What is a safe amount of cesium-137?

What is a safe amount of cesium-137?

4 millirem per year
EPA, has established a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 4 millirem per year for beta particle and photon radioactivity from man-made radionuclides in drinking water.

Why is cesium-137 bad?

Nuclear Waste Of these, the fission product cesium-137 (half-life 30.17 years) is of greatest concern. Cesium-137 is one of the nuclides most responsible for the radioactivity of used reactor fuel and high-level waste (with the other being strontium-90). Cesium-137 is highly radiotoxic.

What is the toxicity of cesium?

Exposure to large amounts of radioactive cesium can damage cells in your body from the radiation. You might also experience acute radiation syndrome, which includes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding, coma, and even death in cases of very high exposures.

Is cesium-137 naturally occurring?

Despite its prevalence in spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste, cesium-137 is actually extremely rare. Its half-life is too short for it to persist from natural fission sources, and on earth it is a synthetic isotope only.

What type of radiation does cesium 137 emit?

Beta Particles
Type of Radiation Emitted: Beta Particles.

Is Caesium 133 radioactive?

Cesium-133 is naturally occuring and is stable(2). Cesium-112 through 132 and 134 through 148 are artificially produced and are radioactive(2).

Why is cesium-137 useful?

Cesium-137 is used in small amounts for calibration of radiation detection equipment, such as Geiger-Mueller counters. In larger amounts, Cs-137 is used in: Medical radiation therapy devices for treating cancer. Industrial gauges that detect the flow of liquid through pipes.

What is the half life of cesium-137?

30 years 70 days
Half Lives

Isotope	Physical Half-Life	Biological Half-Life
Cesium (Cs-137)	30 years	70 days
Cs-134	2 years	70 days
Iodine-131 (I-131)	8.1 days	138 days
Sr-90	28 years	18,000 days

Is Caesium 137 soluble in water?

Caesium-137 has a half-life of about 30 years. However, as it is highly water soluble, in actual uses cesium-137 ions are easily accumulated in the body, where their biological half-life is 110 days.

What is the half-life of cesium 137?

What kind of radiation does Caesium 137 emit?

Beta Particles Gamma Rays
Type of Radiation Emitted: Beta Particles. Gamma Rays.

Where can cesium 137 be found?

nuclear reactors
Cesium-137 is found in the liquid and airborne waste stream of nuclear reactors, but is not released to the environment, beyond trace levels in the liquid effluent, during normal nuclear reactor operations. It is likely to be released as a part of a nuclear reactor accident due to its volatility.

What is radon gas and how dangerous is it?

Radon is a naturally-occurring radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. Radon gas is inert, colorless and odorless. Radon is naturally in the atmosphere in trace amounts. Outdoors, radon disperses rapidly and, generally, is not a health issue.

How dangerous is Cs-137?

External exposure to large amounts of Cs-137 can cause burns, acute radiation sickness, and even death. Exposure to Cs-137 can increase the risk for cancer because of exposure to high-energy gamma radiation.

Does radon exposure increase the risk of lung cancer?

The dose-response relation is assumed to be linear – i.e. the risk of lung cancer increases proportionally with increasing radon exposure. Radon is much more likely to cause lung cancer in people who smoke. In fact, smokers are estimated to be 25 times more at risk from radon than non-smokers.

What are the symptoms of radon poisoning?

Radon is responsible for about 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the United States, though it usually takes 5 to 25 years to develop. Early signs and symptoms of lung cancer may include: persistent cough. coughing up blood. wheezing. shortness of breath. hoarseness. chest pain, especially when you cough or laugh.