Posted on 03/13/2011 5:26:08 PM PDT by Scutter
Thanks. I read the WHOLE thing! Very helpful and I’ve added the site to my favorites bar for further ref.
Iodine solution is a different formulation for external use. Potassium Iodide is formulated in solid form.
When you ingest it, it enters your bloodstream, and your thyroid gland just sucks it out of your blood until it literally cannot hold any more iodine.
And that is the beneficial part of it. If you ingest I-131 and you have already taken your potassium iodide capsules, your thyroid is “loaded”, saturated with iodine and can’t absorb any more. The I-131 cannot enter your thyroid and destroy it.
Note that I-131 is MOST hazardous to the thyroid gland because it concentrates there.
I-131 is a radioactive isotope of iodine that emits a beta particle (very bad internally) and also emits gamma radiation an energy 364 keV and has a half life of eight days.
The half life means that if you have a vial with 100 mCi of I-131, in eight days, you will only have 50 mCi left. Eight days after that, you will only have 25 mCi left, and so on.
In medicine, we use I-131 primarily to treat two conditions: Hyperthyroidism (an OVERACTIVE thyroid gland) and Thyroid cancer.
In hyperthyroidism, we first give somone a much safer type of radioactive iodine (I-123) to see how their thyroid gland is functioning. We take the I-123 capsules, measure them to see how much isotope is in the capsule, then we give them to the patient. 24 hours later, we measure how much of the radioactive iodine is absorbed in the thyroid gland. From that, they plug the numbers into special formulas, and they figure out how much I-131 to give you (they underestimate the amount, so if they give you too little I-131, they can go ahead and give you some more to get your thyroid functioning just right, rather than overdoing it and requiring you to have to take thyroid hormone capsules for the rest of your life)
When you take in the I-131, it gets sucked up into your thyroid gland and begins shooting those beta particles into the thyroid tissue surrounding it. Basically, it destroys extra thyroid tissue so your thyroid produces less hormone. It is great. Works wonderfully. You can even take your cat to the vet (hyperthyroidism is common with cats) and you can have this therapy performed on them.
Thyroid cancer is treated in a variety of ways. They can remove your thyroid, then give you an amount high enough to kill all and any remaining thyroid tissue. You then take a pill every day for the rest of your life. But you live, and are pretty normal.
If you have thyroid cancer and it has metastasized to other areas of your body, they give you some rather large doses to kill the cancer. We basically use a long pair of tongs to hand the capsules to the patient who has been admitted to the hospital for a period of time, The floors, bed and tables are all covered with absorbent material (blue chucks) because this stuff all comes out in your urine and saliva. You have to be kept apart from people so you don’t contaminate them with I-131 which would kill their healthy thyroid gland and make them hypothyroid (underperforming).
I always tell people, if you have to get a cancer, thyroid cancer is a good one to get. It is very treatable, and apart from feeling like a pariah because nobody will come near you for about a week, it isn’t that bad.
2) Do you know anything about nuclear engineering?
1) Yes
2) Not much, but then again I’m not an economist.
1) Did you read what I wrote?
2) Do you know anything about nuclear engineering?
that is the most informative - and easy to understand for the layman that I have read.
I do thank you!
(you have freep mail - well, will have soon's’ I type it!)
Thank you. That is a great write-up and primer.
Scan down this page to see Fukushima nuclear plant before and after. Anything low-lying along those coastlines was devastated including both AP plants, Fukushima and Daichi.
I’m going to print and email a ton of people I know this fantastic article. Hopefully, it’ll calm down the ‘fallout’ from all the panic I’m hearing.
Actually, I thought Daiichi was being decommissioned relatively soon anyway...I’ve heard “a few weeks”, next month, and next year...either way it going down sounded to have been provided for long term, as long as THAT isn’t in bad shape too.
bflr
Excellent anti-hysteria piece.
Thanks.
What??? You mean is IS NOT Bush’s fault???
The first meter of the shutdown rods at Chornobyl were graphite, to save money. Plus, they were running a test of what would happen if the reactor had no power, and they turned off some safety features for the test. Plus, only one layer of containment, not two (no cap).
The first effective responders at Chornobyl were pilots who dropped chemicals directly on the fire at close range 27 April (meltdown started 26 April 1986). Almost all these pilots died.
To this date, the official number of Chornobyl deaths (I spell it that way because that’s what the signs say) remains 31. Unofficial, 300,000-400,000. Impossible to say, as many former residents do not admit. Plus, there is a dead zone of around 10,000 km squared. Plants, animals, and perhaps 500-800 people live in this area.
Wormwood grass all over. According to one source, traditional name for wormwood is Chornobyl.
See elenafilatova.com
Fukushima meltdown will not be ten percent of Chornobyl.
“Fukushima meltdown will not be ten percent of Chornobyl.”
It won’t be 1% of Chornobyl.
Thanks for posting!
Thanks for the link.
Oil spill redux..... kill the drilling
Earth quake, kill the nucs
Lie.... it is the liberal way of life.
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