is radioactive water more dangerous than radioactive air?
In: Biology
There are 3 main types of radiation.
Alpha radiation is a particle made of 2 protons and 2 neutrons; basically just a helium nucleus. Relative to other radiation types, it’s very big and the fact it has 2 protons means it has a net charge of +2.
Alpha radiation can be blocked by paper, because it’s so big. It can’t get past your skin and the outer layers of your skin are comprised of dead cells that aren’t damaged significantly by the absorption of the alpha particle.
Alpha particles can do a lot of damage once they’re inside you though. This +2 positive charge means that they tear away electrons willy-nilly, causing significant ionising damage. Alexander Litvinenko, a KGB agent, was famously poisoned by polonium, an alpha radiation emitter. Initially, doctors were confused at his symptoms of radiation poisoning, because the alpha particles emitted by the consumed polonium didn’t make it out of his body to be detected, so they didn’t detect much radiation.
Beta particles are electrons. An electron is almost 2000 times smaller than a proton, so a beta particle is tiny compared to an alpha particle. An electron has a -1 charge, so it’s possible for it to cause ionisation damage. The fact it’s so small means it’s so small means it can fit between the gaps of atoms and can travel further than alpha particles. They can be blocked by a few milimetres of aluminium foil.
Gamma radiation isn’t a particle, so it’s highly penetrating. When you see multiple feet of lead shielding, it’s gamma radiation we’re trying to block here. Gamma radiation is electromagnetic radiation, which means it’s very similar to the light we see, or radio waves, or X rays. The difference between all these radiation types is their wavelength and frequency. X-rays, for example, have a shorter wavelength and higher frequency than visible light, so they are higher energy. Gamma rays are even higher frequency so hold even more energy. Gamma rays aren’t as ionising as beta or alpha particles, but they can still do damage if biological tissues absorb them. The biggest concern is their penetration, they just keep on going.
A radioactive isotope might emit one of these types of radiation, or all of them. We can guess what’s most likely to happen, but there’s a degree of randomness. It’s why nuclear waste is so dangerous: even if we start out with pure Uranium-235, it’ll decay in many different ways, producing a mixture of different radioactive isotopes.
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With that background, let’s consider your specific question. Radioactive water isn’t necessarily worse than radioactive air. Radioactive isotope dust in the air is very dangerous to breathe in, because the dust will irritate lungs and any beta or alpha radiation emitted can do more damage once it’s inside you.
I think the danger of radioactive water isn’t necessarily in the consumption, but in overall ecological damage. Let’s imagine there’s a lake that’s had nuclear waste dumped in it. People might cordon off that lake and not drink from it or swim in it. Except that’s not enough. Radioactive materials could leech into groundwater, contaminating all neighbouring water sources. Animals that live in and around the lake will consume radioactive isotopes and so will anything that eats *those* animals. Once it’s distributed, radiation can be hard to control.
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