Question

On April 26, 1986, a major accident occurred at the generating station in Chernobyl. The nuclear explosion dispersed several tons of radioactive iodine, cesium, uranium and other elements five kilometers into the air. As soon as people in Europe realized there had been a nuclear disaster, they ran out to buy iodine tablets. Which symptoms would be expected among people who did not take the iodine tablet?

Answer 1

Why people ran out for Iodine:

1. Without any direct anti-radiation effects, iodine offer indirect protection. Iodine actually dont neutralize free-flying neutrons or remove radioactive dust from drinking water.

2. But It does change your body reaction, in ways that It decrease risk radioactive materials pose.

3. Normally our body is iodine-greedy. our thyroid needs the chemical, and without iodine, the thyroid wont be able to produce the hormones it usually produce.

4. Iodine comes in with different isotopes.

5. Every isotope of iodine has same number of protons (53), but the number of neutrons varies.

6. Normally, Earth has only one isotope of iodine: iodine-127, which has 53 protons, 74 neutrons and negligible radioactivity.

7. But as uranium atoms shatter in nuclear reactor, produces iodine-131.

8. The difference between iodine-127 and iodine-131 is small, just four neutrons. But iodine-131 is radioactive.

9. Your body can't tell the difference between these two isotopes, though, and your thyroid gland will hungrily absorb as much iodine-131 as it does iodine-127.

10. Radioactive iodine which is absorbed will sit in your body, spewing radiation into the surrounding tissue and damaging DNA.

11. Taking a large dose of iodine, in theory, will decrease your body's hunger for the substance and prevent you from absorbing the iodine-131.

Symptoms expected among people who did not take Iodine tablets:

1. Radioactive iodine may be incoroporated in human body through contaminated food and milk, as Radioactive iodine get absorbed by these foods.

2. Near about 25 % radiactive iodine is retained by thyroid gland and remaining is discharged with urine.

3. This radioactive iodine start manipulating thyroid.

4. It start damaging thyroid gland and surrounding tissue, causing thyroid malfunctioning

5. People who did not take Iodine tablets may have to suffer from radiation induced hypothyroidism

6. They may show radiation induced benign thyroid tumours

7. They may be show radiation induced thyroid cancer

8. Death due to thyroid cancer.