It is common to associate nuclear technology with the atomic bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Or with the stigmatized nuclear power plants that generate electricity, today condemned to extinction in Spain. However, nuclear techniques have a much longer history and are present in our daily lives much more than we imagine. Using small doses of radiation, medicine is advancing diagnostic imaging to detect diseases such as cancer early. There are X-rays, which were the first of these techniques that were used. CT scans and MRIs followed, for example. Today we have a new generation of radiopharmaceuticals that, through solutions such as positron emission tomography (PC), scrutinize at a molecular level and with greater precision what happens in our internal organs and tissues. And radiotherapy treatments are also increasingly precise in attacking cancer cells and sparing healthy tissues from irradiation. As does brachytherapy, which places radioactive material directly into tumors.
That is perhaps the best known of nuclear technology, which has many other applications. For example, ionizing radiation is surprisingly used to disinfect medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic equipment. «We enjoy most of the uses of nuclear technology in our daily lives. A simple UV lamp transmits ultraviolet radiation that destroys the microorganisms on the tools used in a hair salon,” says Daniel Cano, research professor at the Nuclear Fission Department of the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (Ciemat).
Ionizing radiation is even applied to disinfect food. Yes yes… cereals, legumes, fruits, vegetables… are exposed to gamma rays to eliminate insects, larvae, germs… thus increasing their conservation. It is a technique accepted and recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA).
They are the so-called ionized foodscarry a logo that identifies them and do not emit radioactivity, according to a document from the Nuclear Forum. “They are completely safe for human consumption,” says the report. In fact, it includes research carried out by the FAO and the OECD where it was shown that irradiating food with doses less than 10 kGy (Gray is the unit used to measure radiation) does not present any toxicological risk.
Both the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) and the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (Aesan) have issued studies in which it is recognized that irradiation can be useful to reduce the presence of pathogens in food. In any case, a 1999 European Union directive only allows the irradiation of aromatic herbs, spices and (dry) vegetable seasonings, although it leaves the possibility for Member States to continue irradiating other categories already authorized before the entry into force of the regulation. European standard. Therefore, there are EU countries that can irradiate other types of food. For example, France and Belgium do it with frozen frog legs. However, it is a technique that is used less and less in the Old Continent, while it is growing in Asia (especially in China) and in America.
Accelerate mutations
Seeds are also irradiated to obtain new mutations of improved plants, for example resistant to drought, certain pests, better adapted to arid soils or salinity or more productive. «With radiation, 40 new varieties of cassava have been created, four of them resistant to a fungus that destroys these plantations. In Pakistan, a variety of cotton has been obtained that has a yield 30% higher than normal, in Vietnam a rice that gives a 60% higher yield, Kuwait is experimenting with varieties of barley to plant in the desert….” , explains Manuel Fernández Ordóñez, doctor in Nuclear Physics and expert from the Spanish Nuclear Society (SNE).
The technique consists of exposing the seeds to a radioactive source, for example gamma rays, which “accelerate and generate many mutations. Some will be useless plants but mutations may arise that are more useful than the original plant,” says Fernández Ordóñez.
One of the most prominent nuclear techniques is the “sterile insect” (SIT), which is used to control pests that damage crops. It consists of sterilizing, through radiation, males of the species that you want to combat. Thus, mating with wild females will give rise to non-viable eggs. In such a way that, by not being able to reproduce, the population is reduced.
In the Valencian Community, a project is being carried out using the TIE technique to fight against the Mediterranean fly plague, which affects citrus and fruit trees, something transcendental for this region that is the main exporter of citrus fruits for fresh consumption worldwide. world. The SIT is also being used to combat the tiger mosquito (transmitter of diseases such as dengue) in parks and gardens in large cities such as Valencia, Castellón, Sagunto, Paterna and Torrente.
Unique in Europe
The insects to be combated are raised in a bioplant from the Valencian town of Caudete de las Fuentes, which is an international reference in this technique. It is a project led by the Department of Agriculture, Water, Livestock and Fisheries of the Valencian Community and managed by the public company Tragsa Group.
The plant “has a design capacity to produce 500 million sterile males per week, although the actual production we are doing is up to 250-300 million,” indicates Ignacio Pla, responsible for the SIT application projects against pests of the Tragsa Group.
