6 ms·
Incorrect. There is no such thing as safe dose with Radon. You're thinking of gamma rays and 50mSv/year safe limit. You won't find safe limit for Radon. There a
by abpavel 6y ago
Incorrect. There is no such thing as safe dose with Radon. You're thinking of gamma rays and 50mSv/year safe limit. You won't find safe limit for Radon. There are guidelines when you should be very concerned, but there is no safe limit.
It decays into radioactive lead, and once we breath it in, it's hard to get rid of, and stays in our bodies.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- gbin 6y agoI have a hard time making sense of this. Would it mean 1 atom of Rn is always fatal for any individual? The fact that it accumulates in the body doesn't mean it is fatal at any dose.
- saagarjha 6y agoNo, of course not, but Radon is highly radioactive and extremely small amounts are enough to measurably elevate your risk of cancer. We’re talking numbers like a few million molecules in a room.
- gmueckl 6y agoWe need to be more specific: Radon is a gas that goes through alpha decay. It is this specific combination that makes it dangerous. The gaseous form enables easy ingestion by breathing and alpha particles are extremely damaging at short ranges - sub-mm in solid matter. The dead outer skin layer is normally able to perfectly absorb alpha particles which make most emitters effectively harmless. Ingested alpha emitters are different as the emitted alpha particle enters living cells immediately. At that point it is a game of chance whether something gets destroyed or altered that is important for cell reproduction. Also, ingested radioactive emitters are impossible to remove from the human body.
- saagarjha 6y ago> Also, ingested radioactive emitters are impossible to remove from the human body. I think that’s only true for things we don’t metabolize?
- pjc50 6y ago.. but it's also pretty much unavoidable in some places, as it leaks out of the granite in the ground.
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoIt's mapped, in UK, and a standard part of House buying checklists. Eg https://www.ukradon.org/information/ukmaps https://www.ukradon.org/information/ukmaps .
- acidburnNSA 6y agoThe regulations use a linear no threshold limit to be safe. But it has not been proven that there is a linear no threshold dose response. So I am not incorrect.