Saturday, January 23, 2016

Units of Measurement

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There's just no way to avoid the next subject, because, unless you get at least semi-comfortable with certain units of measurement, mo...
Friday, January 22, 2016

Waste 'n' Time

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Uh, oh. I'm afraid I've kind of painted myself into a corner here by minimizing the "problem" of nuclear wastes. If I give...
Thursday, January 21, 2016

The Concept of Half-Life

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When an atom of a radioactive isotope decays, two things happen. First, energy is given off from the conversion of mass to energy according ...
Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Types of Ionizing Radiation

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There is no amount of radiation that is safe . - Anti-nuclear activist Dr. John Gofman When a radioactive isotope decays, it emits one or ...
Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Radioactive Isotopes

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About three-fourths of the elements have two or more stable isotopes and many have radioactive (unstable) ones, some of which can be usefu...
Monday, January 18, 2016

Isotopes of Hydrogen

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Hydrogen offers a simple example of isotopes. Figure 4 shows three forms of the element: The first is just regular hydrogen, designated at...
Sunday, January 17, 2016

Introduction to Remedial Nuclear Physics

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Atom: from the Greek atomos  meaning indivisible Most of us are familiar with the representation of the atom shown in Figure 3, proposed...
Saturday, January 16, 2016

Before Going on to Radiation ...

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Let's look at some common examples of where we see hormesis in humans. Vitamins and trace minerals clearly show the difference a dose...
Friday, January 15, 2016

Dose-Response Theories

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While we're looking at the hormesis curve, we might as well take a look at the other theories of dose-response in comparison, as shown...
Thursday, January 14, 2016

Hormesis - A Little Deeper

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The primary tenet of hormesis is contained in a cardinal rule of pharmacology: The poison is in the dose. [Often stated as the dose makes ...
Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Hormetins

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While we will be concerned with hormesis arising from exposure to ionizing radiation, this is only one area where the phenomenon is exhibite...
Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Hormesis - Grasping the Concept

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The dose makes the poison . - Tenet of Pharmacology Hormesis  derives from the Greek hormo , meaning "I excite," from which we a...
Monday, January 11, 2016

A Slippery Slope

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When we read the statistics on deaths involving automobile accidents, we are given the actual count of deaths as compiled by various law enf...
Sunday, January 10, 2016

The Radiation Death Toll

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The total number of people known (or suspected by me) to have been killed directly by exposure to radiation is: One fisherman killed by b...
Saturday, January 9, 2016

Unclean!

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On September 13, 1987, two thieves entered an abandoned clinic in Goiania, State of Goia, Brazil, and dismantled a machine used for radiatio...
Friday, January 8, 2016

Just How Dangerous is Radiation?

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In March 1954, sailors onboard the Lucky Dragon  were exposed to fallout from a hydrogen bomb test conducted on Bikini atoll. While his two ...
Thursday, January 7, 2016

A "Media Created" Fear?

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Dr. Bernard Cohen - who was group leader for cyclotron research at Oak Ridge about the same time I was researching my toes in the shoe store...
Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Radiation: Fear Versus Reality

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Some observers believe there will be a million people with direct and backup assignments to guard the nuclear industry by the year 2000. - R...
Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Lois, Call Clark!

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All of this makes one continue to wonder: where are the journalists and the investigative reporters? They may not have taken biology and phy...
Monday, January 4, 2016

Because They Say So, That's Why

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The U.S. government plans to spend $85 billion (about $1,000 per U.S. family) in cleaning up a single radioactive site at Hanford, Washingto...