Understanding The Atom Your Body And Radiation

Nuclear energy is playing a vital role in the life of every man, woman, and child in the United States today. In the years ahead, it will affect increasingly all the people of the Earth. It is essential that all people gain an understanding of this vital force if they are to discharge thoughtfully their responsibilities as citizens and if they are to realize fully the myriad benefits that nuclear energy offers them. The United States Atomic Energy Commission provides this booklet to help you achieve such understanding. -- Edward J. Brunenkant, Director, Division of Technical Information

This publication provides the basis for the education of medical physicists initiating their university studies in the field of nuclear medicine. The handbook includes 20 chapters and covers topics relevant to nuclear medicine physics, including basic physics for nuclear medicine, radionuclide production, imaging and non-imaging detectors, quantitative nuclear medicine, internal dosimetry in clinical practice and radionuclide therapy. It provides, in the form of a syllabus, a comprehensive overview of the basic medical physics knowledge required for the practice of medical physics in modern nuclear medicine.

Light and matter are very closely linked in our modelling of the physical world. From the formulation of quantum theory to the invention of laser, the interaction between atoms and radiation has played a crucial role in the development of today’s science and technology. By controlling this interaction, the lowest temperatures ever recorded are now reached. Cooling atomic gases with laser light produces “quantum matter” with radically different properties from those of ordinary fluids. These cold atoms are the cornerstone of a new metrology of time and space, with applications in a wide variety of fields, including navigation, telecommunication and geophysics.

This book reevaluates the health risks of ionizing radiation in light of data that have become available since the 1980 report on this subject was published. The data include new, much more reliable dose estimates for the A-bomb survivors, the results of an additional 14 years of follow-up of the survivors for cancer mortality, recent results of follow-up studies of persons irradiated for medical purposes, and results of relevant experiments with laboratory animals and cultured cells. It analyzes the data in terms of risk estimates for specific organs in relation to dose and time after exposure, and compares radiation effects between Japanese and Western populations.