Radiation Protection and Dosimetry: An Introduction to Health Physics

Book Preface

This text is meant to serve as the basis for a two-course series in the study of radiation protection (a.k.a. “health physics”). The first course would be an introduction to and fast-paced overview of the subject. For some, this is the only course in radiation protection that they will take, and thus all material must be covered in a fairly superficial and rapid fashion. The second course is a more in-depth and applied study of radiation protection, bringing in current materials from the literature, a detailed study of regulations, practice with realworld dose and shielding calculations, and perhaps application in a semesterlong student project assigned by the instructor. Several chapters include an additional section of suggested readings and other resources that can be used by the instructor to build such detailed investigations in a second course of this nature. In the first course, the chapter may be basically studied, with reference to the idea that a much richer literature base exists than can be covered in a broad overview of radiation protection. Through exploration of this literature base, and other similar materials that the instructor may be aware of that are not specifically cited, this second, more in-depth course may be developed. A routine part of any good health physics program is a complete course in radiation detection and measurement. My brief overview chapter here cannot provide the depth needed for this subject. Most instructors are familiar with the excellent book by Glenn Knoll on the subject, which I heartily recommend as the basis for such a full course.

Most chapters have some exercises for the student. I have provided the problem and the answer and worked-out solution in all cases. It is not advisable that the students be provided with the worked-out solutions, as this will certainly encourage laziness of approach with some students. These are for the instructor’s use; students should be given the problems and correct answers, to guide their work, and then shown individual solutions as needed to clarify difficult areas. All of the problem questions and solutions are available from the RADAR web site (www.doseinfo-radar.com); it is hoped that they will be of value to the instructor. Any errors found in the textbook or problem solutions should naturally be forwarded to the author