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Radiation Protection Course

The document outlines a Radiation Protection Training Course prepared by Eng. Ashraf Mohammed Enany, covering topics such as the physics of radiation, interactions with matter, dose calculations, and radiation detection. It explains fundamental concepts like atomic structure, radioactivity, decay processes, and various types of radiation. Additionally, it includes practical calculations for activity and half-life of radioactive materials.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
27 views66 pages

Radiation Protection Course

The document outlines a Radiation Protection Training Course prepared by Eng. Ashraf Mohammed Enany, covering topics such as the physics of radiation, interactions with matter, dose calculations, and radiation detection. It explains fundamental concepts like atomic structure, radioactivity, decay processes, and various types of radiation. Additionally, it includes practical calculations for activity and half-life of radioactive materials.

Uploaded by

abdalla
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Technology Experts Company

Radiation Protection Center


‫النواة‬

Radiation Protection Training Course


Prepared by:
Eng. Ashraf Mohammed Enany
Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering
Contents
- Physics of Radiation & Radioactivity
- Interactions of Radiation with Matter
‫النواة‬
- Dosemetric Quantities & Biological Effects
- External and Internal Dose Calculations & Radiation
Shielding
- Radiation Detection & Measurements
- National Regulations of Radiation Protection
Physics of Radiation
‫النواة‬ &
Radioactivity
What is the Radiation Source
Simply,
it is a source of Energy

But, … What kind of Energy !!

What dose “Nuclear” mean ??


MATTER
• All matters in the natural are made up
of Elements.

• There are 92 chemical elements


in nature, which form the basis of
all the materials around us.
MATTER
MATTER

• Any element consists of tiny basic building units “blocks” called


ATOMS.
• Atom is the smallest building unit of an
element with its characteristic
properties.
MODEL OF ATOM
➢ The atom consists of: 1. Nucleus & 2. Electrons
ORBITAL ELECTRONS

• Electrons are negatively charged particles (1e- = − 1.6x10-19 Coulomb).

• Electrons are moving so fast around the nucleus in certain Orbits


(Energy Levels !!!).
NUCLEUS
➢ Nucleus is the central part of the atom, and it
composes of two different types of particles:
Protons and Neutrons.

Proton is positively charged particle ( +1.6x10-19 C).

Neutron has NO electrical charge “neutral particle”.

➢ ATOM is neutral (net charges = 0)


ATOMIC NUMBER

➢ Atomic Number (Z): Number of Protons in the nucleus.


➢ Atoms of same element always contain the same Z.

The atomic number (Z) is the “ID Card” of the element

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.

Atoms of the same element may not contain the


same number of neutrons (different mass number).
Example:

Z= 77

100%

Most of the elements have more than one types of atoms


ISOTOPES

Isotopes: Atoms of the same element that have


different number of neutrons in the nucleus
(different Mass number “A”).

Example: Hydrogen element

Hydrogen -1

Hydrogen -2
(Deuterium)
Hydrogen -3
(Tritium)
ISOTOPES

Example: Carbon element


ISOTOPES

Some isotopes are Stable, and others


are Unstable (Radioactive 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

Does the unstable nucleus stay in this state forever?


Certainly, NO
What will happen?

The nucleus will decay (beak down) to adjust the


ratio between number of Neutrons and Protons to
reach the stability

Radioactivity
RADIOACTIVITY

Radioactivity: Spontaneous process in which an unstable


nucleus loses energy by emitting Radiation

Radiation

Radioactivity is NOT affected by any external conditions


such as Temperature, Pressure, Physical
State, etc.
DECAY & TIME
Unstable
(Radiation Source) Stable

The process of decay


is a continuous process
(it takes time)
24/7

Unstable Stable
(Red) (gray)

Time
DECAY & TIME

➢ The decay of atoms of a


radioactive source occurs at a
fixed rate.
➢ The half-life of a radioisotope
is the time required for one
half of the amount of
radioactive atoms to decay
into a more stable atom.

0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of half-lives
(half-life ≈ 5 years)
DECAY & TIME
MODES OF DECAY
ALPHA DECAY (a)

➢ Alpha decay, mainly,


occurs with isotopes
of HEAVY nucleus
(Z > 82).

➢ In a decay, the atomic


number decreases by (2)
and the mass number
decreases by (4).
ALPHA DECAY (a)

• All emitted a from a certain


source have the same value(s)
of energy “mono-energetic
particles”
(has defined values of energies)
( has discreet spectrum ).

Alpha energy is a Finger Print


of the radioactive source
BETA DECAY (- )

➢ A nucleus will undergo


Beta minus decay if it
has excess numbers of
neutrons than it needs for
stability (Higher “N/P”
ratio) (Neutron-rich).
Where:
14
C→ 147 N + −01  + 
1
0
n → p+  + 
1
+1
0
−1
6
ENERGY OF BETA

• Because the total energy


Eex = 0.16 MeV
of the decay process is
divided randomly between
the  particle and
antineutrino therefore,
Beta particles are emitted
with a range of energies
from zero to a maximum
value.

Thus, Beta energy spectrum is


NOT
a Finger Print of the
radioactive source
POSITRON DECAY (+ )

➢ A nucleus will undergo


Positron decay if it has
lower number of neutrons
than it needs for stability
“Lower (N/P) ratio”
“Proton-rich” where:

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:

Ground State OR Excited State


(Stable)
GAMMA DECAY (g)
After an a or  decay, the daughter nucleus is usually in an
“Excited” state.
GAMMA DECAY (g)
INTERNAL CONVERSION DECAY

Conversion
Electron Alternative to gamma
emission
X-ray Exited Energy of the nucleus
is transferred to one of the
orbital electron and
immediately ejected.

