Nuclear Energy

to evolution theory, radiation from the atmosphere and earth’s crust (called background radiation) is
one of the important causal factors of evolution. While most mutations caused by this radiation
were “harmful”, causing disease and death in the offspring, some were “advantageous”: that is, they
produced changes in the offspring that enabled it to better survive and multiply in the hostile
environment. Thus, it is because of such mutations that fish developed lungs and climbed out of the
water to become land-dwelling amphibians, dinosaur-like creatures developed wings and became
the earliest form of birds, and humans evolved from early primates. But this also means that there
must have been incomparably more mutations which led to the birth of monstrous offspring which
were unfit to survive and died. Mutations are also responsible for thousands of genetically inherited
diseases, like heart diseases, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia – medical literature describes
19000 genetically inherited diseases!
Apart from causing mutations in genes, radiation can also cause a break in chromosomes.
This can cause a baby to be born with serious mental and physical genetic disorders.
If a pregnant woman is exposed to radiation, then it may so happen that the radiation kills a
cell of the fetus that was going to become a leg or a valve of the heart or some other part of some
other important organ. Such a mutation, which is not passed on to the offspring as it did not take
place in the reproductive gene, is called teratogenic mutation.
Radiation and cancer
All non-reproductive cells of the body have regulatory genes that control the rate of cell
division. If a regulatory gene is exposed to radiation, and it mutates, then the cell may become
carcinogenic. However, cancer does not develop right away; there is a long incubation period which
can be from 2 to 60 years. Then one day, instead of the cell dividing into two daughter cells in a
regulated fashion, it will begin to divide in a random, uncontrolled fashion into millions and
trillions of daughter cells, creating a cancer. In many cases it is difficult if not impossible to stop
this random growth of abnormal cells. All kinds of cancers can be caused by exposure to radiation:
from cancer of the upper digestive tract and lungs to bone cancer and leukemia.
Other impacts of radiation on human health
Radiation exposure causes cancer, but the incubation period can be many years. Apart from
cancer, non-cancerous health effects of radiation exposure are also there. It can cause radiation
sickness, whose symptoms include: nausea, weakness, hair loss, skin burns and diminished organ
function. If the dose is high, it can also cause premature aging and death. Exposure to radiation can
damage body cells, causing a wide variety of effects. Thus, it can damage the reproductive system,
causing infertility and spontaneous abortion. It deforms red blood cells, inhibiting their passage into
the tiny capillaries and depriving the muscles and brain of adequate oxygen and nutrients. This can
lead to impairment of many organs especially the kidneys, liver, lungs and cardiovascular system,
and can also damage the system that causes formation of blood in the body (known as
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