Radioactive iodine therapy

Radioactive iodine also called radio iodine is an important radioisotopes of iodine discovered in 1938.It has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days.

There are two radioactive isotopes that are commonly used in patients with thyroid diseases: I-123 (harmless to thyroid cells) and I-131 (destroys thyroid cells).

Radioactive iodine is associated with nuclear energy, medical diagnostic and treatment procedures, and natural gas production. It also plays a major role as a thyroid gland therapy because Iodine in food is absorbed by the body and preferentially concentrated in the thyroid where it is needed for the functioning of that gland.

Radioactive iodine, given in a capsule or liquid form, is absorbed and concentrated by the thyroid gland. 

While radiation can cause thyroid cancer, treatment of hyperthyroidism with radioactive iodine does not increase your chances of getting thyroid cancer, because the radioactive iodine passes out of your body in your urine and saliva within days depending on the dose you received and your age.

 Most people don't feel different after treatment. But a few people may feel a little nauseated.

Radioactive iodine therapy destroys any remaining thyroid tissue or cancer cells that were not removed during surgery.

Persons take radioactive iodine, must follow doctor's instructions to avoid exposing other people to radioactivity. The amount of radiation exposure markedly decreases as the distance from the patient increases. Patients who need to travel in the days after radioactive iodine (I-131) treatment are advised to carry a letter of explanation from their physician. This is because radiation detection devices used at airports or in federal buildings may pick up even very small radiation levels. Details should be discussed with a physician prior to, and at the time of, the radioactive iodine treatment.

A common treatment method for preventing iodine-131 exposure is by saturating the thyroid with regular, non-radioactive iodine-127, as an iodide salt.

The thyroid will absorb very little of the radioactive iodine-131 after it is saturated with non-radioactive iodide, thereby avoiding the radiation from radioiodine.

Side effects of radioactive iodine;

·        Dry mouth sometimes occurs.

·        Tenderness in your neck area.

·        Temporary or permanent decreases in blood cell counts.

·        Fatigue.

·        Sore throat.

·        Swelling and tenderness of the salivary glands.

·        Taste changes.

Radioactive iodine is safe to use in individuals who have had allergic reactions to seafood or X-ray contrast agents, since the reaction is to the compound containing iodine, not the iodine itself.

Most doctors also recommend that the patient follow a low iodine diet for 1 or 2 weeks before treatment. This means avoiding foods that contain iodized salt and red dye #3, as well as dairy products, eggs, seafood, and soy.

( Scheme of the thyroid gland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Radiation Therapy Side Effects

There are many types of cancer treatment; the most effective type is radiation therapy.
All types of cancer treatments may cause side effects, also radiation therapy.
Radiation therapy side effects vary from person to person due to:

1. The type and location of cancer.

2. The person's health.

3. The treatment dose.

4. Other medicines the person is taking during radiation therapy such as;
      * vitamin or mineral supplements.
      * Herbal remedies and other natural health products.
      * Prescription and over-the-counter drugs, including creams and ointments.

For some persons, there are few or no radiation therapy side effects. For others, the radiation therapy side effects are more severe if they also receive chemotherapy before, during, or after their radiation therapy.

Radiation therapy side effects occur because the high doses of radiation used to destroy cancer cells can also damage healthy cells and tissues located near the treatment area. Your health care team will work with you to ease or prevent many of these radiation therapy side effects.
Most radiation therapy side effects go away within 2 months of finishing treatment. However, some radiation therapy side effects may continue after treatment is over because it takes time for healthy cells to recover from the effects of radiation therapy.

Common radiation therapy side effects:

1.The first radiation therapy side effects is Fatigue.  Fatigue associated with radiation therapy is different from fatigue from lack of sleep; it is a feeling of exhaustion that does not improve with rest. Your level of fatigue may depend on whether you are undergoing other treatments, such as chemotherapy. Fatigue usually occurs during or after the second week of radiation therapy. Symptoms of fatigue may increase or become more severe over the course of treatment. Fatigue usually goes away gradually after treatment has ended, but some people continue to feel tired for several weeks or months after radiation therapy.

