Medical Questions » Other Problems Questions » Question No. 756
| Question: | I was a soldier in Japan after the war, and visited Hiroshima. I also worked with yellowcake at a uranium treatment plant in South Australia in the 1950s. Is there any way of telling if I have been damaged by radiation? |
| Answer: | Unfortunately there is no way of finding out if you have had any long-term damage to radiation from many years ago. At the time of radiation, blood tests may be abnormal, and if cancer or other disease does develop, once again pathology tests will be able to detect the damage, but in between these two stages, thete are no tests that will give any meaningful result.
In order to give you some reassurance, I would point out that yellowcake has a very low level of radiation, and even today is transported in 44 gallon drums with no more protection than a thin layer of steel. It is extremely unlikely that working with yellowcake (which is a uranium ore concentrate) will cause any long-term problems.
I have checked with the Department of Vetetans Affairs, and they claim that no Australian servicemen were adversely affected by radiation while serving in Japan.
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