In movies, during nuclear fallout, people in hazmat suits are usually seen being sprayed down by a liquid (seemingly to control the radiation) but if Radiation can penetrate clothes and metal then how can this liquid be used to control the spread of Radiation?

Question

In movies, during nuclear fallout, people in hazmat suits are usually seen being sprayed down by a liquid (seemingly to control the radiation) but if Radiation can penetrate clothes and metal then how can this liquid be used to control the spread of Radiation?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Fallout from a nuclear detonation is vaporized material as well as the casing and materials from the bomb that didn’t turn into energy. It goes up the cloud, cools back down as a radioactive solid and falls from the sky. A dirty bomb is similar, an explosion throws radioactive material around.

Stuff like Uranium and Plutonium mostly emit alpha radiation which can’t penetrate much more than a sheet of paper, is stopped by the skin. But if it’s inhaled, drank or eaten its able to do vast amount of damage to a body.

So that thin radiation suit gets cleaned off with soapy water, same applies to cleaning vehicles and ships

https://www.stripes.com/news/16-us-ships-that-aided-in-operation-tomodachi-still-contaminated-with-radiation-1.399094 – some pictures of US Navy ships being decontaminated after Fukushima Dai-ichi