Nuclear Radiation Today: lec 9.3

1
Nuclear Radiation Today lec 9.3
Sprint nuclear missile

• Lecture 9.3

2
Where is radiation?

• Background radiation is everywhere
• Our bodies have adapted to it
• Smoking increases radiation exposure

3
Radiation exposure

• Altitude increases exposure
• Flying in planes increases exposure
• Radon, medical X rays , diagnostic tests also
  increase exposure
• (To find your radon exposure, visit
• www.dhs.ca.gov/radon/default.htm click radon
  exposure by ZIP code)

4
Beneficial Uses

• Smoke detectors use Americium
• When smoke interrupts the sensor, an alarm rings

5
Nuclear Medicine

• 1 out of 3 people admitted to a hospital undergo
  some form of nuclear medical procedure
• Treatments, diagnosis
• CAT scan
• Computer
• Axial
• Tomography

6
A real cat scan?
7
MRI- magnetic resonance imaging

• Images of internal organs can be viewed
• Diagnosis of Alzheimers , cancers can be made

8
MRI images
brain
liver
9
Radiation therapy cancer treatment

• Rotating machine delivers precise doses from
  varied angles to kill cancerous tumors

10
Diagnosis and treatments using radiation

• Radioactive seeds treat prostate cancer
• Radioactive tracers allow MRI, PET scans to image
  soft tissue, showing disease and helping diagnosis

MRI
PET scan
11
Nuclear Risks
Chernobyl reactor

• Because radiation ionizes atoms, it can cause
  cancer in living things
• Dosimeters record a wearers exposure over time

12
Nuclear Power

• Benefits
• Reactors generate electricity without air
• Pollution or greenhouse gases.
• There is more energy in Uranium than in coal or
  gas.
• Problems reactors create radioactive waste with
  very long half-lives ( U 238 is 4.5X 109 years)

13
Nuclear waste storage where will it go?
14 tons of Uranium
14
Fusion research

• 1 lb of Hydrogen could yield the energy of
  16,000,000 lbs of coal
• Water would be the source for H
• Problem releases neutron radiation
• Still in research stage