Researchers say contamination found at Montebello Islands is part of fallout from 1950s British tests and will persist for thousands of years
Researchers say contamination found at Montebello Islands is part of fallout from 1950s British tests and will persist for thousands of years
6 Comments
brucethemoose@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 1y
Emphasis mine.
Not saying this isn’t a big problem, but the article seems like it’s fearmongering too, or at least not providing enough specifics. 4-4,500 times higher than almost zero is still extremely low, and it’s only dangerous if inhaled.
TimePencil@infosec.exchange · 4 pts · 1y
brucethemoose@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
I didn’t realize the paper was linked! It specifically mentions:
This is a unit of radiation / mass. Going by a WolframAlpha example, one cubic meter of “typical” emits soil about 10,000 Bq. 1 cubic meter of the tested soil emits about > 900,000 Bq, though the high end is an outlier:
So 90x above ambient soil radiation, it seems.
…This is not a lot! Dirt is not very radioactive, we are talking microscopic amounts compared to radiation sources like X-rat machines. You wouldn’t want to inhale a ton of the soil, but still.
TimePencil@infosec.exchange · 2 pts · 1y
brucethemoose@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y
Yeah it wasn't that bad on the guardian's part, papers have always written headlines that sell. And you absolutely 100% don't want to inhale plutonium dust. It alpha decays with a lot of energy, which even in small amounts is a recipe for lung cancer. IDK specifics for how much it would take to get kicked up and be deadly.
HailHydra@infosec.pub · 4 pts · 1y
Relevant XKCD
maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 1y
Hello mio 👋
mio@lemmy.mio19.uk · 3 pts · 1y
Hello 🤗👋