How does nuclear energy affect human tissue?

Answer 1

After the atomic bombs were dropped in Japan, the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission was set up to study the effects of radiation on the population. This is an extract from Wikipedia:

The ABCC also drew on the work of Japanese scientists, who were already studying the survivors in the time before the ABCC arrived in Japan, so there was information from both American and Japanese officials. Masao Tsuzuki was the leading Japanese authority on the biological effects of radiation. He said there were four causes of injury in the bombed cities: heat, blast, primary radiation and radioactive poisonous gas.

In a report that was released by Tsuzuki, he answered the question, "What does strong radioactive energy do to the human body?" His answer was, "damage to blood, then hematopoetic organs such as bone marrow, spleen, and lymph nodes. All are destroyed or damaged severely. Lungs, intestines, liver, kidney etc are affected and their functions disturbed as a result." The damages were rated by severity. People suffering from severe damage were people who were in within a 1Km radius of the hypoenter. The severely affected people typically died within a few days, some living as long as two weeks. Moderate damage was seen in people living in a 1-2 km. radius from the hypoenter, and those people would live for 2-6 weeks. Those people living within a 2-4 km. radius had slight damage, and which would not cause death, but would cause some health problems during the several months after the exposure. If you want to read more the link below is worthwhile, and there are other links within Wikipedia

Since then of course the science of Health Physics has moved on a long way, and safe working limits for different types of radiation are now well understood. The first thing that seems to happen is the bone marrow being affected which affects the white cell count in the blood. If these immediate effects can be survived, there may still be long term development of cancers, but in studying a population for these effects it is always difficult to separate out what would be the normal rate of development of cancers, without the extra radiation (and we have a background from natural causes, which is always there and always has been in human history)

Answer 2

Radiation such as alpha, beta, and gamma is called ionising radiation. This means that when it enters material such as living tissue, it knocks electrons out of the atoms, causing them to become ionised. If enough atoms are ionised this can have drastic effects on the organism. With a very large single dose, the bone marrow is affected leading to a lack of white blood cells, and death can follow in a few days . If the dose is not large enough to do this, the long term effects may cause cancer, perhaps in many years time. The difficulty in trying to assess this is that any population will experience a number of cancers in the same long period, so small increases are difficult to prove.

Nuclear energy as such will only have these effects if you are exposed to it, great care is taken to avoid this by adequate shielding and safety procedures. The protection of personnel in the nuclear plants is the responsibility of Health Physicists trained to understand the effects and what are safe levels, and their advice should always be listened to and acted on.

Answer 3

Exposure to nuclear energy can damage human tissue by causing radiation injury, which can lead to cell mutations, tissue damage, and increased risk of cancer. Acute exposure can cause immediate harm, while chronic exposure may result in long-term health issues. Protective measures, such as shielding and safety protocols, can help minimize the impact of nuclear energy on human tissue.