1st Edition
Environmental Radioactivity and Emergency Preparedness
Radioactive sources such as nuclear power installations can pose a great threat to both humans and our environment. How do we measure, model and regulate such threats? Environmental Radioactivity and Emergency Preparedness addresses these topical questions and aims to plug the gap in the lack of comprehensive literature in this field.
The book explores how to deal with the threats posed by different radiological sources, including those that are lost or hidden, and the issues posed by the use of such sources. It presents measurement methods and approaches to model and quantify the extent of threat, and also presents strategies for emergency preparedness, such as strategies for first-responders and radiological triage in case an accident should happen.
Containing the latest recommendations and procedures from bodies such as the IAEA, this book is an essential reference for both students and academicians studying radiation safety, as well as for radiation protection experts in public bodies or in the industry.
Source terms. Environmental radiation protection. Environmental exposure pathways. Radiometry and sampling. Radioecology. Nuclear and radiological safety. Emergency preparedness and countermeasures/response. A short history of radiation protection.
Biography
Mats Isaksson, Christopher L. Raaf
"This new book from Isaksson and Raaf will be very useful for students and professionals engaged in the radiation protection of humans and the environment. It covers all of the fundamental theoretical aspects of radiation physics and radiation biology, but focuses primarily on the field’s practical aspects, including radiation detection, sample preparation, and dose assessment. The book also discusses current global concerns over radiation protection, such as modelling the transfer of radionuclides between large scale environments (like the oceans or soils) to small scale environments (like plants and animals).
After starting with a recall of facts or basic principles, each chapter introduces the relevant theory in great detail before providing example calculations and a wide variety of exercises for the reader to utilise. Notably, the last chapter tackles emergency preparedness, discussing emergency scenarios and the remedial actions and dosimetry methods to be applied to large scale accidents. This topic is usually not covered by other books in the field - instead reserved to be discussed in restricted reports – and therefore makes this book unique. Risk communication is another very important issue that is explored, which will be of interest to decision makers and also first responders who might need to deal with public concerns.
Focusing on current concerns whilst still tackling the fundamentals of the field, Environmental Radioactivity and Emergency Preparedness is a modern treatise of radiation protection and will be useful to many!"
—David Broggio, Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, France"One particular challenge of nuclear and radiological technologies is preparing for failure, misuse, and disaster, and emergency preparedness is essential in limiting the impact of such events on our populations and environment. Emergency response teams, specifically experts in radiation protection, medical phy