2. The second radiation therapy side effects are skin problems, such as dryness, itching, blistering, or peeling. These issues usually resolve a few weeks after treatment has finished. If skin damage from radiation treatment becomes a serious problem, the doctor may change the dose or schedule of treatments.

3. The third radiation therapy side effects are Hair loss which can begin about 2–3 weeks after radiation therapy starts. Smaller doses of radiation usually result in temporary hair loss. Permanent hair loss is more common at higher doses.

Nuclear gauges

A nuclear gauge is a tool used in road construction and the petroleum industry. It consists of a radioactive source to measure the thickness and to measure the density of a liquid in a pipe.

For road construction a gamma source emitter such as ¹³⁷Cesium is used to produce gamma radiation. These isotopes are effective in analyzing the top 25 centimeters with high accuracy. ²²⁶Radium is used for depths of 300 meters. Such instruments can help find underground caves or identify locations with lower density that would make tunnel construction hazardous.

For petroleum industry if a nuclear gauge source is mounted on one side of a pipe and a detector on the other, the amount of radiation seen at the detector is dependent upon the shielding provided by the liquid in the pipe.

There are two types of nuclear gauges, fixed and portable.
Fixed nuclear gauges can be used in industry to make sure each item is the same. For example, paper mills use fixed nuclear gauges to measure the thickness of a sheet of paper and some bottlers use them to make sure that each bottle contains the right amount of liquid. 
Portable nuclear gauges are commonly used in industries such as agriculture, construction and civil engineering. They often measure soil moisture or other items, such as the density of asphalt in a paving mix. Portable nuclear gauges work by using direct transmission or backscatter. Direct transmission is the more precise of the two, it measures how much radiation passes through an object. Backscatter nuclear gauges measure how much radiation bounces back to the gauge after it hits the surface of an object.

Nuclear gauges are designed with worker safety in mind. They are lined with a lead shielding around the sealed source, which blocks the radiation. Workers usually receive little or no radiation from nuclear gauges. When properly used, nuclear gauges will not expose the public to radiation.

When no longer in use, nuclear gauges must be disposed of properly. They are hazardous waste and should not be treated as ordinary trash. Gauge manufacturers or state radiation control program staff can provide disposal instructions. Some manufacturers also accept gauges for disposal.

Finally; Nuclear gauges are as safe as using a power saw or a welding torch. As with those tools, safety precautions must be taken.

                       Mechanism of nuclear gauges                                                           

                                                          ( Source: American Portable Nuclear Gauge Association )                            

Use of Nuclear Energy for Desalination

Seawater desalination is the best way to meet increasing demands of freshwater because it can produce freshwater with necessary quality by choosing an appropriate desalination process and post-treatment methods of the product water.

Most desalination is accomplished through a process called reverse osmosis (RO), which pressurizes seawater and forces it through a membrane against its osmotic pressure, extracting the salt. A second process, called multi-stage flash distillation, uses a steam-based process to filter salt and other minerals. It has proven less cost-effective than reverse osmosis even though it produces purer water. 

The cost, degree of availability, heaviness of the duty, and the required purity selection of the appropriate desalination technology between evaporation and reverse osmosis is grounded on several factors, including investment cost, maintenance of the desalinated water.

Nuclear desalination is the using of excess heat from a nuclear power plant to evaporate sea water and extract salts from seawater to produce drinkable fresh water or using produced electricity in RO technology. The main energy sources for future desalination are nuclear power reactors and renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro, or wind, but only nuclear reactors are capable of delivering the copious quantities of energy required for large-scale desalination projects.

