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Safety Training
Project Supervisor/
Principle Investigator
Ionizing Radiation:
Radiation with
sufficient energy to
remove an electron from
an atom or molecule.
Radioactivity
$-
The process by which
unstable atoms
spontaneously
transform to new
atoms* and in the
process emit radiation.
Half-life is the lt ln ( 2 )
0.80 f e l
amount of time T1/2
original amount.
Two half-lives
t 0.20
T1/2
1 0.007
f
2 0.00
0 20 40 60 80 100
Days
Definitions
Exposure R (roentgen): Amount of charge produced per
unit mass of air from x-rays and gamma rays.
Absorbed Dose rad: Amount of Energy deposited per unit
mass of material. 1Gy = 100 rad.
Dose Equivalent rem: Risk adjusted absorbed dose. The
absorbed dose is weighted by the radiation type and tissue
susceptibility to biological damage. 1 Sv = 100 rem.
Radiation weighting factors: alpha(20), beta(1), n(10).
Tissue weighting factors: lung(0.12), thyroid(0.03), and gonads(0.25).
For whole body x or gamma-ray exposure
1 R 1 rad 1 rem
Alpha Decay
beta particle e-
gamma ray
photon
x-ray
e-
e-
lead
plastic 90Sr
lead
Shielding for gamma emitting material
GM pancake probe
NaI probe
Battery
check
Range selector
Background Radiation
360 millirem per year
Sources of Average Radiation Dose to the U.S. Population
Cosmic, 27
8%
Internal, 39 Terrestrial, 28
Nuclear Medicine, 14
10% 8%
4%
Medical x-rays, 39
11%
Consumer Products, 10
3%
Radon, 200 Other, 3
55% 0.8%
5,000+ rad
0.03
Effect is Detrimental
risk level is uncertain
Predictable
Risk of death from cancer
0.01
0.00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Committed Lifetime Dose (rem)
Occupational dose above background
ALARA
ALARA - As Low As Reasonably Achievable
Time
Distance (inverse square law)
Shielding
Contamination Control
Inverse Square Law
2
x1
D2 D1.
x2
45 mrem/hr @ 3.3 cm D - Dose
x - distance
5 mrem/hr @ 10 cm