Ionizing radiation- the kind that minerals, atom bombs, and nuclear reactors emit- does one main thing to the human body: it weakens and breaks up DNA, either damaging cells enough to kill them or causing them to mutate in ways that may eventually lead to cancer.
Nuclear radiation, unlike the radiation from a light bulb or a microwave, is energetic enough to ionize atoms by knocking off their electrons. This ionizing radiation can damage DNA molecules directly, by breaking the bonds between atoms, or it can ionize water molecules and form free radicals, which are highly reactive and also disrupt the bonds of surrounding molecules, including DNA.
If radiation changes DNA molecules enough, cells can't replicate and begin to die, which causes the immediate effects of radiation sickness- nausea, swelling, hair loss. Cells that are damaged less severely may survive and replicate, but the structural changes in their DNA can disrupt normal cell processes- like mechanisms that control how and when cells divide. Cells that can't control their division grow out of control, becoming cancerous.
With ingested particles, some may pass through the body before they do much damage, but others linger. Radioactive Iodine-131 poses a particularly significant risk, because it is absorbed rapidly by the thyroid gland and held there.
Source: {http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-03/Fyi-how-does-nuclear-radiation-do-its-damage}
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