In any case, once a woman declares her pregnancy, any institution is legally required to ensure that the fetus is limited to a radiation exposure of 0.5 rem, according to Robert Zoon,
a radiation safety officer at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
«It was nowhere near as complex of a release as Chernobyl, which was everything from the core of the reactor,» says Peter Caracappa, a
radiation safety officer and clinical assistant professor of nuclear engineering
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. «This was a slow release,» he adds, and it was limited to a few radioactive materials, including iodine 131, which has a half - life of just eight days and therefore does not lead to long - term contamination.