Ionizing radiation a cancer per dose model to assert that such activities cause several hundred cases of cancer per year, an application of the widely accepted Linear no-threshold model (LNT). The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends limiting artificial irradiation to the public to an average of 1 mSv (0.001 Sv) of effective dose per year, not including medical and occupational exposures. In a nuclear war, gamma rays from both the initial weapon explosion and fallout would be the sources of radiation exposure. Massive particles are a concern for astronauts outside the earth's magnetic field who would receive solar particles from solar
Ionizing radiation swelling, material creep, and embrittlement. Ionizing radiation can also accelerate existing chemical reactions such as polymerization and corrosion, by contributing to the activation energy required for the reaction. Optical materials darken under the effect of ionizing radiation. High-intensity ionizing radiation in air can produce a visible ionized air glow of telltale bluish-purplish color. The glow can be observed, e.g., during criticality accidents, around mushroom clouds shortly after a nuclear explosion, or inside of a damaged nuclear reactor like during the Chernobyl disaster. Monatomic fluids, e.g. molten sodium, have no chemical bonds to break and no crystal lattice to disturb, so