DISCLAIMER: I am not a health physicist. I'm a nuclear engineer, but I don't specialize in this area... but I thought some Slashdotters might be interested in what I found in my reference material.
The CNN Story had this to say about the immediate effects on two of the plant workers:
Hisashi Ouchi, 35, and Masato Shinohara, 39, were listed in critical condition, hospital officials said. The two were in a state of shock with fever and diarrhea.
Pulling out my trusty copy of Introduction to Health Physics, 2nd edition, by Cember, I find that diarrhea is first mentioned under the heading of Gastrointestinal Syndrome, at a dose of about 10 Grays (1000 RAD) or higher. Effects of this condition are a consequence of "desquamation of the intestinal epithelium"... basically translated as peeling away of the inner layers of the intestine. Other symptoms include (as given in Cember:
acute blood changes,
ablation of bone marrow,
mailaise and fatigue,
epilation (skin peeling),
severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
As a point of reference, Cember lists an exposure of 7 Grays (700 RADs) as being the LD-50/30 dose for humans... i.e., 50% of people die within 30 days of a 700 RAD acute exposure. At the probable dose level experienced by the two workers mentioned above, "...death within 1 to 2 weeks after exposure is the most likely outcome."
In short, these two workers are in a whole world of hurt, and will probably be dead fairly soon. It's incredible that something like this could happen... was allowed to happen. I can't imagine what kind of flap is going to follow.
So what would you do in a space hotel? I assume that you'd probably want to spin the thing to provide at least some "gravity" for tourists. Like many other posters here, I see the space station from 2001 in my head when I think of a space hotel. That type of design would afford opportunities for providing near-normal gravity for eating, sleeping, etc. on the outer regions of the station. Inner regions would have lower equivalent g's, with the center of the station being at essentially zero-g. Okay, assume you have a variety of gravitational environments to play with. Here's some ideas:
zero-g handball
low-g basketball
low-g ballet/acrobatic exhibitions
Would it be possible to fly in low-g by strapping fake wings to your arms and just flapping?
Slashdot Mirror
The CNN Story had this to say about the immediate effects on two of the plant workers:
Pulling out my trusty copy of Introduction to Health Physics, 2nd edition, by Cember, I find that diarrhea is first mentioned under the heading of Gastrointestinal Syndrome, at a dose of about 10 Grays (1000 RAD) or higher. Effects of this condition are a consequence of "desquamation of the intestinal epithelium"... basically translated as peeling away of the inner layers of the intestine. Other symptoms include (as given in Cember:
As a point of reference, Cember lists an exposure of 7 Grays (700 RADs) as being the LD-50/30 dose for humans... i.e., 50% of people die within 30 days of a 700 RAD acute exposure. At the probable dose level experienced by the two workers mentioned above, "...death within 1 to 2 weeks after exposure is the most likely outcome."
In short, these two workers are in a whole world of hurt, and will probably be dead fairly soon. It's incredible that something like this could happen... was allowed to happen. I can't imagine what kind of flap is going to follow.
Anybody else got some ideas?
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