Originally Posted By: unimogbert
Originally Posted By: haertig
I think I'd prefer to wear a full radiation suit. Protecting Mr. Happy is all well and good, but I'd like a little protection for, oh, say maybe my heart, brain, lungs, kidneys, liver, ... too.


Different organs have different radiation tolerance.

Blood forming organs (marrow) and testes/ovaries are most sensitive (if I remember right).

Areas like fingers can take many times the exposure of other organs.

Radiation suit is a misnomer. What you see in movies and documentaries are anti-contamination suits. They make it easy to wash you of radioactive particulate.

Only shielding blocks or reduces radiation. And shielding for gamma is pretty much just lead. Which is heavy. And it has to be pretty thick. Which is heavier. Good luck.

To work on radioactive components a survey is made to find the hottest areas then if possible, additional shielding is installed to make it safer for the worker to occupy the area. Bags of lead shot over the hottest valves in the area might be used for instance. And there will (should) be time limits and personal dosimetry carried on the worker for the purposes of tracking and monitoring exposure.

All this assumes that you don't want to hurt the worker. If they are expendable then it's a lot less trouble....


I think you're correct. Faster growing/reproducing organ systems get hit first. Marrow, GI tract and testes tend to reproduce fastest (ovaries probably aren't, since eggs are present at birth). Hence chemo drugs tend to affect these places first, as well.