Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
reflect averages from ranges given in the last column. Natural background radi-
ation contributes the largest portion (
∼
85%), followed by medical (
∼
14%), and
then man-made environmental (
<
1%). As noted in the table, background can vary
greatly from place to place, due to amounts of radioactive minerals in soil, water,
and rocks and to increased cosmic radiation at higher altitudes. Radon contributes
roughly one-half of the average annual effective dose from natural background.
Medical uses of radiation, particularly diagnostic X rays, result in the largest av-
erage annual effective dose from man-made sources. Depending on the level of
healthcare, however, the average annual medical dose is very small in many parts
of the world. The last three sources in Table 1.1 represent the relatively small
contributions from man-made environmental radiation. Of all man's activities, at-
mospheric nuclear-weapons testing has resulted in the largest releases of radionu-
clides into the environment. According to the UNSCEAR Report, the annual ef-
fective dose from this source at its maximum in 1963 was about 7% as large as
natural background. The Report also includes an analysis of occupational radiation
exposures.
1.6
Suggested Reading
1
Cropper, William H.,
Great Physi-
cists
, Oxford University Press, Oxford
(2001). [Portrays the lives, personali-
ties, and contributions of 29 scientists
from Galileo to Stephen Hawkin.]
2
Glasstone, S.,
Sourcebook on Atomic
Energy
,3ded.,D.VanNostrand,
Princeton, NJ (1967).
3
Kathren, R. L., “Historical Develop-
ment of Radiation Measurement and
Protection,” pp. 13-52 in
Handbook of
Radiation Protection and Measurement,
Section A, Vol. I, A. B. Brodsky, ed.,
CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL (1978).
[An interesting and readable account
of important discoveries and experi-
ence with radiation exposures, mea-
surements, and protection. Contains
bibliography.]
4
Kathren, R. L., and Ziemer, P. L.,
eds.,
Health Physics: A Backward
Glance,
Pergamon Press, Elmsford,
NY (1980). [Thirteen original papers
on the history of radiation protection.]
5
Meinhold, Charles B., “Lauriston S.
Taylor Lecture: The Evolution of Ra-
diation protection—from Erythema
to Genetic Risks to Risks of Cancer to
...
, 241-248 (2004).
[President Emeritus of the NCRP de-
scribes the evolution of radiation pro-
tection through the present-day ICRP,
NCRP, and other organizations. This
issue (Vol. 87, No. 3) contains the pro-
ceedings of the 2003 annual meeting
of the NCRP, on the subject of radia-
tion protection at the beginning of the
21st century.]
6
Moeller, Dade W., “Environmen-
tal Health Physics—50 Years of
Progress,”
Health Phys.
87
?,”
Health Phys.
87
, 337-357
(2004). [Review article, discussing
sources of environmental radiation
and the transport and monitoring of
radioactive materials in the biosphere.
Extensive bibliography.]
7
Morgan, K. Z., “History of Damage
and Protection from Ionizing Radia-
tion,” Chapter 1 in
Principles of Radia-
tion Protection,
K. Z. Morgan and J. E.
Turner, eds., Wiley, New York (1967).
[Morgan is one of the original eight
health physicists of the Manhattan
Project at the University of Chicago
