Because of the very large amounts of energy involved, radiation can be very
damaging to living organisms and to materials. Humans are exposed to radiation,
and incur certain risks
[local]
as a result. Safety
[local]
for humans exposed to radiation is a major issue. The major incident at Chernobyl [local]
had terribly significant health consequences.
Radiation has a very high energy which can be absorbed by surrounding materials with many different effects. High energy charged particles in water cooled reactors emit light called 