Environtmental and Global Health

Archive for the ‘Environmental Health’ Category

As can be seen from the above, the best way to prevent internal radiation risks is to avoid contamination, and if it is presented, exercise control to the radioactive material does not enter the body.

To prevent pollution should be managed sources, both the open and the sealed, with care and the tools that each requires by its nature. For example, the sealed source must be managed to avoid trying to hit, rub, suffer chemical attack or fire, or is subject to external forces that may cause the rupture of its capsule.

To verify the physical integrity of a sealed source is practiced called leak test. There are several types of leak test, but the most common, if the source is not very high activity, is to rub the source or the surrounding areas with a cotton or paper towel, preferably impregnated with a solvent such as water or alcohol . This cotton is placed in a test tube or plastic bag properly labeled and identified clearly. Then sent to a specialized laboratory where its activity is measured with sensitive equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

Internal radiation is when radioactive source is inside the body. You can enter the body through ingestion, inhalation, absorption through the skin or by contact with an open wound.

The damage depends on the type of radiation emitted, their energy, the organ that is located and its permanence in the body. By high specific ionization, the alphas and betas in this case constitute a high risk, as a small quantity of emitter material can deposit a highly localized high dose. Read the rest of this entry »

As mentioned before, the specific measures of protection against external radiation are based on the judicious use of three factors: time, distance and shielding.

Protective measures are initiated from the planning work to develop. Firstly there is the selection of appropriate sources and detectors suitable for the type of radiation. The activity of the source and the radiation energy must be the lowest possible for the specific application. The source must be sealed unless there is a particular reason why not. If possible, you should ensure that the physical and chemical nature of the radioactive substances contained in the source to minimize the risks if swallowed in case of breakage of the container. Read the rest of this entry »

External radiation means which receives the body due to sources outside it, usually sealed. The dose received depends on the type of radiation and its energy (hence its power of penetration).

In general, the alpha particle emitters are not considered important external risk because they do not penetrate but a few microns of the skin, and any material the thickness of a paper or a few inches of air, absorb them. The emitters of beta particles are more important for the higher penetration power of the betas in tissue, a few millimeters. Read the rest of this entry »

Man has always been exposed to a certain amount of background radiation from natural sources and manmade sources. Mention some of these sources and the dose levels we provide for comparison with the RHS.

Natural sources of radiation received approximately 1.0 mSv (100 mrem) / year. A natural source is cosmic radiation that comes from off the planet. The atmosphere serves as a shield for most of it, but either way we get a dose of about 0.35 mSv (35 mrem) / year in Ecuador to sea level. This dose increases with latitude due to Earth’s magnetic field, until at latitude 50 °, are approximately 0.5 mSv (50 mrem)/year. Note that these values ??are about 1/100 of the LDE. The dose also increases with height above sea level because there is less atmosphere to absorb radiation. A 2 000 meters above sea level, increases to 1 mSv/year, while 5 000 meters reaches 3 mSv/year. In a transatlantic air travel, are received about 0.05 mSv. Read the rest of this entry »

INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION (ICRP) is an organization established to recommend safe practices on the use of radiation. On several occasions has issued recommendations, which have varied as more experience is obtained on the subject. Currently accept the following general recommendations:

a) not to adopt any practice involving radiation unless it produces a net benefit.

b) The radiation exposures should be kept As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA).

c) The equivalent dose received by any individual should not exceed the limits defined by the ICRP for each circumstance.

Any use of radiation necessary to adopt these recommendations whose emphasis is on keeping exposures as low as possible, in view of the product identified as biological effects of radiation, not to exceed the thresholds defined in each case. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite this problematica, feasible measures exist to reduce the impact of landfills:

1. Trash compaction can reduce energy costs and economic transportation and disposal. With today’s technology can reduce waste volume by 60%.

2. Pneumatic conveying systems are available that can reduce density in areas of high costs.

3. The problem of leachate can be reduced with proper planning of the location of the landfill away from aquifers and surface water bodies. Parallel systems are essential to capture leachate drainage and undergo treatment. This can be: Read the rest of this entry »

As a result of treatment received reduces the environmental impact of uncontrolled dumping. By coating the waste with soil reduces the proliferation of pests and odor emissions. Since there is no uncontrolled waste burning reduces air pollution. However, there are still many drawbacks:

1. Occupation of the territory. Landfills occupy large tracts of land relatively close to urban centers. By some estimates the waste produced by a population of 10,000 people a year would occupy an area of ??one hectare to 1.2 m deep. The greater the distance increases transport costs increase proportionately and emissions of greenhouse gases produced in transport.

2. Landfills often occupy valuable ecosystems. Occasionally, moist areas of high ecological value have become landfills. Read the rest of this entry »

Once all the other treatments there is still a fraction of the waste called rejection, which could not be recycled or recovered, and whose final destination is the landfill.

A sanitary landfill is considered controlled when taking measures to avoid to be harmful, disruptive or cause damage to the environment.

Depression consists of a natural or artificial terrain in which are dumped, compacted and covered with soil daily accumulated debris. Basically it is a biological treatment of waste. Read the rest of this entry »

The valuation has a number of advantages:

- Reduction of waste volume by up to 90%.
- Energy recovery.
- The ashes are more stable than the starting waste.

Energy recovery from waste is getting energy from burning. The calorific value of waste is variable, in the case of hydrocarbon plastics is estimated to be comparable to that of the oil with some environmental benefits as not to generate sulfur oxides, which cause acid rain. However, the combustion of PVC generates a 50% energy than before. Read the rest of this entry »