Radiation Protection Course
Radiation Protection Course
Example:
A nucleus of Z = 1 is Hydrogen atom.
A nucleus of Z = 6 is Carbon atom.
A nucleus of Z = 55 is Caesium atom.
A nucleus of Z = 77 is Iridium atom.
MASS NUMBER
➢ Mass Number (A): Total number of Protons and Neutrons in the nucleus.
Z= 77
100%
Hydrogen -1
Hydrogen -2
(Deuterium)
Hydrogen -3
(Tritium)
ISOTOPES
There is NO BALANCE
between the NUMBERS Nucleus has
of neutrons and protons EXCESS ENERGY
in the nucleus.
NUCLEAR STABILITY
Example:
Isotopes of Hydrogen
NUCLEAR STABILITY
Example: Isotopes of Carbon
NUCLEAR STABILITY
How I
know the
ratio of
stability?
NUCLEAR STABILITY
Radioactivity
RADIOACTIVITY
Radiation
Unstable Stable
(Red) (gray)
Time
DECAY & TIME
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of half-lives
(half-life ≈ 5 years)
DECAY & TIME
MODES OF DECAY
ALPHA DECAY (a)
1
1 p→01 n+ +01 +
11
6 C→115 B+ +01 +
ELECTRON CAPTURE DECAY
A nucleus will undergo electron capture decay if it has
lower number of neutrons than it needs for stability
“Lower (N/P) ratio” “Proton-rich”.
11
C
6 11
5 B
ELECTRON CAPTURE
GAMMA DECAY (g)
• After an a or decay, the daughter nucleus may be in:
Conversion
Electron Alternative to gamma
emission
X-ray Exited Energy of the nucleus
is transferred to one of the
orbital electron and
immediately ejected.
BREMSSTRAHLUNG RADIATION
BRAKING RADIATION
NEUTRONS
0
1
n → p+ +
1
+1
0
−1
NEUTRON SOURCES
1.Californium-252 Source:
• A strong neutron source.
One microgram of
californium-252 produces
about 2,500,000 fast
neutrons per second.
• Decay by both Alpha
(97%) and Fission (3%)
Neutron Energy
Source
(MeV)
T1/2
1600 Year
226
Ra + 9Be 5
433 Year
241
Am + 9Be 5
24000 Year
239
Pu + 9Be 4
NEUTRON SOURCES
3. Neutron Generator
Unit
Becquerel (Bq) - It is the activity of a radioactive source which
undergoes 1 decay per second.
1 Bq = 1 decay per second
Ci =
10-6
SPECIFIC ACTIVITY (SA)
(SA)mass = Activity/Mass [Bq/kg] (SA)surface = Activity/Area [Bq/m2]
Solution:
It is obvious that after five half-lives, the fraction of
the initial activity remaining is given by
A/A0 = (1/2)5, which given (B) as the correct option.
HALF LIFE
Solution:
The half-life is given to be 30 days. Then we know the relation
90 days ÷ 30 days = 3 life times
A⍺ N
A = N
Where:
1
Units of are typically ( ) ( sec-1 , “per second”)
sec
0.693 0.693
= t1/ 2 =
t1/ 2
Example:
A source of Cf-252 contains 1016 atoms, what is the activity of the
source in MBq and mCi (t1/2 = 2.65 years)?
Answer:
A = N
= 0.693 /(t1/2) = 0.693/(2.65x365x24x60x60)= 8.3x10-9 Sec-1
Answer:
A = N
A = (0.636x10-3 ) x ( 3.7x1010 ) = 2.35x107 Bq
N = 3.64x1020 atoms
Solution
A=λN
• The actual life of any particular atom can have any value between zero
and infinity
1 t = 1.44 t1/2
t =
MEAN LIFE TIME
Example:
A radionuclide has a half life of 20 days. What is the mean life?
Answer:
= 1.44 x 20 days
= 28.8 days
ACTIVITY
In any sample of radioactive material, the amount of radioactive material,
hence the activity, constantly decreases with time because of radioactive
decay.
t
t1
A(t ) = A 0 (0.5) 2
= A 0 (e ) − t
Where:
A0 : Initial activity
A(t) : Activity after time (t)
ACTIVITY CALCULATIONS
Example:
We have 500 Ci of Sr-90 today. How many Ci of Sr-90 is left in 100
years? (T1/2 of Sr-90 is 28.78 years).
Solution:
A(t) = A(0) e − t
0.693 0.693
= = = 0.0241yr −1
T1/ 2 28.78 years
A(t) = A(0) e − t
A(t)
ln = − t
A(0)
A(t) 0.72 Ci
ln ln
=− =− = 0.1315 yr −1
A(0) 10 Ci
t 20 years
0.693 0.693
T1/ 2 = = = 5.27 years
0.1315 yr −1
ACTIVITY CALCULATIONS
Example: A source of 100 Ci needed to perform a specific task, if you know that
the time of shipment of the source to reach the work site takes 50 days
what is the activity of source to be manufactured (Half-Life 74 Days)?
ACTIVITY CALCULATIONS
Example: What will be the ratio of remaining activity of an Ir-192 source of 100 Ci
after 3 years (Half-Life 74 Days)?
EFFECTIVE HALF-LIFE (teff)
EFFECTIVE HALF-LIFE (teff)
•The physical half-life is the amount of time required for a given amount of
radioactive material to be reduced to half the initial amount by radioactive decay.
•The biological half-life is the time required for the human body to eliminate half of
the radioactive material taken into it. For many radioactive materials, the elimination
from the body occurs via urination.
EFFECTIVE HALF-LIFE (Teff)