this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
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Radioactive contamination: things don't transfer the property of radioactivity to everything they touch and/or irradiate. If that were the case, the entire ~~Earth~~ universe would have become radioactive gray goo long, long ago.
When radiation workers talk about "contamination," we mean radioactive compounds have physically transferred from one object onto/into another. For example, tools becoming contaminated with radioactive metal dust from equipment they touch, or clothing absorbing radioactive iodine gas from the air.
There is a form of radiation called neutron radiation that does make some formerly stable things (mainly metals) radioactive. This isn't something you're likely to encounter unless you're a specific type of radiation worker, however.
This is mainly gear-grindy to me because the reason we don't have gamma-sterilized produce in the US is completely unfounded fear that gamma irradiation "contaminates" everything it touches. So we could be having lovely fresh strawberries and peppers that last weeks longer than they usually do, but no, we can't because rAdIaTiOn ScArY π
What about contamination in disaster sites like Chernobyl or Fukushima? Is that also mainly radioactive substances that we're spread around the area by air/water making the whole place dangerous to live or are other previously-non-radioactive objects radioactive now?
Yea basically the main contamination issue is that radioactive substances were spread around. Contamination of the surrounding area isnβt the only issue we have to deal with, nor is it the most serious, but it is generally is the most costly remediate.
The contamination problem is caused by radioactive matter spewed into the air and settling on the trees, buildings, ground etc⦠in the surrounding area.
The main remediation strategy is to remove everything in the surrounding area including the top ~3 ft or so of soil of the and haul it off to an underground landfill to slowly decay for at least a few hundred years safely separated from humans.