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A terrible incident unfolded in Tokaimura, Japan, on 30 September 1999 when an uncontrolled chain reaction involving radioactive material was triggered. This would become the country’s worst nuclear accident. Over the next 20 hours, 49 people within the plant were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation – though it’s expected the total reach may have exceeded this. Among them was Hisashi Ouchi, then aged 35, who was exposed to 17 sieverts (Sv) of radiation – 10 Sv more than the lethal dose, which is considered to be around seven. Attempts were made to save the technician’s life, but the devastating...

Results of radiation on the human body.

President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered his military’s nuclear deterrent forces to be on alert as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine met increasing resistance as it enters its fourth day. Putin told defense chiefs “high alert” status is imperative as the West was accused by Moscow of taking “unfriendly” steps against his country. NBC News reports the move was in direct response to leading NATO powers making what he called “aggressive statements,” according to Tass, the state-owned Russian news agency. Russia, like the United States, has thousands of nuclear warheads that it maintains as a deterrent to an attack.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and President Putin ordering nuclear deterrent forces to be placed on “special” alert has scared the bejesus out of many in the western world who are now panic searching where to buy potassium iodide in case of nuclear war. Potassium iodide can help block radioactive iodine from being absorbed by the thyroid gland, therefore protecting the gland from radiation injury during a nuclear incident.After Putin called for his nuclear forces to be combat-ready last week, U.S. Google search trends of “iodide pills” surged to the highest level since 2011, when the Fukushima nuclear disaster unfolded. Like...

Nuclear Explosion ... ... .... GET INSIDE Get inside the nearest building to avoid radiation. Brick or concrete are best. Remove contaminated clothing and wipe off or wash unprotected skin if you were outside after the fallout arrived. Hand sanitizer does not protect against fall out. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth, if possible. Do not use disinfectant wipes on your skin. Go to the basement or middle of the building. Stay away from the outer walls and roof. Try to maintain a distance of at least six feet between yourself and people who are not part of your...

The IAEA added that the readings, while elevated, still remain “within the operational range.” “The IAEA assesses that the readings reported by the regulator — of up to 9,46 microSieverts per hour — are low and remain within the operational range measured in the Exclusion Zone since it was established, and therefore do not pose any danger to the public,” the agency wrote Friday. The IAEA’s main concern, however, is the continued and safe operation of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities amid an attack by Russian military forces. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi added that it was of “vital importance” that...

A special form of radiation known as millimeter waves can kill 99% of corona and polioviruses from surfaces within two seconds, new research from scientists at Ariel University has shown. The results can have important implications on how to disinfect environments and equipment in a fast and efficient way. “Our laboratory focuses on electromagnetic radiation sources,” said Prof. Moshe Einat from the Department of Electrical Engineering, and a co-author of the study recently published in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters. “This type of radiation operates in the millimeter-wave regime, which means that they have a wavelength of about three millimeters....

Cladosporium sphaerospermum could form a living shield around astronauts in space. The fungus not only blocks radiation but actually uses it to grow, through a process call radiosynthesis: It pulls energy from radiation, just as most plants pull energy from sunlight via photosynthesis. These radiation-loving fungi survive on Earth in extreme places, like the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. In space, they do just as well. In 2019, researchers flew some of the fungi to the ISS, watching how it grew over a period of 30 days, and measuring the amount of radiation that passed through...

Decades after battling childhood cancer, survivors often face a new challenge: cardiometabolic disease. A spectrum of conditions that includes coronary heart disease and diabetes, cardiometabolic disease typically impacts people who are obese, elderly, or insulin resistant. Radiation therapy may be to blame. The findings suggest that it may be necessary to find strategies that reduce the radiation dose delivered to fat. "When physicians are planning radiation therapy, they are very conscious of toxicity to major organs. But fat is often not considered," says Rockefeller's Paul Cohen. Children with cancer are more likely to survive into adulthood than ever before. More...

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) will conduct low-altitude helicopter flights over downtown Boston and the Boston Marathon race route, Friday, Oct. 8, through Monday, Oct. 11. NNSA’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) aircraft will measure naturally occurring background radiation as part of standard preparations to protect public health and safety on the day of the event. The aerial surveys are in support of the 2021 Boston Marathon. The public may see NNSA’s twin-engine Bell 412 helicopter, which is equipped with radiation sensing technology. The helicopter will fly in a grid pattern over the areas at...

