NPRE 441: Principles of Radiation Protection

Spring, 2023

 

Course Description

This course provides a comprehensive coverage of the principles and methodologies underlying radiation protection and radiation health physics. The major topics being discussed in this course include sources of ionizing radiation, the interaction of ionizing radiation with matter, essential tools and techniques for dosimetry measurements, counting statistics, principles of radiation dosimetry, biological effects of ionizing radiation, methods for deriving the radiation dose from internal and external radiation sources, and standard approaches for shielding design and radiation protection.

 

Textbook

Primary: J. Turner, "Atoms, Radiation, and Radiation Protection", Third Edition, Wiley-VHC, Inc. (2007).

 

Reference Books:

[1] H. Cember - "Introduction to Health Physics", 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill (2010).

[2] J. K. Shultis and R. E. Faw, "Radiation Shielding," American Nuclear Society (2000).
[3] R. E. Faw and J. K. Shultis, "Radiological Assessment: Sources and Doses, American Nuclear Society (1999).
[4] E. L. Alpen, "Radiation Biophysics," Academic Press (1998).
[5] G. F. Knoll, Radiation Detection and Measurements, Third Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.

 
Course Website:

http://courses.engr.illinois.edu/npre441/

 

Grading

8 homework: 20% (towards the final score)

6 quizzes: 30%

Midterm exam: 20%

Final exam: 20%

Term project: 10%

 

Teaching Assistants and Office Hours:

TA: Galen Selligman, email: galenas2@illinois.edu

Office Hours: 1-3 pm on Tuesday and 10-noon on Friday, both at 220 Talbot.

 

Lecture Information:

Location:  2018 Campus Instructional Facility.

Time: Monday and Wednesday at noon-2 throughout the Spring 2023 semester.

Office Hour

To be announced soon.  

 

Introduction

 

Chapter 1: The Nucleus and Nuclear Radiation

·       Nuclear structure and nuclear binding energy

·       Alpha decay, beta decay, and secondary ionizing radiations

·       X-ray and neutron sources

·       Transformation kinetics and serial decay

·       Naturally occurring radioactivity

 

Chapter 2: Interaction of Radiation with Matter

·       Interaction of beta particles with matter

·       Interaction heavy charged particles and phenomena associated with charged particle tracks

·       Interaction of photons I – Interaction mechanisms

·       Interaction of photons II – attenuation coefficients, calculation of energy absorption and energy transfer

·       Interactions of neutrons

 

Chapter 3: Methods for Radiation Detection

(Note: this chapter will not be covered in NPRE441, but the conceptual understanding of basic radiation detection and measurement techniques would be needed for Chapters 4 and 5)

·       Gas-filled detectors, ionization process, charge migration, ionization counters and proportional counters.

·       Scintillation detectors

·       Semiconductor detectors

·       Neutron detection techniques

 

Chapter 4: Counting Statistics

·       Statistical models for radioactive decay processes, Bernoulli processes, binomial, Poisson and Gaussian distributions

·       Counting statistics, error, and error propagation

·       False-positive and false-negative errors and delectability limits

·       A brief introduction to Monte Carlo techniques

 

Chapter 5: Radiation Dosimetry

·       Units, dose, exposure, and dose-exposure relationship

·       Measurement of exposure and absorbed dose from X-rays, gamma-rays, and charged particles

·       Dose calculations associated with X-ray, gamma-ray, charged particles, and neutrons

·       Internally deposited radioisotopes and the MIRD method

 

Chapter 6: Biological Effects of Radiation

·       Basic concepts of cell biology and irradiation of cells

·       Types of radiation damage (slides attached, these covers class2&3)

·       Therapeutic ratio and the 5 Rs of radiobiology

 

Chapter 7: External Radiation Protection

·    Basic principles for external radiation protection

·    Gamma-ray shielding considerations

·    Shielding in X-ray installations

·    Protection against external beta radiation

·    Neutron shielding

 

Chapter 8: Radiation Protection Criteria and Exposure Limits

·       The objective of radiation protection

·       ICRP dosimetry models (for the respiratory system and gastrointestinal tract)

 

Homework

To be announced.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Term Project

To be announced.

 

Quizzes

To be announced.

 

Exams

Midterm Exam: To be announced.

Final Exam: To be announced.