This article is intended to expand the series of articles "Civilian weapons", which includes articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, transforming it into something like the series "Civil security", in which the threats that lie in wait for ordinary citizens will be considered in more a wider context. In the future, we will consider means of communication, surveillance and other technical means that increase the likelihood of survival of the population in various situations.
Radioactive radiation
As you know, there are several types of ionizing radiation with different effects on the body and penetrating ability:
- alpha radiation - a stream of heavy positively charged particles (nuclei of helium atoms). The range of alpha particles in a substance is hundredths of a millimeter in the body or a few centimeters in the air. An ordinary sheet of paper is capable of trapping these particles. However, when such substances enter the body with food, water or air, they are carried throughout the body and concentrate in the internal organs, thus causing internal radiation of the body. The danger of a source of alpha particles entering the body is extremely high, since they cause maximum damage to cells due to their large mass;
- beta radiation is a stream of electrons or positrons emitted during radioactive beta decay of the nuclei of some atoms. Electrons are much smaller than alpha particles and can penetrate 10-15 centimeters deep into the body, which can be dangerous when directly interacting with a radiation source; it is also dangerous for a radiation source, for example, in the form of dust, to enter the body. For protection against beta radiation, a plexiglass screen can be used;
- neutron radiation is a neutron flux. Neutrons do not have a direct ionizing effect, however, a significant ionizing effect occurs due to elastic and inelastic scattering by the nuclei of matter. Also, substances irradiated by neutrons can acquire radioactive properties, that is, acquire induced radioactivity. Neutron radiation has the highest penetrating power;
- Gamma radiation and X-ray radiation refer to electromagnetic radiation with different wavelengths. The highest penetrating ability is possessed by gamma radiation with a short wavelength, which occurs during the decay of radioactive nuclei. To weaken the flux of gamma radiation, substances with a high density are used: lead, tungsten, uranium, concrete with metal fillers.
Radiation at home
In the 20th century, radioactive substances began to be widely used in energy, medicine, and industry. The attitude to radiation at that time was rather frivolous - the potential danger of radioactive radiation was underestimated, and sometimes it was not taken into account at all, it is enough to recall the appearance of clocks and Christmas tree decorations with radioactive illumination:
The first luminous paint based on radium salts was made in 1902, then it began to be used for a large number of applied problems, even Christmas decorations and children's books were painted with radium. Wristwatches with numbers filled with radioactive paint have become the standard for the military, all watches during the First World War were with radium paint on the numbers and hands. Large chronometers with a large dial and numbers could emit up to 10,000 microroentgens per hour (pay attention to this figure, we will come back to it later).
The well-known uranium was used in the composition of colored glaze, to cover dishes and porcelain figurines. The equivalent dose rate of household items decorated in this way can reach 15 microsieverts per hour, or 1500 micro roentgens per hour (I also propose to remember this figure).
One can only guess how many workers and consumers have died or become disabled in the process of manufacturing the above products.
However, for the most part, ordinary citizens rarely encountered radioactivity. Incidents that occurred on ships and submarines, as well as at closed enterprises, were classified, information about them was not available to the general public. The supply of military and civilian specialists had specialized instruments - dosimeters. Under the generalized name "dosimeter", a number of devices for various purposes are hidden, intended for signaling and measuring radiation power (dosimeters-meters), searching for radiation sources (search engines) or determining the type of emitter (spectrometers), however, for most citizens, the very concept of "dosimeter "Did not exist at that time.
The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the appearance of household dosimeters in the USSR
Everything changed on April 26, 1986, when the largest man-made disaster occurred - the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP). The scale of the disaster was such that it was not possible to classify them. From that moment on, the word "radiation" became one of the most used in the Russian language.
Approximately three years after the accident, the National Commission on Radiation Protection developed a “Concept on a radiation monitoring system for the population”, which recommended the production of simple small-sized household dosimeters-meters for use by the public, primarily in those areas that were exposed to radiation contamination.
The result of this decision was the explosive spread of dosimeter production throughout the Soviet Union.
The features of the sensors used in household dosimeters of that time made it possible to determine only gamma radiation, and in some cases hard beta radiation. This made it possible to determine the contaminated area of the terrain, but for solving such a problem as determining the radioactivity of products, household dosimeters of that time were useless. It can be said that due to the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the USSR, and then the CIS countries - Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, for a long time became the leaders in the production of dosimeters for various purposes.
Over time, the fear of radiation began to fade away. Dosimeters have gradually gone out of use, becoming the lot of specialists who use them in their work, and "stalkers" - those who like to visit abandoned industrial and military facilities. A certain educational function was introduced by computer games of the post-caliptical type, in which the dosimeter was often an integral part of the equipment of the game character.
Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant accident
Interest in dosimeters returned after the accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima-1, which occurred in March 2011, as a result of the impact of a strong earthquake and tsunami. Despite the smaller scale compared to the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a significant area was exposed to radioactive contamination, a lot of radioactive substances got into the ocean.
In Japan itself, dosimeters have been swept off store shelves. Due to the specifics of these products, the number of dosimeters in stores was extremely limited, which led to a shortage of them. In the first six months after the accident, Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian manufacturers delivered thousands of dosimeters to Japan.
Due to the close location of Japan and the Far Eastern part of the Russian Federation, the radiation panic has spread to the inhabitants of our country. They bought up stocks of dosimeters in stores, and stocks of an alcoholic solution of iodine, absolutely useless from the point of view of counteracting radiation, were bought up in pharmacies. The population was especially concerned about the possible entry into the Russian market of foodstuffs exposed to radioactive isotopes, and the appearance on the market of radioactive cars and spare parts for them.
By the time of the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, the dosimeters had undergone changes. Modern dosimeters-radiometers differ significantly in their capabilities from their Soviet-designed predecessors. As sensors, some manufacturers began to use Geiger-Muller end mica counters, which are sensitive not only to gamma, but also to soft beta radiation, and some models, using special algorithms, even allow alpha radiation to be recorded. The ability to detect alpha radiation allows you to determine the surface contamination of products with radionuclides, and the ability to detect beta radiation allows you to detect dangerous household items, the activity of which is mostly manifested in the form of beta radiation.
Signal processing time has decreased - dosimeters began to work faster, calculate the accumulated radiation dose, built-in non-volatile memory allows saving measurement results over a long period of using the dosimeter.
In principle, the population also has access to professional equipment equipped with several types of sensors capable of registering all types of radiation, including neutron radiation. Some of these models are equipped with scintillation crystals that allow high-speed searches for radioactive materials, but the cost of such devices usually goes beyond all reasonable limits, which makes them available to a limited circle of specialists.
It should be noted that scintillation crystals only detect gamma radiation, that is, search dosimeters using only scintillation crystals as a detector are unable to detect alpha and beta radiation.
As in the case of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, over time, the hype from the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant began to subside. The demand for radiometric equipment among the population has sharply declined.
Nyonoksa incident
On August 8, 2019, at the Nyonoksa military training ground of the White Sea naval base of the Northern Fleet in the water area of the Dvinskaya Bay of the White Sea near the village of Sopka, an explosion occurred on an offshore platform, as a result of which five RFNC-VNIIEF employees died, two servicemen died from injuries in the hospital and another four people received a high dose of radiation and were hospitalized. In Severodvinsk, located 30 km from this place, a short-term increase in the background radiation up to 2 microsieverts per hour (200 micro-roentgens per hour) was recorded at the usual level of 0.11 microsieverts per hour (11 micro-roentgens per hour).
There is no reliable information about the incident. According to one information, radiation contamination has arisen due to damage to a radioisotope source during the explosion of a rocket jet engine, according to another, due to the explosion of a test sample of a cruise missile "Petrel" with a nuclear rocket engine.
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization has published a map of the possible dispersion of radionuclides after the explosion, but the accuracy of the information depicted on it is unknown.
The reaction of the population to news about a possible radioactive contamination is similar to that after the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant - the purchase of dosimeters and an alcohol solution of iodine …
Of course, the radiation incident in Nyonoksa cannot be compared with such major radiation disasters as the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant or the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. Rather, it can serve as an indicator of the unpredictability of the emergence of radiation-hazardous situations in Russia and in the world.
Dosimeters as a means of survival
How important is a household dosimeter in everyday life? Here you can express yourself unequivocally - most of the time it will lie on the shelf, this is not an item that in everyday life will be in demand every day. On the other hand, in the event of a radiation catastrophe or accident, it will be almost impossible to purchase a dosimeter, since their number in stores is limited. As the experience of the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant has shown, the market will be saturated in about six months after the accident. In the event of a serious incident with the release of radioactive materials, this is unacceptable.
Household items containing radioactive materials are another potential source of threat. Contrary to popular belief, there are quite a few of them. The general level of falling education in the country leads to the fact that some irresponsible citizens are treated with Chinese medallions with "scalar radiation" containing thorium-232, and giving radiation up to 10 microsieverts per hour (1000 micro-roentgens) - constantly wear such medallions near the body deadly. It is possible that some alternatively gifted are forced to wear such "healing" medallions of their children.