The seawater desalination plant designs for nuclear plant coupling- are identical to those of fossil plant coupling, with exception of desalination plants using RO technology, which in the case of a nuclear desalination plant, the plastic casings of RO membranes are covered with carbon steel.
A nuclear co-generation desalination plant consists of three interacting systems: nuclear steam supply system (NSSS), the turbine generator system and the desalination unit. 

Small and medium sized nuclear reactors are suitable for desalination, often with cogeneration of electricity using low-pressure steam from the turbine and hot seawater feed from the final cooling system. The main opportunities for nuclear plants have been identified as the 80-100,000 m³/day and 200-500,000 m³/day ranges.

There are 53 operational nuclear power plants in Japan as of December 2000, which are located in coastal areas in order to use seawater as an ultimate heat sink.

Finally; Tunisia sponsored research on the topic and found that costs for nuclear-powered desalination were about a third to a half less than using fossil fuels, depending on the desalination technology used.

Radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG)

Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG)–essentially a nuclear battery that reliably converts heat into electricity.
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator is an electrical generator that uses
an array of thermocouples to convert the heat of a suitable radioactive material into electricity by the thermoelectric effect (The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage ).
Whatever isotope is chosen as a fuel must be able to release enough energy in its decay process to serve as a practical and fruitful enough source for thermoelectric conversion.
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator consist of two major elements: a heat source that contains plutonium-238 (Pu-238) and solid-state thermocouples that convert the plutonium’s decay heat energy to electricity.

The RTG have been used as power sources in satellites, space probes and unmanned remote facilities such as a series of lighthouses built by the former Soviet Union inside the Arctic Circle.

The RTG contains a total of 4.8 kilograms of plutonium dioxide (including Pu-238) that initially provides approximately 2,000 watts of thermal power and 110 watts of electrical power when exposed to deep space environments. The thermoelectric materials (PbSnTe, TAGS, and PbTe) have demonstrated extended lifetime and performance capabilities. The RTG generator is about 64 centimeters in diameter (fin-tip to fin-tip) by 66 centimeters tall and weighs about 45 kilograms.

As with the implementation of any nuclear-based processes into functioning devices, there is always concern over human safety and radioactive contamination. Even though RTG is designed to function in remote environments with sparse human populations, the worries are not totally unwarranted as there are plenty of questions regarding the event of RTG fuel leaks or possible explosions while launching space-bound RTG. In the worst-case scenarios of these situations, there would be substantial radioactive contamination in the environment along with the potential for radiation damage to humans. This makes the use and launching of RTG at least semi-controversial. However, in practice, there are safety measures applied to minimize the risks of radioactive contamination from RTG. For instance, in the NASA mission to Saturn featuring the Cassini-Huygens probe, the RTG isotope fuel was stored in high-strength blocks of graphite and surrounded by a layer of iridium metal in order to curb the risk of accidental explosions. These graphite blocks have proven to be successful in preventing radiation contamination as in the case of the famed failed Apollo 13 landing in 1970, which left its RTG in the ocean after its return to Earth, but with no detectable plutonium contamination.

Finally; despite potential radiation risks, the advantages of RTG use far outweigh all other factors.

                    Radioisotope thermoelectric generator

Nuclear fuel

Nuclear fuel is a material that can be burned by nuclear fission or fusion to derive nuclear energy. The most common nuclear fuels are uranium-235 and plutonium-239. Before uranium can be used in nuclear power plants, it must first be enriched.

Uranium mines operate in some twenty countries, though about half of world production comes from just ten mines in six countries, in Canada, Australia, Niger, Kazakhstan, Russia and Namibia.

Uranium resources can be extracted from the ground in three ways: open pit, underground, and in-situ leach (ISL).

The milling process involves crushing and pulverizing the rock into very fine fragments and adding water to create slurry. This slurry is then mixed with sulfuric acid or an alkaline solution to release the uranium from the host rock. 

The vast majority of all nuclear power reactors require 'enriched' uranium fuel in which the proportion of the uranium-235 isotope has been raised from the natural level of 0.7% to about 3.5% to 5%.  The enrichment process needs to have the uranium in gaseous form, so on the way from the mine it goes through a conversion plant which turns the uranium oxide into uranium hexafluoride (UF6).