It is the only European bioplant that produces sterile insects with SIT and the third largest in the world. “Irradiation in the case of the Mediterranean fly is carried out in a plant in Tarancón, which has an electron accelerator appropriate to our production capacity,” says Pla.
Also the Institute of Applied Radiopharmacy of Barcelona (IRAB) It has a particle accelerator (cyclotron) capable of generating radioactive isotopes for the production of radiopharmaceuticals. This company has specialized in radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis of diseases in the field of oncology and neurology. «We have a pool of eight products. Three are being marketed and another five are in the clinical trial phase. We supply around 20-25% of the radiopharmaceuticals consumed in all Catalan centers (public and private),” says Joan Trens, general director of IRAB. “Our products have a short half-life,” he points out. Every hour that passes they have half the radioactive activity and this does not allow us to go far. Our objective is to provide added value by giving access to these radiopharmaceuticals to centers and patients as well as being very present in new generation radiopharmaceuticals in clinical trial phases. We are mainly present in the Catalan territory and in neighboring regions such as Valencia and Aragon. We are also sending radiopharmaceuticals for clinical trials throughout Spain, and to France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The Nuclear Forum estimates that today 300 radiopharmaceuticals are used for diagnosis. A technology that is also beginning to be applied to treat diseases.
Radiopharmaceuticals can be injected, ingested orally, or inhaled as a gas. It is a chemical compound that contains radiation. «A radioactive isotope is coupled (we look for those that are compatible with our organisms) to a molecule that goes in the direction we want and they are injected into the patient. For example, the radioisotope can be coupled to glucose that goes to tumors, which are big sugar devourers,” explains Daniel Cano. As radiopharmaceuticals emit radiation, this can be detected and processed through specific machines (for example, a gamma camera) generating an image of the organ under study.
Nuclear techniques are also used to date works and pieces of art; check and certify the condition of a bridge weld; in sophisticated drilling rigs searching for oil; even in space exploration. Missions to the Moon and Mars are not possible without nuclear batteries that generate electricity to power space probes and robots. “There are even projects to install 5MW nuclear reactors on the Moon,” says Daniel Cano. The newest thing is radiotracers. After the Fukushima nuclear accident, a lot of Cesium-137 (a radioactive isotope) was released into the sea and ingested by fish. Detectors of this radiation can now see the migratory flows of fish, their behavioral patterns…
The other side of nuclear power plants
Nuclear energy has three advantages that make it very attractive: it is constant, it does not emit greenhouse gases and it is relatively cheap. That is why it is proposed as a good candidate in applications that require large amounts of electricity or heat. For example, for water desalination, hydrogen production and to provide heating to large population groups.
“We have been desalinating water with nuclear energy since the eighties of the last century,” says Manuel Fernández Ordóñez, doctor in Nuclear Physics and expert at the Spanish Nuclear Society (SNE). In Kazakhstan, a nuclear reactor was used for the first time to desalinate sea water. It operated from 1973 until it was decommissioned in 1999. Japan has ten nuclear plants that are also used for desalination. Pakistan and India are among this group of countries with these facilities. And Morocco has already opened talks with the International Nuclear Agency to desalinate sea water with nuclear power.
Hydrogen is needed in many industrial processes. In fact, demand for hydrogen has tripled since 1975, according to the International Energy Agency. It is the most abundant chemical element in the universe. However, producing it requires great energy intensity. More than 95% of the world’s hydrogen demand is met using fossil fuels. If nuclear energy were used instead, we would save many emissions. You would then obtain the so-called pink hydrogen. “There are already nuclear power plants around the world with projects for the production of hydrogen,” says Fernández Ordóñez.
We also already have nuclear plants that provide heating. «A nuclear power plant operates at a temperature of 320ºC. It is a powerful thermal machine that produces heat simply by working. Two thirds of the heat produced in a nuclear plant is not used. And it could be used to provide heating and hot water. This is done in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine and China,” says Fernández Ordóñez. The Swiss Beznau power plant, the oldest in the world, provides heating to more than 20,000 homes. And in the Chinese city of Haiyang, two nuclear reactors provide winter heat to its 200,000 inhabitants. It is the first city in China to use nuclear energy to heat its urban area.
Of course, the sometimes feared and stigmatized nuclear techniques have borne a thousand and one fruits in the most unexpected applications.
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