Radiation is frightening at least
certain types of it are I mean my Geiger
counter doesn't go off near my mobile
microwave that's because a Geiger
phone or the Wi-Fi router or my
that is radiation with enough energy to
counter only measures ionizing radiation
you're exposed to more than two sieverts
rip electrons off atoms and it's
measured in units called sieverts if
after that but we're exposed to low
all at once you'll probably die shortly
levels of ionizing radiation all the time.
naturally radioactive so when you eat a
bananas for example are rich in
potassium and some of that potassium is
banana you're actually exposed to about
a banana for scale of radiation doses
0.1 micro sieverts of radiation that's
one ten-millionth of a sievert let's use
you know since people eat bananas we
become radioactive too so you're
that because that dose is insignificant
actually exposed to more radiation if
you sleep next to someone than if you
sleep alone but I wouldn't worry about
compared to the natural background
radiation of Earth I mean there's
globally the levels usually between
ionizing radiation coming out of the
soil and the rocks and the air and even
from space the level of radiation here
in Sydney is about 0.15 microsieverts
per hour and that's about average
hour.
point 1 and point 2 microsieverts per
but there are places with
significantly higher levels so who on
earth you think receives the maximum
dose of ionizing radiation let's answer
that question by going to the most
radioactive places on earth
might surprise you I'm in her rush MA
some places you'd expect to have high
levels of radiation
and that is the peace dome it was about
over a city it was detonated there to
600 meters above that dome where the
world's first nuclear bomb was detonated
have maximum destructive impact with a
discovered it's also the place where
level of radiation today almost 70 years
later is only 0.3 microsieverts per hour
this is the mine where uranium was
Marie Curie obtained her raw material
2007 microsiemens per hour
it's about
ten times the natural background that
you would have nowadays most of the
wall there's still a small piece and you
uranium has been removed but in this
at that florescent uranium ore this is
can see under UV light it flores's look
chemistry and she conducted a lot of her
the lab of Marie Curie she won two Nobel
prizes one in physics and one in
there are only a few parts of this area
work here and this is her office she
would have said right there apparently
much bit but that's like 10 times the
which are still radioactive one is this
doorknob what it climbs looked a lot
background yes
here apparently after she was worth
more that's it and another is the back
of her chair you can still detect alpha
particles coming off this spot right
Mexico this is the Trinity bomb test
being a lab she would come open the door
leaving traces of radium here and then
go and pull out her chair welcome to New
bomb was set off right here right in this spot
site where the world's first nuclear
this whole area was vaporized in fact
there was so much heat liberated by that
bomb that it fused all of the desert
still find it here they've actually
sand into this green glass and you can
named this mineral after the test
only place on earth that this has ever
it's called Trinitite yeah this is the
been made the level of radiation here is
radioactive i've got readings of two or
about 0.8 microsieverts an hour the
Trinitite itself is a little bit more
three microsieverts an hour off them now
as you gain altitude there's less
which place has higher levels of
radiation than anywhere we've seen so
far the answer is an airplane you know
microsieverts per hour at 18,000 feet up
atmosphere above you to shield you from
cosmic rays so the level of radiation
inside the plane can go up to 0.5
per hour at even higher altitudes and
to one micro sievert per hour at 23,000
feet over two microsieverts per hour at
33,000 feet and over three microsieverts
that reactor that it basically blew the
towards the poles that is two noble
nuclear reactor number four it melted
down on April 26 1986 so what happened
was so much heat was generated inside
throughout this whole surrounding area and over into Europe
top off spreading radioactive isotopes
and that is why we can still detect the
contamination here today now right now
an hour if I stayed here for one hour my
it's reading around five microsieverts
body would receive a similar dose to
x-ray so this is not a huge amount of
what you'd receive when you get a dental
radiation and one of the reasons why the
radiation level is not too high is
that's why we can stand here
because they actually removed a couple
meters worth of topsoil from this whole
area then they dumped it somewhere
we're driving into the Fukushima
road the Japanese are doing now exactly
exclusion zone now I'm just watching as
the levels on my Geiger counter go up as
we approach the zone
see those black bags at the side of the
what the people in Chernobyl did
collecting up meters and meters of
top soil
the mask is probably overkill it's just
to stop radioactive dust from getting
the most radioactive places where I've
into my lungs this is definitely one of
been even though the release of
noble only about 10% because it's much
radioactive material was less than true
fresher only three years since the
and I think we won't be staying here too
accident much less if it has decayed so
I've been getting readings up around
five to ten microsieverts an hour
where the firemen were taken after they
long because of that I'm about to go
into the hospital at Pripyat and this is
fought the fires at the Chernobyl
reactor and in the basement of this
was so contaminated they chucked it down there
building they have left all of the
firemen's clothing once they realized it
but you can see there's a huge pile
how about Judah read upside the bear I'm
getting half hundred Mike receive it's
radioactive place I visited and it's one
another bill that basement was the most
would have received 2,000 micro sieverts
of the most radioactive places on earth
if I'd stay down there for one hour I
here represents a banana now that might
that's a year's worth of natural
background radiation every yellow pixel
micro sieverts that's three years worth
seem like a lot but consider that in a
CT scan the patient receives about 7,000
additional 10,000 micro sieverts over
of natural background radiation it's
been estimated that the people living
around Fukushima will receive an
50,000 microsieverts per year but that's
their lifetime due to the nuclear power
disaster for comparison us radiation
workers are limited to a maximum of
micro sieverts worth of radiation but
less than another occupation astronaut
an astronaut on the space station for
six months will receive about 80,000
lungs a smokers lungs on average receive
not even they are exposed to the highest
levels of ionizing radiation so can you
guess who is the answer is a smokers
tobacco that they're smoking so not only
160,000 microsieverts worth of radiation
every year that's due to the radioactive
polonium and radioactive lead in the
are they exposed to carcinogens and
receive the highest doses of ionizing
toxins they also receive very high
levels of radiation so it's not the
people of Fukushima or Chernobyl or
radiation workers or even astronauts who
radiation that honor goes to your
ordinary average smoker.
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