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The signs and symptoms of acute radiation poisoning are: vomiting,
diarrhea, and nausea, loss of appetite, malaise, or feeling unwell, headache, rapid
heartbeat.
Symptoms depend on the dose, and whether it is a single dose or repeated.
A dose of as low as 30 rads can lead to: loss of white blood cells, nausea and
vomiting, headaches.
A dose of 300 rads dose may result in: temporary hair loss, damage to nerve
cells, damage to the cells that line the digestive tract.
Stages of radiation sickness.
Symptoms of severe radiation poisoning will normally go through four
stages:
1) Prodomal stage: nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, lasting from a few
minutes to several days
2) Latent stage: symptoms seem to disappear, and the person appears to
recover
3) Overt stage: depending on the type of exposure, this can involve problems
with the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, hematopoietic, and central nervous
system (CNS)
4) Recovery or death: there may be a slow recovery, or the poisoning will be
fatal.
Hematopoietic stem cells, or bone marrow cells, are the cells that all other
blood cells derive from.
When a radioactive material gets in the body by inhalation or ingestion, the
radiation dose constantly accumulates in an organ or a tissue. The total dose
accumulated during the 50 years following the intake is called the committed dose.
The quantity of committed dose depends on the amount of ingested radioactive

material and the time it stays inside the body.

3.5 Assessment of the radiation situation in the event of an accident at a
radiation hazardous facility
Under the radiation situation (RS) understand radioactive contamination of
atmosphere, terrain, water, food, fodder above the permissible (natural) values in
case of the accident at radiation hazardous facilities, which demands certain
protection measures.
The main indicators of the radiation situation and the degree of danger of
radioactive pollution for people – these are the sizes of zones of radioactive
pollution, radiation levels (pollution density) and radiation dose.
Output data for detecting the radiation situation by the method of forecasting
are:
- the coordinates of the nuclear power plant (NPP);
- type and power of a nuclear reactor;
- the particle of discarded radioactive substances, %;
- meteorological conditions: direction (azimuth) β and speed of wind V,
v
m/s; degree of vertical air resistance (inversion, isotherm, convection);

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