zara woollard
9.1 | 2019
nuclear waste
Whenever a radioactive substance is used it creates unwanted nuclear waste. This waste has a half life, which is the time it takes for half of the original substance to change into a more stable element. Depending on the substance, this can be minutes, or thousands of years. Generally, when internal radiation therapy is used, doctors use radioisotopes with short half lives to minimise exposure. However, devices like brachytherapy tablets have relatively long half lives and are still used and pose a risk to health.
LIMITS
Whilst radiotherapy is effective, it's effectiveness is limited because the human body can only handle small doses of radiation, especially gamma radiation. When humans are exposed, they are subject to DNA mutilations and cell death, and there is a risk of contracting acute radiation syndrome, as well as cancerous cells forming, which may defeat the purpose of radiotherapy.
Damaging tissue
When gamma radiation is used to fight cancer, it has the capability to not only damage the DNA of the cancerous cells, but also the surrounding healthy tissue. This can cause mutilations, and also create a further risk of cancer - the very issue it was trying to fix. Because there are no limits on the amount of radiation therapy one person can have, the amount of exposure a person can experience could create acute radiation syndrome. This causes vomiting and nausea in the hours after exposure, and can lead to death. This is a reason why there needs to be limits in place.
regulations for disposal
There are currently very few restrictions in place for how hospitals should dispose of nuclear waste. Hospitals classify their nuclear waste as "low-level radioactive waste" that is, not high-level radioactive waste, nor radioactive substances spent as nuclear fuel. Because of this, a lot of waste ends up in specially designated nuclear waste landfills. This is dangerous because if natural disasters were to occur, or the landfills were sabotaged and radioactive materials leaked into water supplies or soil, many people could be exposed to hazardous conditions. This is not the only dangerous thing about waste in nuclear medicine. Once the waste is created after a decay event, it is stored on site, where it stays for at least 10 half lives, so any patient who accidentally comes across these substances would be affected, and there is always a risk that gamma rays will penetrate a weak spot in the walls and get into the hospital, affecting already weak patients.