United States between 1917 and 1926, and in some countries until the early 1960s. added radium to paints to make them glow in the dark. This paint was used on watch dials. The workers of the factory where these dials were produced, mostly young girls, inhaled and even swallowed radium during their work, being sure that it was harmless. They often licked their brushes to get finer strokes, and some even drew patterns on their skin and nails, as they liked the beautiful paint.

Later, many of them developed cancer. Some have partially or completely destroyed the jaw bones. The plant has long refused to pay the girls compensation, claiming that their condition is caused by other diseases such as syphilis. Several girls filed a lawsuit and eventually won the case. Each received $ 10,000 and an annual pension of $ 600 for life. This process was loud and widely publicized. This set a precedent for subsequent lawsuits between workers and their employers, especially in relation to work-related injuries. Following this incident, the US government began drafting workplace safety legislation.

Uranium leak at Church Rock plant

In 1979, a radioactive waste pool overflowed at the Church Rock uranium factory in New Mexico, USA, and some of the contents overflowed. Workers were to blame for this incident, who did not follow safety rules and filled the pool above the permissible level. The radioactive waste leaked into the Puerco River and was carried to the Navajo Reservation by water. For several days, the residents of the reservation were unaware of the danger, and they used the polluted water on the farm and for agricultural purposes. The radioactive decay in each liter of water was 128,000 picocuries. In general, in the entire river, it was 4 curies from the beginning of the leakage of radioactive waste.

The government disseminated danger messages mostly in English, a language that not all residents on the reservation could speak. Even those who knew English and understood the message did not realize the full danger of what was happening, because they did not know about the threat of radiation to health. In addition, the assistance provided by the government to the victims, both sick and people left without clean water, was insufficient. For many years after the accident, people experienced the consequences of radioactive contamination and radiation.

Farming and herding are very important to the Navajo people who inhabit the area, so the death of cattle from contaminated water has had a detrimental effect on their lives. Some people, including children, have sustained serious skin damage; the most severe of them ended in amputations. The incidence of cancer has also increased. Some areas were completely cut off from water supplies, as all supplies of clean water were contaminated with radioactive waste.

For some time after the accident, the factory was closed, but soon it resumed work, continuing to pollute the environment. The case was decided without trial, about a year after the accident. Local residents received compensation in the amount of US $ 525,000. During the cleaning of the territory, far from all radioactive waste was removed. More than 20 years have passed since the first stage of harvesting, but finally, in 2004 and 2007, harvesting was resumed. An even more thorough cleaning was carried out in 2008 and 2012, but this time it is not finished either. Now (summer 2013) the organization responsible for the complete cleaning of the territory from radioactive contamination is developing a new program for cleaning the area.

Irradiated apartments in Taiwan

A piece of steel from a nuclear power plant, contaminated with radioactive cobalt-60, ended up in Taiwan for scrap and was melted down on Construction Materials... Later, between 1982 and 1984, up to 2,000 apartment buildings, public buildings, and about 30 schools in Taipei, Zhanghua, Taoyuan and Jilong were built from rebar that contained this metal.

In 1992, one of the residents in such an apartment building brought a dosimeter from work. Having found radiation above the norm in the apartment, he began to complain to the appropriate authorities. The investigation revealed that the Taiwan Atomic Energy Board had been aware of the issue since 1985, but did not take appropriate action.

As a result of inspections carried out by the government in 1992, radiation contamination was found in a number of apartment buildings, offices, public buildings, schools and kindergartens. People who lived, studied or worked in these buildings were more likely to get cancer as they had been exposed to low doses of radiation over the years. Research in this area has identified 39 radiation-related deaths, although it is not known how many unidentified deaths are associated with this incident. The researchers also noticed that there was an increased incidence of cataracts among children who lived in contaminated apartments.

In many apartments, the radioactive background is still increased, since no cleaning work has been carried out. The agencies that rent them are aware of the problem, but despite this, the apartments are not empty, and it is not known whether the new tenants are aware of the increased radiation background. In some other houses, apartment owners refuse to move because they cannot sell them at a price that will allow them to buy a new apartment, and the government refuses to provide them with financial support.