The enrichment plant concentrates the useful U-235, leaving about 85% of the uranium by separating gaseous uranium hexafluoride into two streams: One stream is enriched to the required level of U-235 and then passes to the next stage of the fuel cycle.  The other stream is depleted in U-235 and is called 'tails' or depleted uranium.  It is mostly uranium-238 and has little immediate use. 

Enriched UF6 is transported to a fuel fabrication plant where it is converted to uranium dioxide (UO2) powder. This powder is then pressed to form small fuel pellets, which are then heated to make a hard ceramic material. The pellets are then inserted into thin tubes to form fuel rods. These fuel rods are then grouped together to form fuel assemblies, which are several meters long.

Because nuclear plants refuel every 18-24 months, they are not subject to fuel price volatility like natural gas and oil power plants.

 Nuclear power plants have achieved the lowest production costs between coal, natural gas and oil.

Finally; Fuel costs make up 30 percent of the overall production costs of nuclear power plants but fuel costs for coal, natural gas and oil, however, make up about 80 percent of the production costs.

Gamma Radiography

Gamma radiography is a technique which using radioisotopes to check cracks and other faults in aircraft welding, as well as gas and oil pipelines.

Gamma radiography involves placing a radiation source(iridium 192 ) on one side of the gas pipeline, and
a photographic plate on the other. The radiation that can pass through cracks will show up on the photographic plate. This checking process could have been done using X-rays like in the hospital, except there is a lot of equipment required for X-rays, whereas using gamma radiography requires only a radiation source which can simply be a small pellet of radioactive material. X-rays also require electricity, whereas radioisotopes do not.

The exact process is done by taping a special photographic film over the weld or suspected crack of a pipeline. A pipe crawler carrying the sealed radiation source is then dispatched down the pipe to the weld position. The field technician performing the check then sends a remote control message to the crawler to tell it to expose the radiation. When this happens, the radiation passes through any cracks that may exist, onto the photographic film taped on the outside. This film is then developed and checked for cracks or welding deterioration.

Gamma radiography is used frequently at airports in order to screen luggage. This type of radiation offers a clear picture of what is in luggage, so that airport security screeners can identify flight hazards such as bombs or weapons. Airport security checkpoints may use gamma radiation or x-rays in order to form a picture of a passenger. This allows security personal to check passengers for weapons before they get on the plane. Gamma radiation devices are usually smaller than x-ray machines, but the high frequency wavelengths of this type of radiation can cause negative health effects in even small doses. It is important that radio-active isotopes should be handled in such a way that radiation received by operators is kept to a minimum. A check should be kept on the amount ofradiation received by carrying film badges or ionisation chambers. The maximum permissible dose from iridium 192 for continuous working is 0.3 rontgens per week. The radiation from an unshielded source is 0.5 milli-rontgens,/hour/milli-curie. A 2-curie radiographic source would therefore give a week’s radiation in 20 minutes at a distance of one metre.

Smoke Detectors

Smoke detectors are important safety devices that are in many homes, businesses and factories.

Smoke detectors trigger an alarm well before a smoldering fire bursts into flame.

There are two different types of smoke detectors; one type uses a photoelectric sensor to detect changes in light caused by smoke, and the other is
ionization detectors which uses radioisotopes - usually americium-241.

1.     Photo-electric smoke detectors

The photo-electric Smoke detector contains a small light source that shines light into a dark sensing chamber. The chamber also contains a photo-electric cell, which converts light into a small electrical current. The light source and the cell are arranged so that the light does not normally strike the cell. When smoke particles enter the sensing chamber the light is reflected off the surface of the smoke particles, striking the cell, and increasing the voltage generated by the cell. The increase in voltage triggers the alarm.

