A highly practical reference for health physicists and other professionals, addressing practical problems in radiation protection, this new edition has been completely revised, updated and supplemented by such new sections as log-normal distribution and digital radiography, as well as new chapters on internal radiation dose and the environmental transport of radionuclides. Designed for readers with limited as well as basic science backgrounds, the handbook presents clear, thorough and up-to-date explanations of the basic physics necessary. It provides an overview of the major discoveries in radiation physics, plus extensive discussion of radioactivity, including sources and materials, as well as calculational methods for radiation exposure, comprehensive appendices and more than 400 figures. The text draws substantially on current resource data available, which is cross-referenced to standard compendiums, providing decay schemes and emission energies for approximately 100 of the most common radionuclides encountered by practitioners. Excerpts from the Chart of the Nuclides, activation cross sections, fission yields, fission-product chains, photon attenuation coefficients, and nuclear masses are also provided. Throughout, the author emphasizes applied concepts and carefully illustrates all topics using real-world examples as well as exercises. A much-needed working resource for health physicists and other radiation protection professionals.

Table of Contents

Preface. 1 Atoms and Energy. 1.1 Structure of Atoms. 1.2 Nuclide Chart. 1.3 Atom Measures. 1.4 Energy Concepts for Atoms. 1.5 Relativistic Energy. 1.6 Electron Volt (eV). 1.7 Binding Energy of Nuclei. 1.8 Summary and Checkpoints. 2 Major Discoveries in Radiation Physics. 2.1 Great Discoveries from Simple Tools. 2.2 First Concept of the Atom. 2.3 Theory of Electromagnetic Radiation: the Quantum. 2.4 Discovery of the Atom's Structure. 2.5 Wave Mechanics: a Necessary Theory. 2.6 Atom Systems. 2.7 Summary. 3 Radioactive Transformation. 3.1 Processes of Radioactive Transformation. 3.2 Decay Schemes. 3.3 Rate of Radioactive Transformation. 3.4 Radioactivity Calculations. 3.5 Activity-mass Relationships. 3.6 Radioactive Series Transformation. 3.7 Radioactive Equilibrium. 3.8 Total Number of Transformations (Uses of τ and λ _Eff ). 3.9 Discovery of the Neutrino. 4 Interactions. 4.1 Production of X-rays. 4.2 Characteristic X-rays. 4.3 Nuclear Interactions. 4.4 Alpha Particle Interactions. 4.5 Transmutation by Protons and Deuterons. 4.6 Neutron Interactions. 4.7 Activation Product Calculations. 4.8 Medical Isotope Reactions. 4.9 Transuranium Elements. 4.10 Photon Interactions. 4.11 Fission and Fusion Reactions. 4.12 Summary. 5 Nuclear Fission and its Products. 5.1 Fission Energy. 5.2 Physics of Sustained Nuclear Fission. 5.3 Neutron Economy and Reactivity. 5.4 Nuclear Power Reactors. 5.5 Light Water Reactors (LWRs). 5.6 Heavy Water Reactors (HWRs). 5.7 Breeder Reactors. 5.8 Gas-cooled Reactors. 5.9 Reactor Radioactivity. 5.10 Radioactivity in Reactors. 5.11 Summary. 6 Naturally Occuring Radiation and Radioactivity. 6.1 Discovery and Interpretation. 6.2 Background Radiation. 6.3 Cosmic Radiation. 6.4 Cosmogenic Radionuclides. 6.5 Naturally Radioacitve Series. 6.6 Singly Occuring Primordial Radionuclides. 6.7 Radioactive Ores and Byproducts. 6.8 Radioactivity Dating. 6.9 Radon and its Progeny. 6.10 Summary. 7 Interactions of Radiation with Matter. 7.1 Radiation Dose and Units. 7.2 Radiation Dose Calculations. 7.3 Interaction Processes. 7.4 Interactions of Alpha Particles and Heavy Nuclei. 7.5 Beta Particle Interactions and Dose. 7.6 Photon Interactions. 7.7 Photon Attenuation and Absorption. 7.8 Energy Transfer and Absorption by Photons. 7.9 Exposure/Dose Calculations. 7.10 Summary. 8 Radiation Shielding. 8.1 Shielding of Alpha-Emitting Sources. 8.2 Shielding of Beta-Emitting Sources. 8.3 Shielding of Photon Sources. 8.4 Gamma Flux for Distributed Sources. 8.5 Shielding of Protons and Light Ions. 8.6 Summary. 9 Internal Radiation Dose. 9.1 Absorbed Dose in Tissue. 9.2 Accumulated Dose. 9.3 Factors In The Internal Dose Equation. 9.4 Radiation Dose from Radionuclide Intakes. 9.5 Operational Determinations of Internal Dose. 9.6 Bioassay Determination Of Intake. 9.7 Summary. 10 Environmental Dispersion. 10.1 Atmospheric Dispersion. 10.2 Nonuniform turbulence: Fumigation, Building Effects. 10.3 Puff Releases. 10.4 Sector-Averaged Χ/Q Values. 10.5 Deposition/Depletion: Guassian Plumes. 10.6 Summary. 11 Nuclear Criticality. 11.1 Nuclear Reactors and Criticality. 11.2 Nuclear Explosions. 11.3 Criticality Accidents. 11.4 Radiation Exposures in Criticality Events. 11.5 Criticality Safety. 11.6 Fission Product Release in Criticality Events. 11.7 Summary. 12 Radiation Detection and Measurement. 12.1 Gas-Filled Detectors. 12.2 Crystalline Detectors/Spectrometers. 12.3 Semiconducting Detectors. 12.4 Gamma Spectroscopy. 12.5 Portable Field Instruments. 12.6 Personnel Dosimeters. 12.7 Laboratory Instruments. 13 Statistics in Radiation Physics. 13.1 Nature of Counting Distributions. 13.2 Propagation of Error. 13.3 Comparison of Data Sets. 13.4 Statistics for the Counting Laboratory. 13.5 Levels of Detection. 13.6 Minimum Detectable Concentration or Contamination. 13.7 Log Normal Data Distributions. 14 Neutrons. 14.1 Neutron Sources. 14.2 Neutron Parameters. 14.3 Neutron Interactions. 14.4 Neutron Dosimetry. 14.5 Neutron Shielding. 14.6 Neutron Detection. 14.7 Summary. 15 X-rays. 15.1 Producing and Shaping the X-ray Beam. 15.2 X-ray Image Information. 15.3 Capture of the X-ray Image. 15.4 Image Processing. 15.5 Radiation Protection from X-rays. 15.6 X-ray Shielding. 15.7 Summary. Appendix A. Appendix B. Appendix C. Appendix D. Appendix E. Appendix F. Index.

Author Biography

JAMES E. MARTIN, PhD, CHP, is Associate Professor (Emeritus) at the University of Michigan where he has done research and teaching on environmental and public health aspects of radiation with an emphasis on radiation physics since 1982. He also served 25 years (1957-81) with the U.S. Public Health Service and Environmental Protection Agency, doing environmental assessments of radioactive materials and of protection standards. His doctorate is in Radiological Health. Professor Martin is certified in Health Physics by the American Board of Health Physics and has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers and numerous articles and reports. Advisory committee memberships include two National Academy of Science committees, the Science Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Energy.