Infection in Goiânia

The city of Goiânia in Brazil is notorious for being the site of the 1987 radiation leak incident. The IGR radiotherapy laboratory has moved to a new building, leaving an obsolete cesium-137 radiotherapy facility in the old one. The owners of the building rented by the laboratory could not agree with the laboratory peacefully about renting the premises, and they solved this problem through the courts. Despite the protests of laboratory workers about the danger of such a decision, the court ruled that representatives of IGR were prohibited from entering the building, so they could not return and take out the abandoned radiation therapy unit. When a watchman hired to guard the premises did not show up for work, two looters took advantage of his absence and stole a radiation therapy unit. They intended to sell it as scrap metal, and were unaware of the danger of the radioactive substance inside.

At home, thieves disassembled the installation and found a capsule with cesium-137. One drilled a hole in it and saw a luminous substance inside. Both received a large dose of radiation while working with the device and felt unwell, but did not know that it was caused by the radiation. Later, part of a finger was amputated to one of them, and part of a hand to the other. A few days after the theft of the installation, they sold it along with the capsule as scrap metal to the owner of the city scrap yard, who noticed the capsule. He liked her beautiful blue glow caused by the Vavilov-Chernikov effect described above. He brought it home, where he showed it to relatives and friends. Later, he asked a friend to extract the glowing powder from the capsule, and gave it to his friends and neighbors. He even wanted to make a ring out of it and give it to his wife.

The owner's brother also received some powder as a gift. He decorated the walls and half of the house with it, and also left some on the dining table. While eating, his little daughter touched the powder, and swallowed some along with the meal. As a result, she received a lethal dose of radiation and later died in hospital. She was only six years old. During the funeral, local residents protested at the cemetery, as they feared that the cemetery would be contaminated with radiation.

The owner's wife fell ill shortly after exposure to the powder, and her mother came to care for her at the hospital. Later, the mother returned to her village, spreading radioactive contamination there as well. Two employees in the warehouse also soon fell ill, because they were extracting valuable metals such as lead from the installation, and as a result, they both received high doses of radiation.

The wife of the owner of the scrap yard began to suspect that this capsule was to blame for the ailments and illnesses of her relatives. She found the radioactive metal in another warehouse, where it had been sold by that time, and took it to the hospital for examination. At first, doctors thought her symptoms and those of her relatives were caused by a tropical illness, but after examining the metal she brought back, they realized that this was not the case.

At the request of the doctors, an expert physicist checked the metal and concluded that it was radioactive. After that, the doctors reported this to the Brazilian government, and liquidation work soon began. By this time, more than two weeks had passed since the day the installation was stolen. As a result, a large area in the city and beyond was contaminated with radiation. The owner's wife saved many people and prevented wider contamination by bringing the suspicious metal to the hospital for inspection.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to save her. In addition to her and her little niece, both hired workers, who were extracting lead from the plant, were also killed. The dose that the owner himself received was greater than that of other exposed people, but despite this, he survived. This is likely because he was irradiated with lower doses for a longer time, while his wife, niece, and workers received a larger dose at one time. Due to the radiation, many people have been hospitalized. Several houses were also demolished to bury the radiation contaminated materials.

Radioactive contamination in Kramatorsk

In the late 1970s, an ampoule with radioactive cesium-137 was lost in a quarry in Kramatorsk (present-day territory of Ukraine). It was part of a measuring device, and it emitted 200 roentgens per hour. The search began, but after a while they stopped, never finding the capsule. Later, it was accidentally walled up in one of the panels, from which a multi-storey residential building was built in 1980. In a family that lived in one of the apartments in this house, two children and a mother died. The apartment was vacated and later in the new family, which moved there, the child also died. The child's father began to complain and made sure that the house was checked and found an unacceptable level of radiation. For all the time until the capsule was removed from the wall, two adults and four children died in the house.

Irradiation in Zaragoza

Sometimes radiation exposure is the result of the negligence of medical and maintenance personnel in radiology clinics. This is what caused the death of the sick in the city of Zaragoza in Spain. A worker who was performing maintenance on a radiation therapy unit used in a city hospital for the treatment of cancer mistakenly increased the radiation dose by more than five times. As a result, eleven out of twenty-five cancer patients died from radiation overdose.