2.     Ionization smoke detectors

The ionization Smoke detector uses a small amount of radioactive material ((americium-241)).The americium-241 is placed inside an air chamber. The ionizing alpha radiation emitted collides with air molecules in the air chamber, ionizing them. The ionized air molecules are then able to conduct an electrical current between two electrodes on either side of the air chamber.

When smoke enters the air chamber, the ionized air molecules attract the smoke particles, causing a decrease in the current conducted. (The ionized air molecules are now "carrying" extra smoke particles, decreasing the flow of current.) This current decrease is then detected by electrical circuitry, activating an alarm.

Americium-241 is formed in nuclear reactors and has a half life of 432 years.

Typical ionization smoke detectors use less than 35 kilobecquerels of americium-241, which is a very small amount. The radiation emitted by ionization smoke detector containing this amount of americium poses less danger to human health than background radiation in the atmosphere, so ionization smoke detectors being "radioactive" are not a health hazard.

The Future of Nuclear Energy

Nuclear engineering is the branch of the engineering which concerned with the practical applications of nuclear energy. 
Nuclear energy is the energy that produces in and releases from the atomic nucleus. 
The first major effort to use nuclear energy was begun in World War II and culminated in the development of the bombs exploded over Hiroshima andNagasaki. 
There are many ways in which nuclear explosives may be used for peaceful purposes such as that new harbor, canals and mountain passes.
There are many useful uses from nuclear energy which produced in a nuclear reactor such as the generation of electricity and radioactive isotopes which produced in large quantities in a nuclear reactor.
There are many applications of radioactive isotopes such as, tracing, food preservation and chemical processing.
The environmental impact of nuclear power plants is also Smaller than that of conventional power plants; For example, atypical 1000- megawatt coal-burning plant may emit in one year as much as 100000 tons of sulfur dioxide, 75000 tons of nitrogen oxides and 5000 tons of fly ash.

Nuclear power plants produce none of these air pollutants and emit only trace amounts of radioactive gases. 
Nuclear power plant doesn’t need large amount of fuel to burn as the conventional power plants need but nuclear fuel need to enriched before used to producing nuclear energy.

In 2002, nuclear power supplied 20% of United States and 17% of world electricity consumption. Experts project worldwide electricity consumption will increase substantially in the coming decades, especially in the developing world, accompanying economic growth and social progress. However, official forecasts call for a mere 5% increase in nuclear electricity generating capacity worldwide by 2020 (and even this is questionable), while electricity use could grow by as much as 75%. These projections entail little new nuclear plant construction and reflect both economic considerations and growing anti-nuclear sentiment in key countries.

Nuclear energy development facing many challenges including high fuel costs, the radioactive nature of raw materials and wastes, health hazards due to harmful radiation emitted and handling of the waste. 
It is expected that further development in science and technology will help to overcome these challenges. 
Correctly designed and operated, nuclear power plants are capable of running continuously for many decades without the need of costly upgrades, repairs and maintenance.

Finally: nuclear power is providing to be cheaper than conventional sources of power.

Basic Concepts of Nuclear Energy

All chemical elements consists of individual atoms or molecules , for example , Helium gas consists of millions of individual atoms of helium but oxygen gas consists of millions of molecules and each molecule contains two atoms of oxygen.
Atom consists of a nucleus which containing positive protons and neutral neutrons. Revolves around the nucleus a set of orbits, each orbit contains a set of negative electrons.
The number of protons ( Z ) and neutrons ( N ) called Atomic mass number ( A ) and number of protons called atomic number ( Z ).
The element has many isotopes; there are a stable isotopes and unstable isotopes.
Most stable nuclides have even numbers of neutrons and protons. Nuclides with odd numbers of neutrons and protons are usually unstable.

