Space Suits & Radiation

[The Vrusk]

Hey all,

I'm working on converting a Star Frontiers module ("Bugs in the System") to Traveller. In one part of this rather excellently-detailed adventure (the heroes have to regain computer control node by note, restore life support, electrical, water etc section by section of a damage space mining playform) they come across a microfission reactor that has developed a "leak" and is emitting hard radiation into its control room.

It slowly killed an operator there (radiation sensors were disabled by the glitch). Questions: Do spacesuits (say around TL 10) protect as well as dedicated radiation suits?

 

[Jeraa]

It slowly killed an operator there (radiation sensors were disabled by the glitch). Questions: Do spacesuits (say around TL 10) protect as well as dedicated radiation suits?

IF by spacesuit you mean vacc suit, then not really. They do provide protection from radiation typically found in hard vacuum, but I would say a leaking reactor would be more than that.

Hostile enviroment vacc suits do provide protection. The description of them says they provide protection from intense radiation such as that found at nuclear blast sites.

Though according to the core rulebook (page 142), a minor reactor leak only produces 2d6 rads/hour. Serious leaks are 2d6 every 20 minutes. Vacc suits reduce exposure by 50 rads, and HE vacc suits by 200. So a normal vacc suit would protect from that.

 

[The Vrusk]

Thanks,

I'll check out that page in my rulebook.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Unfortunately, Traveller doesn't get Radiation Protection correct.

Stuff doesn't STOP radiation from getting through, like armour. Stuff reduces radiation by a certain percentage.

For example 1-inch of lead blocks 90% of the radiation going though it. 2-inches of steel does the same thing, as does 10-inches of water.

So you should not really list a Vacc Suit or any other item as blocking a certain amount of radiation, but as blocking a certain percentage.

THEN, acute (one time) doses below a certain threshold do not cause any harm and can be ignored. I use 0.05 Rad per hour as that minimum.

I usually houserule that a Vacc Suit blocks 99% of the radiation and a HEV suit block 99.9% of the radiation and a ship's hull is 99.999% with each point of armour protecting for an additional 90% reduction (add another 9 to the end of the string). PA beam would then likely inflict something like 100 000 Rads of exposure.

 

[The Vrusk]

Good information. A little too real-world fussy for me, but it is cool to know it's not an all-or-nothing proposal. Make the PCs sweat a little.

I still get nauseated when watching that one movie about the Russian submarine. Poor bastards.

 

[AndrewW]

I still get nauseated when watching that one movie about the Russian submarine. Poor bastards.

K-19 the Widomaker?

 

[The Vrusk]

Yeah. God, I so wanted to send the surviving families my condolences. But I don't speak Russian. Granted, it's a movie and probably takes liberties, but still. Those men were heroic.

G-d Soviets and communism. Typical BS putting gas warfare suits onboard instead of anti-radiation suits. Hope the bastards responsible went to jail.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Anti Radiation suits are big, bulky and only minimally effective against Radiation. What most people think of as "anti radiation" suits are actually "anti contamination" suits. They protect a person from getting radioactive material in or on their skin.

When a radioactive particle is inside a person's body it can do a LOT of damage. That same particle sitting on the ground can often be ignored.

Radiation follows the same "inverse square law" that light follows, so as you move away from it, it gets pretty weak, pretty quickly. When the distance between the source of radiation and your lungs is micrometers, then it becomes dangerous.

US submarines today have anti-contamination suits, but not anti-radiation suits.

 

[The Vrusk]

Huh. Well, that's cool information to know. Thanks!

 

[Wil Mireu]

as RTT says, anti-radiation suits would be there to stop alpha and beta-particle emitters from getting into the suit. the suit's skin would stop alpha and beta particles from getting in, but gamma rays and neutrons would go straight through the suit and its occupant (probably causing damage to the body along the way). See e.g. http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear3.htm

 

[rust]

I once had the questionable pleasure to wear an anti-radiation
suit during my military training. It looks somewhat like a bomb
disposal suit, weighs more than 50 kg, restricts movement and
rapidly builds up heat, even with a cooling system - working in
it for more than an hour is ... heroic. Moreover, it does not real-
ly protect much better against radiation than a thin, light weight
anti-contamination suit with an air mask (the main risk is to in-
hale radioactive particles), it basically only gives an illusion of
significantly better protection.

Edit.:
And it is of course no longer used, it was one of those Cold War
gadgets in the style of "duck and cover".

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

My brother had one fitted at great expense to the tax-payer (i.e. me)... but it was never used. I think it is still under his bed at my parents.

I'm not complaining, if it had to be used, I'd pretty much be "toast".