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The intermediate time scale is between 1 and 30 days, with long term fallout occurring after that. Examples of both intermediate and long term fallout occurred after the 1986 Chernobyl accident, which contaminated over 20,000 km 2 (7,700 sq mi) of land in Ukraine and Belarus.
Furthermore, ionizing radiation above a dose of around 50-100 millisievert exposure has been shown to statistically begin increasing a person's chance of dying of cancer sometime in their lifetime over the normal unexposed rate of c. 25%, in the long term, a heightened rate of cancer, proportional to the dose received, would begin to be ...
Thermal radiation—effective ground range GR / km: Fourth degree burns, Conflagration: 0.5 2.0 10 30 Third degree burns: 0.6 2.5 12 38 Second degree burns: 0.8 3.2 15 44 First degree burns: 1.1 4.2 19 53 Effects of instant nuclear radiation—effective slant range 1 SR / km: Lethal 2 total dose (neutrons and gamma rays) 0.8 1.4 2.3 4.7
Regardless, Buddemeier says sheltering in place for at least 12 to 24 hours is a key way to survive the threat of fallout, since that's how long the worst of this radiation usually lasts.
Spent nuclear fuel stays a radiation hazard for extended periods of time with half-lifes as high as 24,000 years. For example 10 years after removal from a reactor, the surface dose rate for a typical spent fuel assembly still exceeds 10,000 rem/hour—far greater than the fatal whole-body dose for humans of about 500 rem received all at once. [16]
The last big earthquake in the area was in 1936, but another sizable one could release radiation. That's what happened with the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011.
The main health effect of nuclear fallout is cancer and birth defects because radiation causes changes in cells that can either kill or make them abnormal. [12] Any nuclear explosion (or nuclear war) would have wide-ranging, long-term, catastrophic effects. Radioactive contamination would cause genetic mutations and cancer across many ...
This represents a much lower level then the amount required to increase a person's risk of cancer. 100 mSv represents the level at which a definitive increased risk of cancer occurs. Radiation above this level increases the risk of cancer, and after 400 mSv radiation poisoning can occur, but is unlikely to be fatal. [188] [189] [190]