Question

A disaster such as a meltdown in a nuclear power plant requires close examination of potential impacts on organisms. Which of the following would be useful to biologists in such a situation?

Use a molecular clock to time the divergence of species in an area from those far away.

Measure continental drift to determine if the disaster had accelerated movement of continents.

Use radiometric dating to determine if new species are forming.

Examine the mutation rate of species in the area.

Answer 1

The meltdown of a nuclear power plant occurs due to overheating, where the heat generated by a nuclear reactor is much higher than the heat removed by the cooling system. This difference in heat can sometimes exceed the melting point of the components of a nuclear reactor, resulting in a nuclear meltdown.

When this happens, radioactive materials inside the reactor such as Uranium, Plutonium, and Thorium, and nuclear fission products are released into the environment and can have harmful effects on people, animals, and insects in the vicinity.

Radioactive substances are known to cause damage to DNA leading to severe mutations that can lead to various conditions, coma, and even death. Hence, when a meltdown occurs, the most useful tool for biologists would be identifying the mutation rate of the species in the area.

Molecular clocks, continental drift, and radiometric dating measure parameters that give information of phenomena that take thousands of years to occur. In the case of a nuclear meltdown, these would not be the appropriate strategies to measure the effects.