A Chinese nuclear power station is leaking radioactive gas and could become a major disaster, according to secret US intelligence reports. Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, located in southern Guangdong province, is thought to have been leaking for at least two weeks after a French firm that co-owns the facility flagged the issue to Washington. Cover up! American agents have spent the last week monitoring the situation and have concluded it has the potential turn into a major disaster but that facility is not currently at ‘crisis level’. That is in stark contrast to the message being put out by the...

The United States government is assessing reports of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power plant, after warnings of an "imminent radiological threat" by a French company that helps operate it, CNN reported on Monday. Framatome, the French construction engineering company, sent a letter to the US Department of Energy warning that the Chinese safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in the Chinese Guangdong province in order to avoid needing to shut it down, according to the report. The letter warned that the nuclear reactor is leaking fission gas, adding...

Twelve bottles of Bordeaux wine spent 438 days aging at the International Space Station. (Image credit: Mission WISE) Red wine stored at the International Space Station for more than a year tasted a bit different than its terrestrial counterparts and, surprisingly, aged faster, too, a new study finds. Researchers shipped 12 bottles of Bordeaux wine to the space station on a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft in November 2019 — not to go with the astronauts' meals, but to study how microgravity, or weightlessness, affects wine as it ages. The wine remained in a sealed canister at the orbiting laboratory...

The 1986 reactor explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant forced a region-wide evacuation, sending radioactive fallout billowing across Europe. While the explosion itself killed 31 people, millions were exposed to dangerous radiation levels, and estimates of the final death toll from long-term health problems are as high as 200,000. Hoping to better understand the effect of radiation exposure from the disaster, a team of scientists at the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Maryland studied 130 children born to 105 mother-father pairs, where at least one parent had been exposed to gonadal -- reproductive gland -- radiation, having worked...

Picture the street outside your home. Now erase the power lines. Imagine interstate highways without the unsightly cable towers that dot the expansive United States landscape. This could be the wireless future of energy if a partnership between New Zealand’s government and a startup called Emrod works out—and it all dates back to the wildest dreams of Nikola Tesla. Wireless electricity sounds like science fiction, but the technology is already realized and primed for a utility-scale case study. And in this first-of-its-kind pilot program, Powerco—New Zealand’s second-largest electricity distributor—will test Emrod technology beginning in 2021. “IT SOUNDS FUTURISTIC AND FANTASTIC...

Despite the wide application of radiation in diagnostics and treatments, there is still no magic material to protect people from radiation exposure. Though Amifostine is developed as a radioprotectant, the FDA approved its application only for the protection of salivary glands. Also it requires repetitive injections to be effective and it can pose severe health threats of systemic toxicity and complications when applied to those under total body irradiation conditions. By growing manganese oxide (Mn3O4) nanocrystals on top of Cerium oxide (CeO2) nanocrystals, the research team boosted the catalytic activity of the CeO2/Mn3O4 nanocrystals in their ability to stave off...

Using satellite data, researchers believe an "anomaly" in the South Atlantic may have split in two, with the eastern section "developing vigorously." Earth's magnetic field is generated by movements within the planet's molten iron core. ...When the magnetic field is stronger, it blocks more radiation. When it is weaker, more radiation reaches the planet's surface. The magnetic field is constantly moving. It strengthens and weakens as part of normal fluctuations. According to the European Space Agency, the magnetic field has lost around 9 percent of its strength over the preceding two centuries. One section of the magnetic field has been...

The forest near the old Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is burning, and the effects are visible from space.

Sure, the economy is causing a crisis, but what about anthrax? How about smallpox? In a little noticed move, federal officials this month have declared a series of public health emergencies relating to potential weapons of biological terror. On Oct. 1, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt declared an anthrax public health emergency. On Oct. 10, he declared health emergencies for smallpox, radiation sickness from the detonation of a nuclear device and poisoning from botulinum toxins, the active ingredient of Botox. There’s no clear evidence that terrorists have managed to weaponize anthrax or stolen large caches of Botox from...

First, let me say I am more than pleased in how my chemo and radiation treatments have been going. No nausea at all from the chemo and outside the pain from the arthritis in my shoulders holding my arms over my head for 15 to 20 minutes during radiation, I am not suffering much at all. Oh, I am down in the dumps at times and have fatigue to the max. I am sleeping about 16 hours a day. All in all, the whole experience has been much better than I ever expected and all thanks to you all who...