All isotopes for a given element have the same number of protons and differ only in the number of neutrons.
For example, all isotopes of uranium have 92 protons.
Unstable isotopes seek greater stability by decay or disintegration of the nucleus to a more stable form.
Nuclear decay may include a release of energy from the nucleus or may cause a change in the number of protons or neutrons within the nucleus.
If the nuclear decay causes a change in the number of protons, there is a change of element.
Radio nuclides are unstable isotopes seek greater stability by emitting radiation.
There are several ways of decay to reach stability such as;
1. Alpha- particle emission
Alpha-particle consisting of two protons and two neutrons, when alpha-particle released from the nucleus, resulting in a decrease of atomic mass number ( A ) by four and neutron ( N ) decrease by two, also protons ( Z ) decrease by two.               
The mass of the released alpha particle is so great that they travel only a few centimeters in air and are unable to penetrate a thin paper.
2. Beta-particle emission:
Beta- particle emission is found in nuclides with a neutron excess. Beta Particle is a negative electron which emitted from the nucleus accompanied by an antineutrino. Due to Beta particle emission from the nucleus a neutral neutron will undergo a positive proton which remains in the nucleus.
So Beta particle emission decreases the number of neutrons ( N ) by one and increase the number of protons ( Z ) by one and atomic mass number ( A ) remains unchanged. 

Use of Nuclear Energy in Medicine

Nuclear radiation plays a major role in medicine as used in diagnosis and in treatment as well, and there is a special section in the hospital nuclear medicine in which radioactive material is used to depict the internal organs of the human body and other types are used to treat cancer.

Treatment depends radioisotope on the affected cells ionizing radiation such as gamma rays , beta and alpha , where living cells are divided at different rates , the cells that are divided by high rates are affected more radiation than cells that divided rates of normal , and therefore they die immediately , which applies to the cancer cells , where treatment is installed radioactive materials in the form of thin wires next to the affected areas , but in the deeper areas are shed radiation by high concentrations and where many of the members of the human body absorbs elements of certain glands, including the thyroid , which absorbs iodine and bone that absorbs phosphorus can be used as a radioactive isotope that absorbs Lists of the patient , thereby acting on the treatment of tumors in that member .

Examples include the use of iodine - 131 to keep track of thyroid tumors, and for that drink Patients solution containing small amounts of sodium iodide and are then track the impact of iodine absorbed by the thyroid gland by screen as a screen TVs can also be used thallium - 201 for the follow-up of heart disease, especially for people who suffer from a heart attack, due to the concentration of thallium in myocardial sound.

Required when using this method of treatment is to have a half-life of the isotope used his short and ends as soon as the completion of the radiation treatment of the tumor.
Is not required in radiation therapy to be issued from within the body, but can be used as radiation from outside the body to deal with internal tumors such as using gamma rays from cobalt-60 isotope for the treatment of cancerous tumors.

Use of Nuclear Energy in Industry

1.    Radiography : the properties of nuclear radiation his superior ability to penetrate various objects , and stops over the break for the particular object on the absorption coefficient of this article to this radiation , so each subject imprint certain impenetrable X , for example, if we have a particular object is transparent can nuclear radiation with ease imaging the inside of the body if it contains other materials or voids inside , and methods of radiological imaging gamma-ray imaging where you can detect defects welding process in pipelines and disadvantages of manufacturing castings and especially used in the manufacture of missiles and in aircraft , submarines and spaceships , and the method is based on the shed gamma rays on the sample tested and receive radiation after its penetration of the sample on the film , and where the absorption of gamma rays increases with the density of the sample tested , we can easily detect any voids or residue in the sample examined , where show these defects and voids on the film placements, dark inside the sample and looks like a movie here images X-ray taken .

2.    Timber processing plastic: possible to improve the physical and chemical properties of the treated wood with plastic, where he became more resistant to scratching and burning include the treatment process to cover the surface of the wood with a thin layer of plastic and then exposing the surface to gamma rays change their minds molecular structure of plastic, giving the properties that best despite no change in the appearance of natural wood.

