A nuclear legacy in Los Alamos August 15, 2024

Searchlight New Mexico

“I would be concerned for my safety and the safety of others given the levels he reported,” [PSR Colorado’s Deborah] Segaloff added, after consulting Ketterer’s report. The type of radiation that plutonium emits does not travel far or even penetrate the skin, she said, but if inhaled or ingested, “it will emit radiation to surrounding cells” in the human body, potentially “giving rise to cancer initiation and growth,” the effects of which “may not be obvious until years or decades after exposure.”