Is it possible to eliminate background radiation

You can wash your hands, face, and parts of your body that were uncovered at a sink or faucet. Use soap and plenty of water. To decontaminate yourself, you can take a warm shower and gently wash yourself with lots of soap.

For more information on decontaminating yourself self-decontamination , click here. For more information on decontaminating others, click here. For more information on decontaminating your pets, click here. Internal contamination occurs when people swallow or breathe in radioactive materials, or when radioactive materials enter the body through an open wound or are absorbed through the skin.

In certain situations, radioactive materials can be removed from inside your body through the use of special medical treatments under the supervision of medical providers.

For more information on these medical treatments, click here. How to Self-Decontaminate after a Radiation Emergency. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link.

Radiation and Your Health. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. The majority of background radiation occurs naturally and a small fraction comes from man-made elements. Fortunately, there are very few situations where an average person is exposed to uncontrolled sources of radiation above background. Nevertheless, it is wise to be prepared and know what to do if such a situation arises. One of the best ways to be prepared is to understand the radiation protection principles of time, distance and shielding.

During a radiological emergency a large release of radioactive material into the environment , we can use these principles to help protect ourselves and our families. Time, distance, and shielding actions minimize your exposure to radiation in much the same way as they would to protect you against overexposure to the sun:.

In a large scale radiological release, such as a nuclear power plant accident or terrorist incident, the following advice has been tested and proven to provide maximum protection. If a radiation emergency occurs, you can take actions to protect yourself, your loved ones and your pets: Get Inside , Stay Inside and Stay Tuned. For example, the parts of the US with the highest natural radiation levels also have among the lowest cancer rates in the country.

For example, the population along the Gulf Coast is generally older than in the Rocky Mountains, there are more people who smoke, and the area has a significant petrochemical industry — all of these could serve to increase cancer rates compared to the Rocky Mountain states.

The most we can say is that the effects of these different radiation levels is fairly low — low enough to be swamped by the other factors. Did you know Bananas contain naturally occurring radioactive material in the form of Potassium?

As far as where this natural radiation comes from, there are four main sources, and these all change from place to place. They are:. Putting all of this together, we receive about mrem each year from natural radiation, with some variability depending on where we live and what we eat.

Ah I hear you say but what about the radiation from Fukushima? For that, read on! A lot of it ended up in the Pacific Ocean and a lot settled out on the ground in Japan, but a lot of radioactivity ended up in the atmosphere. This was measurable in the US — just as fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident could be measured in the US.