Nuclear Medicine Outweigh The Negative Effects Of Nuclear Technology

The benefits of nuclear medicine outweigh the negative effects of nuclear technology. Nuclear technology is used in many ways that benefit the economy and the lives of many despite its risks and misuse in the past. Other than the production of electric energy in power plants, nuclear power is also used for medicine, which allows the treatment and diagnosis of many diseases. Nuclear medicine has saved many lives and is unequivocally a benefit to society. Furthermore, with the contribution of nuclear reactors and nuclear studies, nuclear medicine is able to be safe, reliable, and useful.

CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) [1] reactor is nuclear reactor that is substantially important to nuclear medicine. To begin with, Nuclear medicine is a

Nuclear risks and effects such as nuclear radiation accidents, radioactive waste, and creation of nuclear bombs, have shown disadvantages to humans and mother nature [9]. Radioactive waste consists of a radioactive nuclear substance [9] that has spent 3 or more years in a reactor and can be crucially dangerous if handled incorrectly when disposing, as it can release radiations [9]. Moreover, the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 is also an example of a nuclear radiation accident and resulted in the death 30,000 people [11]. Many are also still suffering with the health consequences from the nuclear waste catastrophe [9]. Additionally, the effects of the nuclear bombs that were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II critically impacted the lives of many as well as the environment due to the death of many and destruction of cities in Japan [9]. The radioactive particles in nuclear fallouts in the form of dust goes into the soil and stays for a long period of time which is a huge health risk because people can get exposed to them [11]. Furthermore, these emitted radiations impact humans because they can weaken and break up DNA, by damaging cells that can kill them or cause mutation which can lead to cancer [12]. Altogether, these negative consequences of nuclear technology show that nuclear power can significantly affect many

As mentioned earlier, nuclear medicine is a medical specialty used to help provide diagnosis and treatment for disease [13]. Nuclear medicine uses radiology and diagnostic, medical imaging in order to visualize and detect abnormality in body functions and metabolism [5]. Nuclear medicine has two main types of techniques which are diagnostic and therapeutic [2]. The diagnostic procedure uses PET (positron emission tomography) scans and SPECT (single photon emission tomography) scans. During this procedure, small amounts of radioactive materials (called radiotracers) are injected, inhaled, or swallowed into the body of a patient [2]. Fortunately, the amount of dosage used in these procedures are considered to be safe [1]. After ingestion, the radiotracer accumulates in the organ or body part that is being examined [2]. The radioactive material emits radiation in the form of gamma rays which are recorded and detected by special cameras to provide in-depth images of the body or organ [14]. Different isotopes concentrate in certain organs. [13] This provides the visualization and the detection of abnormality in the body or organ which is then used to diagnose [14]. Moreover, radiation therapy is used to treat cancer by using radiation to destroy cancer cells [1]. In this procedure, patients are given extremely high doses of radioisotope in order to damage the affected