From what I get out of the article, they are most concerned with ionizing radioation from reactors. But exposure is far more common than people believe.
Ionizing radiation is the most energetic form of radiation. X-rays are perhaps the best known type of ionizing radiation; other types include alpha, beta and gamma rays. (Gamma rays are emitted from radioactive materials while aslpha and beta require inhalation or injected to include entrance through open wounds of exposed skin for a problem) Ionizing radiation is naturally present in our environment and exposure to certain levels of it can’t be avoided. In fact, approximately 80 percent of all exposure can be attributed to naturally-occurring sources.
Only about 20 percent of exposure to ionizing radiation comes from man-made sources. Medical procedures, like diagnostic x-rays and radiation therapy, are the most significant contributors. But some consumer products, such as smoke detectors and televisions, also give off low levels of it. Individuals who smoke are exposed to ionizing radiation in tobacco smoke. So people who work in the field have to be aware of intake. People like lab techs, xray people, and military are especially instructed to keep count.
While exposure to ionizing radiation can be potentially dangerous, it’s believed that the body is able to successfully defend itself against and repair the damaging effects of low level exposures. This article reeks of chicken little.
wy69
Not only is low-dose radiation not harmful, but there is a great deal of evidence that it is beneficial.
In one of the most dramatic cases, apartments in Taiwan were constructed with materials contaminated with Cobalt-60. Nearly 10,000 residents lived there for ten years before the radiation was discovered.
Surprisingly, the cancer rate among the residents was less than 5 percent the rate for the rest of Taiwan. Note that, is was not 5 percent less - it was 5 percent or twenty times less!
There are numerous other studies that support benefits of low-dose radiation.
Yes...being exposed to a neutron flux in a critical reactor will kill you...quickly.
But to put things in perspective:
You have four cookies...a gamma cookie, an alpha cookie, a beta cookie, and a neutron cookie. You can eat one, hold one in your hand, put one in your pocket, and throw one away. What do you do?
Eat the gamma cookie...gammas have no mass, thus they are very low energy and do little biological damage, and are just as likely to pass through you without hurting anything.
Hold the Alpha cookie in your hand...your skin is dense enough to keep that particle out of your body.
Put the Beta cookie in your pocket...the fabric is dense enough to shield you from absorbing it.
You throw the neutron cookie away...it is high mass and high energy, and will do the most damage of any ionizing radiation.
With a reactor, all other fission products are contained within the cladding of the fuel pellets, and neutron levels fall very quickly after the reactor is shut down.