I’m not going to get into a drawn out discussion about the risks of low level radiation exposure with you. I have two post-graduate degrees, one in health physics and one in radiation oncology physics. I have worked in the radiation field for 30 years. It is my belief that the Linear Non-Threshold models for radiation exposure over estimates the health risk.
I do find it interesting that you discount the radiation exposure in Denver because it is not inhaled or injested. In the next paragraph, you pooh-pooh radon exposure which is inhaled/ingested. Radon is an alpha emitter and thus the radiation biological equivalent dose per interaction is quite large as compared to a gamma interaction. Radon is thought to be the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US.
Let’s just agree then to disagree because I can point to cutting edge scientific research and you don’t happen to agree with it.
I dismiss radon in exaasperation following countless debates with people who suggest things like
a) the study of Kuala Lumpur “proves” that no one should worry about Fukushima. Of course it does no such thing and the study they point to didn’t even bother to assess how much exposure to radon from thermal hotsprings individual study participants experienced - it’s just that lived in a town with radon hotsprings. The study cherry picked paticipants from least sensistive cohorts and only lasted 7 years without collecting exposure data and consisted of too small a sample size. I see radon and I think, “Aw not this again.
b) Fukushima is harmless because some people in the US actually go down into mines full of radon to intentionally expose themselves to radiation for health reasons (cultivating maximum health).
c) You didn’t spend any time worrying about radon coming up from the ground today, why care about unprecidented levels of nuclear waste being pumped into the air and water. So much wrong here...yeah radon. I get tired of the false comparisons and being told I should not complain about being downwind and down current from 3 nuclear cores which have escaped containment. Yup 3 melt downs and I shouldn’t have an opinion.