Nuclear hazards affect human health through both immediate and long-term effects primarily caused by exposure to ionizing radiation. These hazards can damage DNA, cause mutations, and adversely affect organs and tissues, leading to serious health outcomes like cancer, radiation sickness, genetic disorders, and organ failure.
Immediate Health Effects
Exposure to high doses of radiation can cause acute radiation syndrome (ARS) or radiation sickness, with symptoms like nausea, vomiting, fatigue, hair loss, internal bleeding, and in severe cases, death. Radiation may also cause physical injuries such as skin burns and damage to lungs and other organs due to blast effects from nuclear explosions.
Long-Term and Genetic Effects
Radiation exposure can damage DNA, causing mutations that may not manifest immediately but can lead to cancers such as leukemia or thyroid and bone cancer over time. Genetic effects can be passed to offspring, resulting in hereditary diseases or birth defects. Chronic exposure can also cause organ damage, affect immunity, and lead to fatal illnesses.
Psychosocial and Environmental Impacts
Beyond physical health, nuclear disasters induce serious psychosocial effects like depression, suicide, alcoholism, and social disruption, as seen in incidents like the Chernobyl disaster. Environmental contamination from radioactive materials can persist for decades, contaminating soil and water and affecting the food chain, which indirectly harms human health.
In summary, nuclear hazards pose severe risks to human health through direct radiation damage, long-term cancer risks, genetic effects, and psychosocial consequences linked to nuclear accidents and exposures.
