• Question: Why is nuclear waste/radiation harmful?

    Asked by jeandavid to Emma, Jimmy, Janet, Niall, Simon on 12 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Niall Crawford

      Niall Crawford answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      I think it has something to do with changing the DNA in the cells of your body, which can lead to cancer and other harmful conditions.

    • Photo: Emma Ashley

      Emma Ashley answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      Nuclear waste is harmful (it’s also know as radioactive waste) because, like Niall said, it can damage you DNA.

      However, we can get radiation from all different sources and most of it isn’t harmful. Non-ionising radiation isn’t very dangerous and includes micro-waves and radio waves. Ioinising radiation includes x-rays and gamma rays (which are produced by some radioactive materials) and are harmful if given in high amounts.

    • Photo: James Holloway

      James Holloway answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      Ionising radiation can both mutate your DNA (causing cancer in the long run) and shred the tiny machinery of your body (causing lots of problems in the short term)

      Cells in your body that happen to be replicating at the time are the most vulnerable. So that means that cells that replicate often are the ones that will be hurt the most. This is why people’s hair falls out when they have a large does of radiation – the cells responsible for hair growth are very active.

      The other thing that makes nuclear waste nasty is that it can last for thousands, sometimes millions of years. Not nice!

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