Also in everyday life, you can meet with clocks and other pointer devices with a radioactive light mass of constant action, uranium glass dishes, some types of welding electrodes with thorium with a composition, glowing grids of old tourist lamps made of a mixture of thorium and cesium, old lenses with optics, with an antireflection composition based on thorium.
Industrial sources can include gamma sources used as level gauges in quarries and in gamma-ray flaw detection, americium-241 isotope smoke detectors (plutonium-239 was used in the old Soviet RID-1), which emitting control sources quite strongly for army dosimeters …
The cheapest household dosimeters cost about 5,000 - 10,000 rubles. In terms of their capabilities, they roughly correspond to the Soviet and post-Soviet household dosimeters used by the population after the Chernobyl accident and capable of detecting only gamma radiation. Slightly more expensive and high-quality models, costing about 10,000 - 25,000 rubles, such as Radex MKS-1009, Radascan-701A, MKS-01SA1, made on the basis of Geiger-Muller end mica counters, allow determining alpha and beta radiation, which can be extremely important in some situations, primarily for determining surface contamination of products or detecting radioactive household items.
The cost of professional models, including those with scintillation crystals, immediately goes for 50,000 - 100,000 rubles; it makes sense to purchase them only from specialists working with radioactive materials on duty.
At the other end of the scale are primitive handicrafts - various key fobs, Chinese attachments to a smartphone through a 3.5 mm connector, programs for detecting radioactive radiation with a smartphone camera, and the like. Their use is not only useless, but also dangerous, since they give a false sense of confidence, and they will most likely show the presence of radiation only when the plastic of the case begins to melt.
You can also quote advice from one great article on choosing dosimeters:
Do not pick up a device with a small upper limit of measurement. For example, devices with a limit of 1000 μR / h very often, when "meeting" with powerful sources, are zeroed or show low values, which can be extremely dangerous. Focus on the upper limit (exposure dose rate) of at least 10,000 μR / h (10 μR / h or 100 μSv / h), and preferably 100,000 μR / h (100 μR / h or 1 mSv / h).
The conclusion in this situation can be made as follows. The presence of a dosimeter in the arsenal of an average citizen, although not necessary, is highly desirable. The problem is that the radiation threat cannot be detected by other means than a dosimeter - it cannot be heard, felt, or tasted. Even if the whole world abandons nuclear power plants, which is extremely unlikely, there will be medical and industrial sources of radiation that cannot be avoided in the foreseeable future, which means there will always be a risk of radioactive contamination. There will also be various household and industrial items containing radioactive substances. This is especially true for those who like to carry various trinkets home from landfills, markets or antique stores
It should not be forgotten that the authorities in some situations tend to underestimate or hush up the consequences of man-made incidents. For example, in one of the manuals on the leakage of chemically hazardous substances, a phrase like: "In some cases, to prevent panic, it is considered inappropriate to notify the population about the leakage of toxic substances."
Examples of real measurements
For example, measurements of the radiation background were carried out in one of the industrial zones of the Tula region, and also some potentially interesting household items were checked. The measurements were carried out with a dosimeter model 701A provided by the Radiascan company (my old Bella dosimeter took a long life, possibly the Geiger-Muller SBM-20 counter has lost its tightness).
In general, the background radiation in the region, in the city and in residential premises is about 9-11 microroentgens per hour, in some cases the background deviates to 7-15 microroentgens per hour. In search of radiation sources, measurements were carried out in the industrial zone, where various debris of technogenic origin was buried for a long period. The measurement results did not reveal any sources of radiation, the background is close to natural.
Similar results were obtained at nearby measurement points (about 50 measurements were made in total). Only one collapsed brick wall, most likely from an old garage, showed a slight excess - about 1.5-2 times higher than the value of the natural background.
Among household items, luminous tritium key rings were tested first. The radiation from the larger key fob was about 46 microroentgens per hour, which is four times higher than the background value. The small keychain gave about 22 micro-X-rays per hour. When carried in a bag, these key rings are completely safe, but I would not recommend wearing them on the body, as well as giving them to children who may try to disassemble them.
One could expect something similar from tritium key rings, another thing is a harmless porcelain figurine provided to me by a comrade. The results of measurements of a porcelain cat showed radiation of over 1000 micro-roentgens per hour, which is already quite a significant value. Most likely, the radiation comes from the enamel containing uranium, which was mentioned at the beginning of the article. The maximum radiation is recorded on the "back" of the figurine, where the enamel thickness is maximum. It is hardly worth putting this "kitty" on the bedside table.
The greatest impression on me, also provided by a friend, was an aviation tachometer with numbers and arrows covered with radium paint. The maximum recorded radiation was almost 9000 microroentgens per hour! The radiation level confirms the data indicated at the beginning of the article. Both radioactive objects are especially dangerous in the event of a radioactive substance falling off and getting inside the body, for example, in the event of a fall and destruction.
