Health Physics

This book provides a comprehensive yet accessible overview of all relevant topics in the field of radiation protection (health physics). The text is organized to introduce the reader to basic principles of radiation emission and propagation, to review current knowledge and historical aspects of the biological effects of radiation, and to cover important operational topics such as radiation shielding and dosimetry. The author’s website contains materials for instructors including PowerPoint slides for lectures and worked-out solutions to end-of-chapter exercises. The book serves as an essential handbook for practicing health physics professionals.

Radiation litigation, the cleanup and decommissioning of nuclear facilities, radon exposure, nuclear medicine, food irradiation, stricter regulatory climate--these are some of the reasons health physics and radiation protection professionals are increasingly called upon to upgrade their skills. Designed to prepare candidates for the American Board of Health Physics Comprehensive examination (Part I) and other certification examinations, Basic Health Physics: Problems and Solutions introduces professionals in the field to radiation protection principles and their practical application in routine and emergency situations. It features more than 650 worked examples illustrating concepts under discussion along with an in-depth coverage of sources of radiation, standards and regulations, biological effects of ionizing radiation, instrumentation, external and internal dosimetry, counting statistics, monitoring and interpretations, operational health physics, transportation and waste, nuclear emergencies, and more. Reflecting for the first time the true scope of health physics at an introductory level, Basic Health Physics: Problems and Solutions gives readers the tools to properly evaluate challenging situations in all areas of radiation protection, including the medical, university, power reactor, fuel cycle, research reactor, environmental, non-ionizing radiation, and accelerator health physics.

Accelerator Health Physics tackles the importance of health physics in the field of nuclear physics, especially to those involved with the use of particle accelerators. The book first explores concepts in nuclear physics, such as fundamental particles, radiation fields, and the responses of the human body to radiation exposure. The book then shifts to its intended purpose and discusses the uses of particle accelerators and the radiation they emit; the measurement of the radiation fields - radiation detectors, the history, design, and application of accelerator shielding; and measures in the implementation of a health physics program. The text is recommended for health physicists who want to learn more about particle accelerators, their effects, and how these effects can be prevented. The book is also beneficial to physicists whose work involves particle accelerators, as the book aims to educate them about the hazards they face in the workplace.

This text is an invaluable, comprehensive data reference for anyone involved in health physics or radiation safety. This new edition addresses the specific data requirements of health physicists, with data presented in large tables, including the latest NCRP recommendations, which are tabulated and given in both SI and traditional units for ease of use. Although portions of these data can be obtained from various internet sites, many are obscure, difficult to navigate and/or have conflicting information for even the most common data, such as specific gamma ray constants. This new edition compiles all essential data in this vast field into one user-friendly, authoritative source. It also offers a website with full-text search capability. Markets include radiation safety, medical physics and nuclear medicine

The purpose and subject of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of all types of phantoms used in medical imaging, therapy, nuclear medicine and health physics. For ionizing radiation, dosimetry with respect to issues of material composition, shape, and motion/position effects are all highlighted. For medical imaging, each type of technology will need specific materials and designs, and the physics and indications will be explored for each type. Health physics phantoms are concerned with some of the same issues such as material heterogeneity, but also unique issues such as organ-specific radiation dose from sources distributed in other organs. Readers will be able to use this book to select the appropriate phantom from a vendor at a clinic, to learn from as a student, to choose materials for custom phantom design, to design dynamic features, and as a reference for a variety of applications. Some of the information enclosed is found in other sources, divided especially along the three categories of imaging, therapy, and health physics. To our knowledge, even though professionally, many medical physicists need to bridge the three catagories described above.

This is the first text specifically designed to train potential health physicists to think and respond like professionals. Written by a former chairman of the American Board of Health Physics Comprehensive Panel of Examiners with more than 20 years of professional and academic experience in the field, it offers a balanced presentation of all the theoretical and practical issues essential for a full working knowledge of radiation exposure assessments. As the only book to cover the entire radiation protection field, it includes detailed coverage of the medical, university, reactor, fuel cycle, environmental and accelerator areas, while exploring key topics in radiation basics, external and internal dosimetry, the biological effects of ionizing radiation, and much more besides. Backed by more than 500 worked examples developed within the context of various scenarios and spanning the full spectrum of real-world challenges, it quickly instills in readers the professional acumen and practical skills they need to perform accurate radiation assessments in virtually any routine or emergency situation. The result is a valuable resource for upper-level students and anyone preparing to take the American Board of Health Physics Comprehensive Examination, as well as for professionals seeking to expand their scope and sharpen their skills.

The book bridges the gap between existing health physics textbooks and reference material needed by a practicing health physicist as the 21st century progresses. This material necessarily encompasses emerging radiation-generating technologies, advances in existing technology, and applications of existing technology to new areas. The book is written for advanced undergraduate and graduate science and engineering courses. It is also be a useful reference for scientists and engineers.

Experienced Guidance on the Technical Issues of Decommissioning Projects Written by one of the original MARSSIM authors, Decommissioning Health Physics: A Handbook for MARSSIM Users, Second Edition is the only book to incorporate all of the requisite technical aspects of planning and executing radiological surveys in support of decommissioning. Extensively revised and updated, it covers survey instrumentation, detection sensitivity, statistics, dose modeling, survey procedures, and release criteria. New to the Second Edition Chapter on hot spot assessment that recognizes appropriate dosimetric significance of hot spots when designing surveys and includes a new approach for establishing hot spot limits Chapter on the clearance or release of materials, highlighting aspects of the MARSAME manual Revised chapter on characterization survey design to reflect guidance in ANSI N13.59 on the value of data quality objectives (DQOs) Updated regulations and guidance documents throughout Updated survey instrumentation used to support decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) surveys, including expanded coverage of in situ gamma spectrometers Revised statistics chapter that includes an introduction to Bayesian statistics and additional double sampling and ranked set sampling statistical approaches More case studies and examples throughout Implement the Surveys Effectively and Avoid Common Pitfalls With more than 20 years of experience as a practitioner in the decommissioning survey field, author Eric W. Abelquist prepares you for the technical challenges associated with planning and executing MARSSIM surveys. He discusses the application of statistics for survey design and data reduction and addresses the selection of survey instrumentation and detection sensitivity. He presents final status survey