Would lead based paints be good to have for living in Russia, Japan, or on Mars?

[RoseLuck462]

Coat your house with these paints to protect against radiation?

[harryk]

There are four main types of radioactive emission:

 

- Alpha particles which consist of two protons and two neutrons, aka a helium nuclei. Alpha particles are big and heavy and are easily shielded by a piece of paper or a few centimeters of air. Alpha emitters are largely harmless as long as they are kept outside the body (more on this later).

- Beta particles which are a single high energy electron or positron. Beta particles are small but still easily shielded by a small amount of metal, such as aluminum foil. Beta emitters are largely harmless as long as exposure is minimal and they are kept outside the body.

- Gamma rays which are very high energy photons. Gamma rays can only be shielded with a large amounts of mass such as concrete and lead bricks. Gamma rays can be very dangerous and will cause radiation sickness if exposed to moderate levels for an extended time.

- High energy neutrons are perhaps the most dangerous form of radiation. Neutrons are difficult to shield and must be absorbed by specific types of materials. Hydrogen based compounds such as water or elements like Boron are excellent neutron absorbers. 

 

How would lead paint do as a shield? Well it would block the alpha particles and maybe the beta particles, but so would any other type of wall. The lead in the paint is in such a small amount that it really doesn't add much shielding mass. Additionally the lead may make the alpha and beta particles more dangerous. When an alpha or beta particle interacts with matter it will produce secondary radiation such as gamma rays and x rays both of which are dangerous and hard to shield. When an alpha or beta particle interacts with a high atomic mass atom, such as lead, there is a higher probability of producing high energy secondary radiation. Thus for shielding beta particles aluminum is preferred to lead. 

 

The biggest radiation danger in places like Chernobyl and Fukushima is not the radiation thats being emitted and flying around. While much higher than normal background levels its generally safe as long as exposure time is limited. This is why its safe for people to enter the exclusion zone for a short time. The real danger is the radioactive dust and emitting compounds which were released from the reactors. Breathe in or consume the dust and it is now trapped inside your body where it will continue to emit dangerous radiation directly to you with zero shielding and over a long period of time. This is where a hazmat suit comes in. It actually provides near zero protection to actual radiation but it does stop your body from picking up dangerous dust and debris. 

[davrosG5]

For the types of radiation that you would typically use lead as shielding for a layer or two of lead paint would be useless. It would be more likely to give you lead poisoning than provide any effective protection from radiation.

As harryk says above, the primary hazard for people around Chernobyl and Fukushima is un-fixed contamination, so radioactive dust and contaminated water.

 

Mars would be rather different - as the planet doesn't really have a magnetic field any more there is very little protection from cosmic rays (X-rays and gamma) and even UV radiation from the Sun. On Mars it may well be worthwhile having buildings incorporating heavy duty radiation shielding (if you want them on the surface) - but shipping the materials to the planet would be very expensive given their weight, or they would have to be manufactured in place once you got there (which may be practical for something like concrete). A simpler solution would be to live underground (provided the rock you were digging into wasn't itself radioactive or presenting other toxicological hazards (like heavy metals).

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, RoseLuck462 said:

Coat your house with these paints to protect against radiation?

There's a reason why humans stopped using lead-based paint - it's toxic to humans, and can lead to lots of lifelong health problems.

 

Lead itself might well be useful for creating radiation shielding, but it's going to be in some inert (or totally sealed) form.

 

More likely, other shielding will be used.

[Mira Yurizaki]

10 hours ago, RoseLuck462 said:

Coat your house with these paints to protect against radiation?

Sure. But if you were living in an area where this is of concern, the government will "kindly" remind you not to live there.

[wasab]

Japan and Russia are radioactive? 

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, wasab said:

Japan and Russia are radioactive? 

Fukushima and Chernobyl.

 

Two of the largest Nuclear disasters in history.

[Volbet]

2 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Fukushima and Chernobyl.

I guess I'm being pedantic, but Chernobyl is located in the Ukraine and most of the exclusion zone is located in the Ukraine and Belarus.

Only a small part of South-Western Russia was majorly affected by the fallout from Chernobyl. 

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, Volbet said:

I guess I'm being pedantic, but Chernobyl is located in the Ukraine and most of the exclusion zone is located in the Ukraine and Belarus.

Only a small part of South-Western Russia was majorly affected by the fallout from Chernobyl. 

That's fair - I guess I was thinking "Soviet Russia" rather than current Russian boundaries.

 

As for why the OP mentioned living in Russia or Japan... well.. you got me there. I got no idea.

[TempestCatto]

Why not just live in a lead cube with 8k HDR displays acting as live windows to the outside?

[Volbet]

18 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

That's fair - I guess I was thinking "Soviet Russia" rather than current Russian boundaries.

 

As for why the OP mentioned living in Russia or Japan... well.. you got me there. I got no idea.

He might be thinking of the Kyshtym disaster, which, at least on paper, was more severe than the Chernobyl meltdown. 

Although, I don't know if the aftermath was is as severe. 

[mr moose]

Lead in Lead based paint was O.K so long as you don't lick it. It should be used in drinking water pipes either for the same ingestion reasons.  

 

However there have been no statistical health issues from the electronic industry where lead has been used in solder for almost a century, yet places are banning it as if there were.

[NeuesTestament]

On 6/14/2019 at 7:54 PM, dalekphalm said:

Fukushima and Chernobyl.

 

Two of the largest Nuclear disasters in history.

Which don't cause any significant radiation outside the exclusion zone. So unless you want to move there (in which case lead paint will be useless anyways), I don't see the point worrying about that.

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, NeuesTestament said:

Which don't cause any significant radiation outside the exclusion zone. So unless you want to move there (in which case lead paint will be useless anyways), I don't see the point worrying about that.

Agreed. 

 

There were definitely issues outside the zones immediately after each accident. But those

issues were temporary. 

[ravenshrike]

16 hours ago, mr moose said:

Lead in Lead based paint was O.K so long as you don't lick it. It should be used in drinking water pipes either for the same ingestion reasons.  

Bullshit, it chips and dusts over time significantly more than most other paints which means that lead levels will be higher especially as a domicile ages. This is immensely a problem as generations turn and children may occupy an old house since even if they avoid eating the paint chips themselves, they will breath in more dust and lick their hands which regularly come in contact with the lead paint. It *might* be okay for things like military bases on which maintenance is performed regularly, but that's about it.

[Tamesh16]

On 6/13/2019 at 12:26 PM, harryk said:

This is where a hazmat suit comes in

oh wow, this was quite informative , ididnt know that, Thanks for taking the time to type all of that out OP !

[mr moose]

6 hours ago, ravenshrike said:

Bullshit, it chips and dusts over time significantly more than most other paints which means that lead levels will be higher especially as a domicile ages. This is immensely a problem as generations turn and children may occupy an old house since even if they avoid eating the paint chips themselves, they will breath in more dust and lick their hands which regularly come in contact with the lead paint. It *might* be okay for things like military bases on which maintenance is performed regularly, but that's about it.

It does not chip and dust more than other paints,   And when it does the lead content is quite low.  Lead poisoning occurs more frequently from water pipes where lead molecules are directly ingested.   lead based paints were more of a problem for people who painted cots and babies chewed on them. 

 

https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthlinkbc-files/lead-paint-hazards

 

https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/chemicals-management/lead/lead-in-house-paint

 

I had to study this as part of my working in the building industry in Australia.  You have to understand the materials and dangers of the time when you work extensively in older houses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

The lead paint will probably give you as many health problems as the radiation.