Characteristic x-rays are emitted as outer


orbital electron fill the vacancy left by the
ejected electron
GAMMA & INTERNAL CONVERSION DECAY

9.6% Internal Conversion


X-RAYS

BREMSSTRAHLUNG RADIATION
BRAKING RADIATION
NEUTRONS

• Neutrons are classified according to the energy to:


1. Thermal (slow) 2. Fast
• Fact of neutrons “ Neutrons are born fast”.

• Free neutron is unstable particle (half life = 10.2 min)

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%)

• Cf-252 has a half-life of


about 2.6 years
NEUTRON SOURCES
2. (a,n) Source:
• Mixed a source (226Ra, 241Am, ..) with light elements (9Be, Li, ..)
It produce fast neutrons

Am-241 (a source ) Am-Be Am-Be Neutron


Be-9

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

D-D Reaction emits neutron with 2 MeV

D-T reaction emits neutron with 14 Mev


ACTIVITY

Radioactivity: It is a spontaneous decay of nuclei to more stable


configurations via emission of “radiation”.
Activity (A): It is the number of decay (disintegration) per second .

Unit
Becquerel (Bq) - It is the activity of a radioactive source which
undergoes 1 decay per second.
1 Bq = 1 decay per second

Curie (Ci) - It is the activity of a radioactive source which undergoes


37 billion decay per second (3.7  1010 decay per second)
1 Ci = 3.7  1010 Bq
CONVERSION BETWEEN Ci & Bq
CONVERSION BETWEEN Bq & Ci
ACTIVITY

Ci =
10-6
SPECIFIC ACTIVITY (SA)
(SA)mass = Activity/Mass [Bq/kg] (SA)surface = Activity/Area [Bq/m2]

(SA)Length = Activity/Lenth [Bq/m] (SA)volume = Activity/Volume [Bq/m3]

Short “t1/2” High SA


ACTIVITY CALCULATIONS
HALF LIFE
Half-life (t1/2):
It is the required time for one-half
of the initial number of
radioactive atoms to disintegrate.
OR,
It is the required time for the
activity of a radioactive source to
decrease by half.

Example: If the activity of Co-60 is 12 mCi (t1/2= 5.25 years),


then the activity will decrease after 5.25 years to 6 mCi. After
another 5.25 years, the activity will be 3 mCi, …...
HALF LIFE

Example: After five half-lives what will be the fraction of initial


activity remaining?

(A) (1/2)10 (B) (1/2)5


(C) (1/2)4 (D) ½

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

Example: Half-life of an element is 30 days. How much part will


remain after 90 days?

(A) 1/4th part (B) 1/16th part


(C) 1/8th part (D) 1/3rd part

Solution:
The half-life is given to be 30 days. Then we know the relation
90 days ÷ 30 days = 3 life times

A/A0 = (½)(90/30) = (½)3 = (1/8)


ACTIVITY

• Activity (A) is directly proportional to number of radioactive


atoms (N) of the radioactive source.

A⍺ N
A = N
Where:

: The mathematical proportional constant (physically,


it is the decay constant).
DECAY CONSTANT
Decay Constant (): It is the probability that a nucleus will decay in 1 Sec.

1
Units of  are typically ( ) ( sec-1 , “per second”)
sec

0.693 0.693
= t1/ 2 =
t1/ 2 

Example: What is meant by  = 0.00014 Sec-1 ?


14 1
 = 0.00014 sec-1 =
100,000 sec

If the radioactive source has 100,000 radioactive atoms,


14 atoms will decay every 1 second.
ACTIVITY CALCULATIONS

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

A = (8.3x10-9)x 1016 = 8.3 x107 Bq = 83 MBq


A = 8.3 x107 Bq / (3.7x1010) = 2.24x10-3 Ci = 2.24 mCi
ACTIVITY CALCULATIONS
Example:
3.64x1020 atoms of 248Cm has activity 0.636 mCi. What is
the half-life of 248Cm?

Answer:
A = N
A = (0.636x10-3 ) x ( 3.7x1010 ) = 2.35x107 Bq

N = 3.64x1020 atoms

 = A /N = (2.35x107 ) / (3.64x1020 ) = 6.46x10-14 sec-1

t1/2 = 0.693/ = 0.693/ (6.46x10-14 ) sec-1 = 1.07x1013 sec = 3.4x105 years


ACTIVITY CALCULATIONS
Example: Determine the activity of mCi and MBq units for a sample
containing 10 17 atoms of 137Cs which has a half-life of 30
years?

Solution
A=λN

λ = 0.693/(30×3600×24×365)= 7.325×10-10 sec-1


N = 1017 atoms
A = 7.325×10-10 sec-1× 1017 atoms = 73249619 Bq
= 73.25 MBq
= 1.98×10-3 Ci = 1.98 mCi
MEAN LIFE TIME (t)

• The actual life of any particular atom can have any value between zero
and infinity

• The average or mean life of a large number of identical radioactive


atoms (t) :

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:

Mean Life (t) = 1.44 t1/2

= 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

0.0241 yr −1 100 years


A = 500 Ci  e = 45 Ci
ACTIVITY CALCULATIONS
Example:
Given 10 mCi of 32P, which has a half-life of 14.2 days, find the quantity
remaining after 60 days.
ACTIVITY CALCULATIONS
Example:
20 years ago we received 10 Ci of Co-60. Today, 0.72 Ci remain.
What is the T1/2 of Co-60?

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 activity of the radioactive material in the body


decreases by two methods:
1. Physically (radioactive decay)
2. Biologically (sweat, urine, feces,,..)
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)

Example: The physical half-life of iodine-131 is 8 days, the biological


half-life of the thyroid is 138 days. Calculate the effective
half-life of I-131 and the effective decay constant?
t  t ph
=
bio
t eff
+ t ph
t bio

teff = 7.56 days

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