3.    Measurement and calibration: We can use radioactive isotopes in many measurements in production lines, for example, can measure the thickness of the paper or plastic sheets during the production process by exposing them to beta rays, and receiving radiation to the detector, if changing the thickness of the paper varies depending on the severity of the beta radiation falling on the detector, and therefore can be controlled automatically in modifying the bugs.

4.    The automotive industry can be used radioactive isotopes to determine the extent of the erosion of the walls of the cylinder car engine by adding a small amount of the isotope to the alloy of iron made​​, including the engine and after a period of operation is measured by the proportion of radiation in the engine oil, which indicated the extent of the erosion of the cylinder no matter how simple.

5.     In the petroleum industry: use of radioactive isotopes in the measurement of the speed of the flow of oil in pipelines and it injects the match in one of the pipes and then follow the passage of the peer inside the tube, can also can detect the occurrence of any leak in the pipes buried under the ground without having to dig and try to follow the oil pipeline to find out where the leak where radioactive substance is released into the oil pipelines are maintained its course and, if the spread of radioactivity in the area indicated that a leak in that area.

6.    Nuclear Batteries : Nuclear batteries characterized by her long age and good performance for up to 80 years, and due to the length of the half-life of the isotope radioactive, and features such batteries are not affected by magnetic fields or temperature or pressure, which qualifies for the hard work in the space and the ocean floor and under the polar ice caps, We have limited the use of this type of battery in applications that can not replace the dry batteries such as space launch vehicles, satellites and pacemaker due to their high cost.

Use of Nuclear Energy in Agriculture

1.    Producing strains of new plant and improved genetically : scientists were able to produce strains of new plant disease-resistant and characterized by high productivity by using radioactive isotopes and the creation of genetic changes in the genes of plants as a result of exposure to gamma rays or neutrons , where studies have shown that exposing the seeds of plants to specific doses of radiation lead to speed plant growth, and the speed of flowering and maturity , not only that but and production plants is characterized by abundant production , and increase the size of the fruit were some of the results are promising , such as getting a new type of rice resistant to diseases in Hungary , France , and the cultivation of wheat is characterized by heavily Snabulh in Germany , and in the United States of America was produced fruits without seeds , and beet sugar high after exposure to nuclear radiation .

2.    Examine ways food plant: using carbon - 14 irradiated been tracking mineral salts in the plant so as to know the extent to which the plant from these salts, using salts vehicle of carbon particles of radioactive Vimitsa plant, and the result was that the plant does not feed on the salts from the root only, but of stem, leaves, flowers and even fruit also leading to innovation liquid fertilizers that are sprayed on the plant, which is absorbed by plants better than regular fertilizers.

3.    Rational use of fertilizers: using phosphorus - 32 irradiated scientists could estimate the amount of fertilizer needed by the plant and the amount of fertilizer lost, where this isotope launch beta particles, which can be calculated and thus calculate the amount of fertilizer that contains this isotope, which sucked down the plant by measuring the amount of radiation released from the plant in different times and places, which have been providing him millions of dollars that were wasted.

4.     Get rid of harmful insects : I've had to use pesticides indiscriminately to eliminate harmful insects such as fruit flies and fly watermelon and worm cotton serious damage affected the quality of the soil , and led to the contamination of air, water and soil , which has a direct impact on human health , animals and plants as well, as led to the elimination of some types of beneficial insects such as silkworms and honey bees and the death of some animals and birds beneficial because of the poisoning that hit , prompting scientists to think of alternative solutions, environmentally clean , and was one of these solutions use of sterile insects , where they are exposed males of these insects in the process of chrysalis late to specific doses of gamma rays released from cobalt - 60 or cesium - 127 to make them sterile , and are launching these insects in great numbers in the affected areas to be married with female Vtda eggs is enriched considerably less reproductive process gradually even non-existent have succeeded this way in eliminating fly Mediterranean fruit fly and melon in Japan , as well as insects stores that cause significant loss of agricultural crops during transport and storage , this technique has helped to save millions of dollars .