Question

Why are nuclear radiations more dangerous than other forms of pollution

Answer 1

Thats actually a question borne out of fear and ignorance of how radioactivity works. Its pretty much equivalent to asking “Salt kills people, how long till the salt in instant ramen noodles kills me?”

So how do we reconcile all the below statements, all of which are .. well true:

salt kills people, i.e. is a poison

people eat noodles all the time and don’t die, well not immediately

Simple. Salt, radioactivity, and pretty much everything is a poison. Don’t believe me? Then eat a kilogram of salt. This includes water, oxygen, and almost everything else found in foods. BUT it is the dose that matters.

Below the lethal dose you do not die. If the radioactivity in the noodles is below a certain amount you do not die or suffer any ill effects.

Radiation is not some magic stuff that is only formed artificially and magically kills people at the slightest touch. Radiation is normal. There is such a thing as natural background radiation.

Arguably radiation is in some ways not as dangerous as other forms of pollution. Radioactive materials have a half life. The more radioactive the isotope the shorter the half life. If you contaminate an area with say mercury it stays there forever unless the mercury is cleaned or carried away. While radioactive contamination decreases by itself and one day it will be at safe levels.

Sure radiation at high enough levels can kill you, but so can pollution with infectious medical waste, arsenic, lead, mercury, dioxins, etc.