Radioactive contamination in Samut Prakan

The incident in Samut Prakan province in Thailand took place in 2000. Local residents collecting scrap metal stole and opened a cobalt-60 capsule that emitted 15.7 terabekkels. This capsule was part of a radiotherapy unit at a hospital in Bangkok. The hospital bought a new unit and sold the old one to the electric company from which it bought the new one. Required documents the sale was not issued and the installation was not registered with the agency that monitors the location of all radioactive sites in Thailand. The company that bought the unit sent it to storage along with two other unregistered instruments. The place where they were stored was poorly guarded, so the installation was stolen.

It has not been established exactly how it was stolen, but the scrap metal collectors who had it at the beginning of the incident claim that they bought it from unknown persons. With the help of workers at the scrap metal warehouse, the capsule was cut and opened. Everyone who participated in this received a large dose of radiation, and they developed symptoms of radiation sickness to a greater or lesser extent. The background radiation was overestimated at the landfill and in the surrounding area. A few days after the first patients were admitted to the hospital, doctors began to suspect that radiation was to blame. The hospital immediately reported the problem to the agency that monitors radiation facilities in the country. By that time, 17 days had passed since the opening of the cobalt-60 capsule.

Soon, work began on cleaning and burying the infected objects, and the two remaining unregistered installations were found. Two workers and the husband of the owner of the scrap yard died due to high radiation exposure. One of the people who brought the capsule to the warehouse had fingers amputated and several others developed radiation sickness. Although the Thai government tried to prevent further similar problems, scrap metal with traces of radioactive substances was found twice in 2008 while trading scrap metal. In both cases, no one was injured, as the containers containing the radioactive material were not opened and the workers at the scrap yard reported the problem to the authorities. In one case, a warehouse worker recognized the logo for radioactive substances. This logo was designed after the Samut Prakan incident to prevent similar problems in the future.

Natural nuclear reactor

Gabon, a country on the west coast of Africa bordering Cameroon and the Congo, is known for having a natural nuclear reactor. This place is called Oklo. In the area where this reactor was formed, there are large deposits of uranium. In this place, about two million years ago, flowed nuclear reaction division for which there were all the necessary conditions... The fuel for the reaction was uranium-235, and the reaction continued until the fuel ran out. It took place in Oklo at several locations. At the moment, this is the only place on Earth that scientists know about, where such a nuclear reaction took place. The researchers believe that Mars also has favorable conditions for natural nuclear reactors.

"Treatment" by radiation

The first twenty to thirty years after the discovery of radiation, scientists did not know about its health hazards. As with all innovations, charlatans, pseudo-doctors, and pseudoscientists, and sometimes real doctors who do not understand the dangers of radiation, tried in every possible way to make money from this discovery. It was the same with electricity and magnetism, with the difference that radiation was a great danger. Those who made money from radiation argued that it has almost magical properties and cures many diseases.

"Raditor"

"Raditor" is one of the most famous such "drugs". It was made from distilled water, to which one microcurie or 37 & nbsp000 beckels of radium and thorium was added. This pseudo-medicine became known for the death of a famous industrialist, socialite and sportsman in the USA, Eben McBurney Byers. Journalists wrote a lot about his history of illness and death, and therefore many learned about the dangers of "Raditor" and radiation precisely because of this incident. He took Raditor from 1927 to 1930, on the advice of a physiotherapist. At first he liked the results of taking this remedy so much that he recommended it to his friends, and even sent boxes of "Raditor" to them as a gift. Gradually, he began to fall ill, as the consequences of several years of radiation made themselves felt. He began to lose weight, go bald, pain appeared, and bone tissue began to deteriorate. He stopped taking Raditor, but it was too late. After his death, the government imposed stricter controls on drugs and food.

Other false medicines

There were many other similar "drugs", for example, "Doramad radioactive toothpaste" with thorium. Thorium was touted as an antibacterial agent at the time. They also sold cans with a radioactive coating inside, for example, from radium - in them it was possible to make "medicinal" radioactive water. From 1900 to 1930, tablets, powders, and various liquids containing radium or uranium were popular. Compresses and radium bath salts were also available. Even the producers of the Borjomi mineral water advertised it as radioactive medicinal water.

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