Me stating that radiation is scary for most people would likely be as revolutionary as
me claiming that heating water will eventually make it boil. Equally, most of us have
at some point enjoyed the sun a bit too much and suffered the consequences the
day after. Similarly, most of us know that getting too much radiation can give you
cancer or even kill you. However, if we ask 100 people on the street about how much
radiation it would take to result in cancers, you will probably get as conflicting a
collection of views as a group of politicians trying to decide how to get off a deserted
island.
Jokes aside, I have now spent more than five years trying to get to the bottom of
what is a seemingly easy and, indeed, straightforward question – “how dangerous is
radiation, really?”. The price has been paid in grey hairs and many lonely hours
trying to make heads or tails of what I was reading, but throughout the process of
going numerous rabbit holes, I’ve also had the opportunity to learn from some of the
sharpest minds in the field. What I found was a highly politicised area of science, but
where the debate was not really about the big questions I thought it would be, but
rather, a small war about what, to the general public, are inconsequential details.
So, over the next two weeks, I shall act as a guide through the often confusing,
seemingly impregnable and jargon-ridden world that is radiation research. This will
hopefully help shed some light on a fascinating, well-researched, yet very poorly
understood area of science. Together, we shall endeavour to find out what are the
facts and, indeed, the misconceptions around all sorts of radiation-related questions,
from the “will any radiation dose give me cancer?” to “what’s the deal with nuclear
waste?”.
- John Lindberg