Fear of radiation

See also: Nuclear_power_reconsidered

© Image: Robert Hargraves, PhD
Fig.1 Add image caption here.

Government agencies have for decades assumed that deaths and other bad effects of radiation on our health follow a theory called Linear No Threshold (LNT) in which death and disease is simply proportional to the total cumulative radiation, no matter how low the rate, even as low as the normal background radiation from space and the Earth. This ignores the data on low-rate exposures (Fig.1) and the fact that there are mechanisms in our bodies that repair damage done at a low rate (Fig.2).

© Image: Robert Hargraves, PhD
Fig.2 Add image caption here.

Over reliance on the LNT theory leads to policies that are very costly, like radon remediation in old homes (Fig.3)

Fig.3 Add image caption here.

and over-reaction to radiation accidents, like the evacuation after the Fukushima meltdown, which caused more deaths that the accident itself (Fig.4).

Fig.4 Add image caption here.