Just after 3:23 in [this TED Radio Hour segment](http://www.npr.org/2016/10/21/497837955/what-can-we-learn-from-one-of-the-world-s-most-toxic-accidents), featured guest Holly Morris makes the claim that "the older you are, the less detrimental the effects of radiation is." The context is in why explaining older people were allowed to return to their homes near Chernobyl following the nuclear accident. Is it true that the elderly are less sensitive to ionizing radiation than younger people, and that detrimental effects of ionizing radiation decrease with age? 

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Note: The [original TED talk](https://www.ted.com/talks/holly_morris_why_stay_in_chernobyl_because_it_s_home/transcript?language=en) (2:11-2:34) indicates these people returned illegally, in defiance of authorities, while the later radio program claims the women "were allowed back into the area," and this age explanation is given as to why they were allowed to return, contrasted with young people who were not allowed to return (radio 3:34).
['https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/38645', 'https://skeptics.stackexchange.com', 'https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/users/27319/']
It seems plausible that such a "pool" did exist at Auschwitz in 1944. It probably served several purposes: A pool for swimming in by hard working prisoners, a fire reservoir tank and possible to fool the West at the same time who took aerial photos of the camp in order to see the living conditions of the prisoners.

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> Barbara Cherish, the daughter of Arthur Liebehenschel, wrote a book which was published in 2009, entitled "My father, the Auschwitz commandant." In her book, Barbara credits her father with building a swimming pool for the use of the prisoners. Liebehenschel was the Commandant of the Auschwitz main camp for five months, beginning on December 1, 1943. Liebehenschel is credited with other improvements at Auschwitz I, including the tearing down of the standing cells in Block 11. - [Swimming Pool at Auschwitz I](https://www.scrapbookpages.com/AuschwitzScrapbook/Tour/Auschwitz1/AuschwitzPool.html)
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[![Swimming pool at Auschwitz main camp, 1996](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HCqUM.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HCqUM.jpg)

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> The photo [above] shows what the swimming pool looked like in 1996 before preservation work began. The high diving board is at the far end in the background of the photo. The diving board itself is now gone. - [Swimming Pool at Auschwitz I](https://www.scrapbookpages.com/AuschwitzScrapbook/Tour/Auschwitz1/AuschwitzPool.html)
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According to the [Third Reich in Ruins](http://www.thirdreichruins.com/auschwitz.htm), the below photo of the pool was obtained from [Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum](http://www.auschwitz.org/). The site says: 

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> This water tank was built as a reservoir for fire fighting purposes (there are several such fire fighting tanks around the Birkenau camp and the Auschwitz Erweiterungslager camp extension), but it was modified by the prisoner fire brigade into a swimming pool, complete with a diving board and starting blocks. Privileged Polish and other political prisoners (non-Jewish), in addition to the fire brigade, could use this pool.
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[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/W6gZ9.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/W6gZ9.jpg)