Radiation Terrorism Part 2

Types of Contamination

It can be of 3 types

• Whole body exposure
• External
• Internal

1. Whole body exposure
• Gamma rays, x-rays and neutrons which can penetrate through the body and cause severe tissue damage.
2. External contamination
• Effects body surface, clothing, skin, and hair.
• This is the main thing to be concerned about in a radioactive terrorist strike.
• These consist mainly of alpha and beta radiation.
• Alpha particles cause surface burns only.
• Beta particles can cause cutaneous burns and scarring.

More on Internal contamination in my next post. 

Radiation Terrorism Part 1

Types of Radio-isotopic Radiation

4 main types viz.

• alpha
• beta
• gamma
• neutrons.

1. Alpha radiation - 
• These are positively charged particles, with 2 protons and 2 neutrons.  
• Large particles, so they have limited penetrating power.
• If internalized, they can cause significant cellular damage.
2. Beta radiation - 
• Negatively charged particles consisting of electrons.
• Penetrating power depends on their energy.
• A good example is radioactive iodine released in nuclear plant accidents.
• They can cause a burn (similar to a thermal burn and is treated as such)
3. Gamma rays and x-rays (both photons) - 
• Gamma rays are uncharged electromagnetic radiation discharged from a nucleus as a wave or photons of energy.
• X-rays are the product of abrupt mechanical deceleration of electrons striking a heavy target such as tungsten.
• Both travel easily through matter, high penetrating power.
4. Neutron particles - 
• These are heavy and uncharged, often emitted during nuclear detonation.
• Ability to penetrate tissues is variable, depending on their energy.