Both radioactive objects - a porcelain cat and a tachometer, being wrapped in plastic bags, several layers of food foil, and put away in another plastic bag, emitted over 280 micro-roentgen per hour. Fortunately, already at half a meter, the radiation is reduced to a safe 23 micro-roentgen per hour.
Dangerous incidents with radioactive materials
In conclusion, I would like to recall several incidents with radioactive sources, one of which occurred in the USSR, and the other in sunny Brazil.
the USSR
In 1981, in one of the apartments of the house number 7 on the street. An eighteen-year-old girl who had recently been distinguished by exemplary health died. A year later, her sixteen-year-old brother died in the hospital, and a little later, their mother. The empty apartment was handed over to a new family, but after a while their teenage son also mysteriously fell ill with an incurable disease and passed away. The cause of death of all these people was leukemia, in a popular way - blood cancer. The doctors attributed the diseases in the second family to bad heredity, and did not link them with a similar diagnosis from the previous owners of the apartment.
Shortly before the teenager's death, a carpet was hung on the wall in his room. When the young man had already passed away, his parents suddenly noticed that a burnt spot had formed on the carpet. The father of the deceased boy has made a thorough investigation. When the specialists who visited the apartment turned on the Geiger counter, they ran out in shock and ordered to evacuate the house - the radiation in the dwelling exceeded the maximum permissible level hundreds of times!
Arriving experts in protective suits found a capsule embedded in the wall with the strongest radioactive substance Cesium-137. The ampoule had dimensions of only four by eight millimeters, but it emitted two hundred roentgens per hour, irradiating not only these apartments, but also three adjacent apartments. Experts removed a piece of the wall with a radioactive ampoule, and the gamma radiation in house number 7 immediately disappeared, and it finally became safe to live in it.
Investigation showed that a similar radioactive capsule was lost in the Karansk granite quarry in the late seventies. Probably, she accidentally fell into the stones from which they built the house. According to the charter, the workers of the quarry had to search at least the entire development, but find a dangerous part, but, apparently, no one began to do this.
Between 1981 and 1989, six residents died from radiation in this house, four of whom were minors. Another seventeen people received disabilities.
Brazil
On September 13, 1987, in the hot Brazilian city of Goiania, two men named Roberto Alves and Wagner Pereira, taking advantage of the lack of security, made their way into an abandoned hospital building. Having disassembled the medical installation for scrap, they loaded its parts into a wheelbarrow and drove it home to Alves. That same evening, they began to disassemble the movable head of the device, from where they removed the capsule with cesium chloride-137.
Not paying attention to nausea and a general deterioration in health, the friends went about their business. Wagner Pereira still went to the hospital that day, where he was diagnosed with food poisoning, and Roberto Alves continued disassembling the capsule the next day. Despite receiving incomprehensible burns, on September 16, he successfully poked a hole in the capsule window and took out a strange glowing powder on the tip of a screwdriver. After trying to set it on fire, he later lost interest in the capsule and sold it to a landfill to a man named Deveir Ferreira.
On the night of September 18, Ferreira saw a mysterious blue light emanating from the capsule, and then dragged it to his home. There he demonstrated the luminous capsule to his relatives and friends. On September 21, one of the friends broke the capsule window, pulling out several granules of the substance.
On September 24, Ferreira's brother, Ivo, took the glowing powder to his home, sprinkling it on the concrete floor. His six-year-old daughter was crawling on this floor with delight, smearing herself with an unusual luminous substance. In parallel with this, Ferreira's wife Gabriela became seriously ill, and on September 25, Ivo resold the capsule at a nearby scrap metal collection point.
However, Ferreiro Gabriela, having already received a lethal dose of radiation, compared her illness, similar ailments from friends and a strange thing brought by her husband. On September 28, she found the strength to go to the second dump, pull out the ill-fated capsule and go with it to the hospital. In the hospital, they were horrified, quickly recognizing the purpose of the strange detail, but fortunately, the woman packed the radiation source and the infection in the hospital was minimal. Gabriela died on October 23 on the same day with Ferreira's little niece. In addition to them, two more workers of the landfill died, who disassembled the capsule to the end.
Only due to a coincidence of circumstances, the consequences of this incident turned out to be local, potentially they could affect a huge number of people in a densely populated city. In total, 249 people, 42 buildings, 14 cars, 3 bushes, 5 pigs were infected. The authorities removed the topsoil from the sites of contamination and cleaned the area with ion-exchange reagents. Little daughter Aivo had to be buried in an airtight coffin amid the protests of local residents who did not want to bury her radioactive body in the cemetery.
