A highly practical resource for health physicists and other professionals in radiation protection. The new edition has been completely revised and updated. New chapters were added on internal radiation dose and the environmental behavior of radionuclides, as well as a new section on log-normal distribution of environmental parameters.
Designed for readers with limited as well as basic science backgrounds, the handbook presents clear, thorough and up-to-date explanation of radiation physics and the major discoveries that underpin it. Extensive discussion is provided of radioactivity, including sources, materials and decay schemes for about 100 of the most common radionuclides encountered by practitioners. The text emphasizes practical calculations for radiation sources and levels in the workplace and the environment, and presents methods, including shielding, for modifying them. Comprehensive appendices and more than 400 figures are provided for such calculations; these are based on current resource data. Excerpts from the Chart of the Nuclides, activation cross sections, fussion yields, fussion-product chains, photon attenuation coefficients, and nuclear masses are also provided. Real-world examples and exercises demonstrate concepts and their use.
About the Author
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.
